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North Carolina Physical Map

North Carolina has the highest peak east of the Mississippi (Mt. Mitchell) and one of the most dynamic barrier-island coasts on the Atlantic.

Rendered from SRTM 30m elevation data + Natural Earth rivers/lakes + US Census state boundary. Four versions below, all free.

Highest Point

Mt. Mitchell

6,684 ft

Lowest Point

Atlantic Ocean

0 ft

North Carolina physical map showing the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Piedmont, and the Coastal Plain with the Outer Banks, with major peaks and cities labeled. Topographic relief from NASA SRTM elevation data.

Choose your version

Two maps, two versions of each.

The same North Carolina terrain as a classroom map and as wall art. All four are free PDFs.

North Carolina physical map, labeled: the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Piedmont, and the Coastal Plain with the Outer Banks, with the capital, cities and highest point marked
Labeled
North Carolina blank physical map: the same terrain with no labels, for labeling practice
Blank
Physical map

North Carolina physical map for the classroom

Elevation in color with shaded relief, plus the surrounding states and water for context. The labeled version marks the capital, major cities and the highest point. The blank version leaves them off so students can label the map themselves.

downloadLabeled PDFdownloadBlank PDF
North Carolina relief wall art on a dark background
Dark
North Carolina relief wall art on a light background
Light
Wall art

North Carolina relief wall art

North Carolina on its own, with strong shaded relief and no labels. The dark version has the most contrast. The light version uses far less ink on a home printer.

downloadDark PDFdownloadLight PDF

The physical geography of North Carolina

North Carolina falls from the highest mountains in the eastern United States to the Atlantic. The west is mountain country: the Blue Ridge, the Great Smoky Mountains, and the Black Mountains, where Mt. Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. The Piedmont, in the middle, is a rolling plateau. East of the Fall Line the Coastal Plain covers nearly half the state. Wide, shallow sounds lie behind the Outer Banks, a long chain of barrier islands.

Major rivers

  • Cape Fear
  • Neuse
  • Roanoke
  • Yadkin
  • Catawba
  • French Broad
  • Tar

Find it on the map

  • The Outer Banks and the sounds behind them
  • Mountains packed into the western end
  • The three capes pointing into the Atlantic
verified

Built from real data, not stock images.

Every North Carolina physical map on this page was rendered from NASA SRTM 30-meter elevation data, with hydrography from Natural Earth and the shoreline-clipped state outline from the US Census Bureau. Each map is colored over that state’s own elevation range, and the relief shading is exaggerated so gentle terrain still shows.

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Pair with

map

North Carolina political map

The blank outline version of North Carolina (state borders, no terrain). Useful for political-geography exercises.

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Physical maps of the 4 states that share a border with North Carolina.

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