Kanawha County, WV Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Kanawha County, West Virginia, shaded from 560 ft on the northwest side to 2,790 ft on the southeast side
Elevation
2,790 ft 850 m2,230 ft 680 m1,950 ft 595 m1,400 ft 425 m840 ft 255 m560 ft 170 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 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.
County area
Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Kanawha County averages about 1,050 ft (320 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 560 ft on the northwest side to 2,790 ft on the southeast side.

Average elevation
1,050 ft 320 m
all land inside the county
Highest
2,790 ft 850 m
on the southeast side
Lowest
560 ft 170 m
on the northwest side

Kanawha County spans about 2,230 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.

FigureElevation
Average of all land1,050 ft320 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the southeast side
2,790 ft850 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
560 ft170 m

Elevation profile, south to north

26 mi south to north through Charleston.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Kanawha County, West Virginia, shaded from 560 ft on the northwest side to 2,790 ft on the southeast side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
County in West Virginia, United States
Population
173,906 2024 est.
Land area
901.7 sq mi + 9.3 sq mi water
Density
193 per sq mi
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Appalachian Plateaus
Drains to
Gulf of America
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Raleigh County2,290 ft
  2. Nicholas County2,080 ft
  3. Fayette County2,000 ft
  4. Boone County1,380 ft
  5. Clay County1,190 ft
  6. Kanawha County1,050 ft
  7. Roane County950 ft
  8. Lincoln County930 ft
  9. Jackson County810 ft
  10. Putnam County810 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Johnson Knob2,210 ft
  • Bee Mountain1,750 ft
  • Mount Desert1,629 ft
  • Beulah Knob1,520 ft
  • Malden Mountain1,500 ft
All 35 towns in Kanawha County by typical elevation
  1. Coal Fork1,110 ft
  2. Alum Creek partly830 ft
  3. Eskdale820 ft
  4. Pinch800 ft
  5. Sissonville760 ft
  6. Charleston740 ft
  7. Cross Lanes730 ft
  8. South Charleston710 ft
  9. Handley700 ft
  10. Tornado670 ft
  11. Big Chimney670 ft
  12. Elkview670 ft
  13. Montgomery partly640 ft
  14. Smithers partly640 ft
  15. Clendenin640 ft
  16. Pratt630 ft
  17. Glasgow620 ft
  18. Hollygrove620 ft
  19. Cedar Grove620 ft
  20. Chelyan620 ft
  21. Hansford620 ft
  22. East Bank620 ft
  23. Shrewsbury610 ft
  24. Marmet610 ft
  25. Belle610 ft
  26. Dupont City610 ft
  27. Rand610 ft
  28. West Dunbar610 ft
  29. Institute610 ft
  30. Chesapeake600 ft
  31. Malden600 ft
  32. St. Albans600 ft
  33. Dunbar600 ft
  34. Jefferson590 ft
  35. Nitro590 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. 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.