Charleston, WV Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Charleston, West Virginia, shaded from 560 ft near the middle to 1,290 ft on the southeast side
Elevation
1,290 ft 395 m1,110 ft 335 m1,020 ft 310 m840 ft 255 m660 ft 200 m560 ft 170 m
Contours every 200 ft, bold every 1,000 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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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.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Charleston sits at about 740 ft (225 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
740 ft 225 m
most residents: 600–990 ft
Lowest
560 ft 170 m
near the middle
Highest
1,290 ft 395 m
on the southeast side
Average
830 ft 255 m
all land inside city limits

Charleston spans about 730 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where its people live, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.

FigureElevation
Typical
Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower
740 ft225 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the southeast side
1,290 ft395 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, near the middle
560 ft170 m
Town center
USGS map point for Charleston
600 ft180 m
Airport (CRW)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 0.7 mi northeast of the city limits
947 ft289 m
Average of all land830 ft255 m

Elevation profile, south to north

6.2 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Charleston, West Virginia, shaded from 560 ft near the middle to 1,290 ft on the southeast side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
City in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States
Population
46,482 2024 est.
Land area
31.4 sq mi + 1.1 sq mi water
Density
1,480 per sq mi
Coordinates
38.3498° N, 81.6326° W
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Appalachian Plateaus
Drains to
Kanawha River → Ohio River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport
West Virginia International Yeager (CRW) 947 ft
ZIP codes 10
25301 25302 25303 25304 25305 25309 25311 25312 25314 25387
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Coal Fork1,110 ft
  2. Charleston740 ft
  3. South Charleston710 ft
  4. Big Chimney670 ft
  5. Marmet610 ft
  6. Dupont City610 ft
  7. Rand610 ft
  8. West Dunbar610 ft
  9. Institute610 ft
  10. Malden600 ft
  11. Dunbar600 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Cross Mountain4,180 ft
  • Keeney Knob3,927 ft
  • Pilot Knob3,530 ft
  • Pond Knob3,320 ft
  • Malden Mountain1,500 ft
How we measure
  • Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the city limits, at its USGS 3DEP height, weighted by the people who live there. Half of residents live higher, half lower.
  • Lowest, highest, average: USGS 3DEP bare-earth heights on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid, land only, inside the Census city limits (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
  • Nearby Places: nearby towns and rankings use each town's typical elevation, so every town is compared like for like. Rankings count every city, town, township and census-designated place, including places inside a town. Peaks and hills: the nearest summits with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence within 62 mi (100 km), then federal (GNIS) summits within 16 mi (25 km) 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).
  • 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 (FAA airport elevation, 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 (boundaries, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.