McDowell County, WV Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of McDowell County, West Virginia, shaded from 900 ft on the northwest side to 3,400 ft on the east side
Elevation
3,400 ft 1,035 m2,770 ft 845 m2,460 ft 750 m1,840 ft 560 m1,210 ft 370 m900 ft 275 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

McDowell County averages about 1,940 ft (590 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 900 ft on the northwest side to 3,400 ft on the east side.

Average elevation
1,940 ft 590 m
all land inside the county
Highest
3,400 ft 1,035 m
on the east side
Lowest
900 ft 275 m
on the northwest side

McDowell County spans about 2,500 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 land1,940 ft590 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the east side
3,400 ft1,035 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
900 ft275 m

Elevation profile, west to east

33 mi west to east through Welch.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of McDowell County, West Virginia, shaded from 900 ft on the northwest side to 3,400 ft on the east side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
County in West Virginia, United States
Population
17,147 2024 est.
Land area
533.5 sq mi + 1.4 sq mi water
Density
32 per sq mi
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Appalachian Plateaus 97%
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. Tazewell County, VA2,730 ft
  2. Mercer County2,500 ft
  3. McDowell County1,940 ft
  4. Wyoming County1,940 ft
  5. Buchanan County, VA1,910 ft
  6. Mingo County1,290 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Johns Knob2,980 ft
  • Shawnee Mountain2,790 ft
  • Belcher Mountain2,380 ft
  • Bradshaw Mountain2,350 ft
  • Pine Knob, McDowell County2,100 ft
All 20 towns in McDowell County by typical elevation
  1. Crumpler2,530 ft
  2. Maybeury2,180 ft
  3. Northfork1,770 ft
  4. Anawalt1,700 ft
  5. Keystone1,650 ft
  6. Vivian1,630 ft
  7. Pageton1,610 ft
  8. Cucumber1,560 ft
  9. Kimball1,530 ft
  10. Berwind1,500 ft
  11. Raysal1,480 ft
  12. Gary1,460 ft
  13. Welch1,410 ft
  14. War1,380 ft
  15. Davy1,280 ft
  16. Bartley1,280 ft
  17. Bradshaw1,200 ft
  18. Big Sandy1,160 ft
  19. Roderfield1,110 ft
  20. Iaeger1,020 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.