Free Elevation Data for North Carolina

North Carolina's elevation data is public: lidar flown for the state and assembled by the USGS into a seamless model anyone can download. Here is where it lives, what you may do with it, and where the real cost actually sits.

What is free

Ground elevations on this site come from the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) seamless bare-earth model: 3.3 ft per pixel where a full-resolution lidar survey has been flown, about 9.8 ft per pixel where the model is built from older lidar, and about 33 ft per pixel elsewhere, with elevations above NAVD 88. The data is in the public domain. North Carolina’s statewide lidar is published through NC OneMap and carried by USGS 3DEP. USGS 3DEP serves lidar-derived elevation across North Carolina: 3.3 ft per pixel where a full-resolution lidar survey exists, about 9.8 ft per pixel where the model is built from older lidar. Being in the public domain means no fee, no account and no restriction on commercial use. NC OneMap publishes the state's elevation downloads openly too. More from the USGS 3D Elevation Program and NC OneMap’s elevation data.

Dataset	Resolution	What it is good for
USGS 3DEP seamless DEM	3.3 ft per pixel or 9.8 ft per pixel where lidar exists, about 33 ft per pixel elsewhere	Bare-earth ground. Fine contours, slope, drainage, cut and fill, building pads — anything where a foot or two matters.
NC OneMap elevation downloads	varies by survey	The state's own lidar-derived elevation products, for anyone who wants the files the state publishes.
Lidar point clouds (LAS/LAZ)	varies by survey	The raw lidar returns before gridding, for custom classification and forestry work.
USGS topographic maps	one fixed contour interval per sheet	The published map series, with names, roads and trails, as printable sheets.
Basemap and hillshade tiles	n/a	Pre-rendered topographic and relief tiles to put behind a web map.

Where to get it

The same underlying data is published several ways for different needs. Picking the wrong one is the most common way to lose an afternoon.

The National Map Downloader — USGS's download tool for 3DEP elevation tiles, lidar point clouds and the topographic map series. Start here if you want files.
3DEP elevation image service — the seamless model as a public service that exports a GeoTIFF of any area. Best for programmatic access; it is what this site reads.
NC OneMap elevation — North Carolina's own lidar-derived elevation downloads, from the NC Center for Geographic Information and Analysis.
USGS Topo basemap — rendered map tiles rather than data. Use it when you want a topographic backdrop and are not measuring anything.

Check what exists over your area first

Lidar surveys differ in age and quality level from one county to the next. Search an address before you commit to a download.

Check lidar coverage →

What public domain actually allows

Public domain is as permissive as it gets, and people routinely assume it is more restrictive than it is. With USGS 3DEP data you may:

use it commercially, including in paid client work;
redistribute it, in whole or in part;
create and sell derived works — contour plans, maps, models, reports;
modify, reproject, resample and combine it with other data.

A credit to the USGS 3D Elevation Program is appreciated. Every file from Download Data carries the USGS credit for you.

USGS NAIP aerial photography is public domain too. The Download Data tool delivers it as a georeferenced color photo of your area, about 1 ft per pixel where available, with a world file for GIS and CAD.

Free data is not the same as a free answer

This is the part worth being straight about. The data costs nothing. Turning it into something you can act on costs time, whichever route you take.

Say you want 1-ft contours over one acreage near Boone. Working from raw data, that means finding the tiles that cover the parcel, downloading and merging them, reprojecting, converting between metric and US units where sources differ, clipping to the parcel, generating contours, tidying the artifacts around water and missing data, and exporting to DXF for whoever asked. QGIS does all of it, and QGIS is free. It is still an afternoon the first time.

Every tool built on this data, including this one, exists to remove that afternoon. Know that this is the choice you are making, rather than assuming a paid tool has better data: in North Carolina everybody is reading the same public elevation model.

Skip the GeoTIFFs

The same public data, no download, no GIS install. Pick an area or click a parcel and get the output rather than the input.

Generate contoursAny interval from 1 ft, exportable as DXF, GeoJSON, PDF and more Download elevation dataThe DEM itself for an area you choose, as GeoTIFF Elevation profileDraw a line, get the climb, the descent and the grade Property terrain reportSlope, aspect, contours and hillshade as a PDF

Doing it yourself in QGIS

If you would rather own the workflow, the short version:

Install QGIS. It is free, open source and the standard tool for this.
Find your tiles in The National Map Downloader, or request a GeoTIFF of exactly your area from the 3DEP elevation image service.
Mind the units and projections. USGS publishes 3DEP elevations in meters; North Carolina's own data and your CAD drawings are usually in State Plane feet. Mixing them silently is the most common source of a result that looks almost right.
Clip to your area before processing, not after. Contouring a whole county to keep one field is how an afternoon becomes a day.
Use Raster → Extraction → Contour for contours, and the GDAL DEM tools for slope, aspect and hillshade.

The guide to downloading DEM data goes through this in more detail, including what DEM, DSM and DTM mean and which one you want.

Data sources and further reading

Everything described on this page comes from these sources. All of them are public and free to use.

Primary sources

USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) — The national program behind the elevation data: what has been flown, the specifications it was flown to, and the seamless bare-earth DEM that every elevation on this site comes from, with 3.3 ft cells where lidar exists and about 33 ft elsewhere.
3DEP elevation image service — The seamless DEM as a public image service, exported as GeoTIFF for any area. The terrain tiles, downloads, contours and terrain statistics on this site are read from here.
The National Map Downloader — USGS’s own download tool for 3DEP tiles, lidar point clouds and the topographic map series, with no area limit.
3DEP elevation index — Where each resolution of 3DEP data exists, and which lidar work unit covers a point. This site uses it for the coverage checker and to report the share of a download that fell outside 3.3 ft lidar.
NC OneMap elevation — North Carolina’s own elevation page: the statewide lidar-derived DEM and its derivatives, published by the NC Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, and how to download them.
NC OneMap parcels — The statewide compilation of the county assessors’ GIS parcels that the Property tool reads: what it contains, how often each county updates, and the county-by-county download.

Search, basemaps and terms

Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) — The federal register of place names that the search box uses for towns, peaks, lakes and streams.
NC OneMap addresses (AddressNC) — North Carolina’s statewide address points and geocoder, used for address search.
USGS Topo basemap — The National Map’s topographic basemap, one of the backgrounds you can switch to.
Esri World Imagery — The aerial basemap, used under Esri’s terms. No measurement is taken from it and it is not included in downloads.
USGS copyrights and credits — Why USGS data is in the public domain, and how USGS asks to be credited.

Related guides

Lidar coverage in North Carolina — the lidar survey behind any address.
Download DEM data for North Carolina — DEM, DSM and DTM explained, and how to get the raw files.
Lidar data for North Carolina — what lidar is and how North Carolina was flown.
Contour lines for North Carolina — generating and exporting contours in every format.
Custom topographic maps — how they differ from USGS quads.

Frequently asked questions

Is elevation data free in North Carolina?

Yes. The USGS 3D Elevation Program publishes a seamless bare-earth elevation model — 3.3 ft per pixel where a full-resolution lidar survey exists, about 9.8 ft per pixel where it is built from older lidar, about 33 ft per pixel elsewhere — as a U.S. Government work in the public domain. NC OneMap publishes the state’s own lidar-derived elevation downloads. There is no charge to download any of it.

Can I use free elevation data commercially?

USGS 3DEP elevation data and USGS maps are U.S. Government works in the public domain: you may use the results, including commercially. A credit to the USGS 3D Elevation Program is appreciated, and every file you download carries it. County parcel boundaries are the assessor's GIS data compiled by NC OneMap, not surveys, and the county that published each parcel is named with it. The aerial basemap is from Esri and follows Esri's terms; it is not included in downloads.

What is the catch with free elevation data?

The data is genuinely free and genuinely good. The cost is in using it. Turning raw tiles into a contour map means finding the right tiles, merging them, reprojecting, converting between metric and US units where sources differ, clipping to your area, generating contours at your interval and exporting to a format your software reads. That is an afternoon in QGIS the first time. Tools built on this data charge for that work, not for the data.

Where can I download free DEM data for North Carolina?

The National Map Downloader from USGS is the main route for 3DEP elevation tiles and lidar point clouds. NC OneMap’s elevation page carries the state’s own lidar-derived downloads. The 3DEP elevation image service can also export a GeoTIFF of any area directly, which is what this site reads.

How accurate is the free data?

Accuracy is inherited from the USGS 3DEP source and the lidar project behind it, not asserted by this tool. Where a full-resolution lidar survey exists the model is 3.3 ft per pixel and its vertical accuracy is that project’s, as USGS publishes it; where the model is built from older lidar it is about 9.8 ft per pixel; outside both the seamless DEM is about 33 ft per pixel and far coarser. The lidar coverage checker names the survey, its year and its quality level at any point, and every download states what share of its area fell outside the full-resolution lidar work units. Values are bare-earth elevations above NAVD 88 from a digital elevation model — they exclude buildings and tree canopy and are not a substitute for a surveyed elevation where a legal or engineering decision depends on it.

Do I need GIS software to use free elevation data?

To work with the raw files, yes — QGIS is free and capable. To get a result rather than a file, no. North Carolina Elevation Tools reads the same public data and returns contours, slope, drainage, profiles and property reports in the browser.