Wise County, VA Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
4,230 ft 1,290 m3,520 ft 1,070 m3,160 ft 965 m2,450 ft 750 m1,750 ft 530 m1,390 ft 425 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
How to use this mapviews, tools and data
- Elevation
- Ground colored by height from green (lowest) to white (highest), with contour lines every 40–500 ft (USGS data).
- Satellite
- A 2016 satellite photo at 33 ft (10 m) detail; contours off.
- 3D
- Tilt and turn the terrain; hills are raised 1.5×, or set ×1 for true height.
- Click or tap anywhere
- The exact elevation of that spot in ft and m.
- Measure
- Pick two points for the climb, descent and grade along a straight line.
- County area
- Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).
Elevation Data
Wise County averages about 2,320 ft (710 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,390 ft on the southeast side to 4,230 ft on High Knob.
Average elevation
2,320 ft 710 m
all land inside the county
Highest
4,230 ft 1,290 m
on High Knob
Lowest
1,390 ft 425 m
on the southeast side
Wise County spans about 2,840 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where most of its land lies, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Average of all land | 2,320 ft710 m |
| Highest point Inside the county, on High Knob (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height) | 4,230 ft1,290 m |
| Lowest point Inside the county, on the southeast side | 1,390 ft425 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
11 mi west to east through Big Stone Gap.
Topographic Map
- Location
- County in Virginia, United States
- Population
- 34,973 2024 est.
- Land area
- 403.4 sq mi + 2.0 sq mi water
- Density
- 87 per sq mi
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform regions
- Appalachian Plateaus 68%, Valley and Ridge 32%
- Drains to
- Gulf of America
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Nearby Places
Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average
- Norton city2,530 ft
- Wise County2,320 ft
- Russell County2,260 ft
- Harlan County, KY2,140 ft
- Dickenson County1,950 ft
- Scott County1,830 ft
- Lee County1,760 ft
- Letcher County, KY1,740 ft
- Pike County, KY1,320 ft
Rankings by average elevation
- Counties in Virginia10th highest of 94
- Counties in the United States526th highest of 3,151
Peaks and hills highest inside
- High Knob4,230 ft
- Eagle Knob4,180 ft
- The Doubles, Wise County4,100 ft
- Pickem Mountain4,000 ft
- Stone Mountain, Wise County3,970 ft
All 14 towns in Wise County by typical elevation
- Wise2,520 ft
- The University of Virginia's College at Wise2,520 ft
- Stonega2,040 ft
- Coeburn2,040 ft
- Tacoma2,010 ft
- Riverview2,000 ft
- Dunbar1,930 ft
- Osaka1,910 ft
- Appalachia1,750 ft
- St. Paul1,730 ft
- Pound1,710 ft
- East Stone Gap1,600 ft
- Big Stone Gap1,600 ft
- Big Stone Gap East1,550 ft
How we measure
- Average: every USGS 3DEP bare-earth cell of land inside the Census county boundary (TIGER/Line, Jan 1 2026), weighted equally, on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid. Land means the boundary minus Census area water.
- Highest and lowest: the highest land cell; it is a named summit, so its height is the peak method: the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it. Lowest: the lowest land cell; coastal ground within 3 ft (1 m) of named tidal water counts as sea level.
- Nearby Places: neighboring counties and rankings use each one's average elevation, on its own grid, the same figure its page shows. Peaks and hills: the highest summits inside the county with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence, then the highest federal (GNIS) summits inside it when there are fewer than 5; each is the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a usable survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it (shown as published).
- Towns: each town's typical elevation (population-weighted median of its own 2020 blocks at 1 arc-second); a town is listed when any of its 2020 residents live in the county.
- Rounding: computed heights are rounded to 10 ft (5 m), or to 1 ft (1 m) under 100 ft; 3DEP is good to about a meter, not a foot. Published figures (NGS survey heights) are shown as their publisher gives them.
- Datum: North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). NGS plans to replace NAVD 88 with a new datum (NAPGD2022); heights will then shift slightly.
- Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (TIGER boundaries and water, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, county adjacency); NOAA NGS survey heights; BTS time zones. All public domain.