List of tallest structures in the United States

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Template:Short description The height of structures in the United States has been poorly documented. However, the data is a matter of public record, appearing in documents maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

This list is populated heavily by antenna masts. The engineering aspects of super-tall masts are highly specialized. Only four companies erect the majority of such structures: Doty Moore Tower Services (Cedar Hill, Texas); Kline Towers (Columbia, South Carolina); LeBlanc Royal Telecom (Oakville, Ontario); and Stainless Inc. (North Wales, Pennsylvania). The design and construction are largely governed by RS222E Electronic Industries Alliance standards. A Template:Convert tall mast costs between $0.7 and $1.1 million to build, while a Template:Convert tall mast costs $2.4 to $4 million. Prices generally vary depending on tower capacity and wind loading specifications.

A common misperception is that landmarks such as the Stratosphere Tower are the tallest United States structures, but they are in fact the tallest buildings. Likewise, Taipei 101 was often misrepresented as the world's tallest structure (although it was the tallest occupied building, before the certification of Dubai's Burj Khalifa as such), but in fact is far eclipsed by antenna towers in over a dozen states in the United States and in other countries.

In the United States, the FAA and the FCC must approve all towers exceeding Template:Convert in height. Furthermore, it is very difficult to get permission for structures over Template:Convert tall. The FCC presumes them to be inconsistent with the public interest, while the FAA presumes them to be a hazard to air navigation, resulting in poor airspace usage. A significant burden of proof is placed on the applicant to show that such a structure is in the public's best interests. Only when both agencies have resolved all legal, safety, and management concerns is such an application approved.

Since 1978, the United States has maintained 11 tethered aerostats sites along the southern borders. These balloons rise to Template:Convert, carrying radar units for drug interdiction purposes. However, since the balloons are aided by buoyancy and are not permanent, they are not considered true structures.

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State-by-state listing

Alabama

  • WTTO Television Tower (Birmingham WB-21)
    • Windham Springs (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1986
    • At 2,000 ft (610 m), this structure ties 19 others around the United States as the seventh-tallest structure in the world[1]
    • WTTO no longer transmits from this tower, having moved to the American Tower Candelabra in Birmingham as part of the television repack in 2020.
  • RSA Battle House Tower
    • Height: 745 ft (227 m)
    • Mobile, Alabama
    • Tallest freestanding building in Alabama
    • It has a fiberglass spire on the top of the building that supports the antenna
    • The building has a crown inside it which is visible up to Template:Convert away
    • 35 floors

Alaska

Arizona

  • Midwest Tower Dolan Springs
  • Chimney of Hayden Smelter
    • Height: 1,001 ft (305 m)
  • Flue gas stacks of the Navajo Generating Station
    • Height: 775 ft (236 m)
    • Page (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1996–1998
    • Owner: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (24.3%), SRP (21.7%), Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power (21.2%), Arizona Public Service Co. (14.0%), NV Energy (11.3%), Tucson Electric Power (7.5%)
    • The Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant located Template:Convert east of Page, has three 775 ft (236 m) lined, reinforced concrete stacks. The plant's original stacks were demolished in the late 1990s after being replaced by larger diameter stacks of the same height. The new stacks were required to accommodate cooler, saturated flue gas that resulted when wet SO2 scrubbers were added
  • The tallest radio tower is the 650 ft (198 m) KSZR (97.5) tower in Oro Valley near Tucson

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

  • WTIC Television Tower (Hartford Fox 61)

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

  • Navy VLF Antenna
    • Height: 1,503 ft (458 m)
    • Lualualei (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1972
    • Owner: U.S. Navy / ROICC Pearl Harbor
    • The record is held by two towers, exactly identical, that reach 1,503 ft (458 m) tall. They are used to communicate with submarines throughout the Pacific basin. The second-tallest structure is the KHON-TV (Honolulu Fox 2) tower at 500 ft (152 m) located at Template:Coord

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

  • WAVE Television Tower (Louisville NBC 3) – no longer used
    • Height: 1,739 ft (530 m)
    • La Grange (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1990
    • Owner: Subcarrier Communications
    • This tower was built to allow WAVE to reach into parts of the Cincinnati, Ohio, market, which sacrificed the western part of the Louisville DMA. They abandoned a tower in Floyds Knobs, Indiana, when the La Grange tower went on the air. They have since put their HD antenna and transmitter at the Indiana site and abandoned the La Grange tower

Louisiana

  • KNOE-TV, KMLU, and KLTM-TV shared tower
    • Height: 1,984 ft (604.7m)
    • Columbia (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1998
    • Owner: American Tower Corporation
    • Now current tallest tower after the WZRH/KVDU tower collapsed
  • WZRH/KVDU Radio Tower (New Orleans 92.3/104.1 FM)
    • Height: 2,000 ft (610 m)
    • Vacherie (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1986
    • Owners: Cumulus and iHeartMedia; Cumulus is managing partner
    • Tower collapsed in late August, 2021 during Hurricane Ida[2]

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

  • KPXM Television Tower (Minneapolis ION 41)
    • Height: 1,505 ft (459 m)
    • Big Lake (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1997 (Tower actually constructed in 1982 by the now defunct L.E.O. Broadcasting of St. Cloud Minnesota)
    • Owner: Paxson Minneapolis / KXLI
    • This station is licensed to St. Cloud; attempts to cover both that city and Minneapolis/St. Paul from a site between the two cities; and used to be known as KXLI-TV

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

  • KLKN Television Tower (Lincoln ABC 8)
    • Height: 1,854 ft (565 m)
    • Genoa (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1969
    • Owner: Citadel Communications
    • The KDUH-TV tower at 1,965 ft (599 m) tall at Hemingford collapsed in early 2003 during reinforcement work. The Duhamel Broadcasting Tower Angora was constructed about Template:Convert away and was completed in September 2003. The replacement tower is 160 m (about 500 ft) shorter than the original. KXVO and KPTM in Omaha (which are co-owned) have an FCC construction permit to build a taller tower that would put their antennas 577 m (roughly 1,900 ft) up. There was also a Template:Convert tall mast at Hemingford, which collapsed in 2002

Nevada

New Hampshire

  • WRLP Tower
    • Height: 663 ft (202 m)
    • Winchester (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1966
    • Owner: Gunn Mountain Communications
    • Was used for WRLP-32. Now only used by two-way radio communication services

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

  • Tallest structure in New York was the north tower of the World Trade Center from 1973 to 2001, with an overall height including the antenna mast of 1,727 ft (526.3 m). The original World Trade Center towers were destroyed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, temporarily making the Empire State Building the tallest building in New York, until the completion of One World Trade Center in May 2013
  • One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the western hemisphere, and the third-tallest building in the world by pinnacle height.
  • One World Trade Center
    • Height: 1,776 ft (541.3m) (architectural height)
    • New York City (Template:Coord)
    • Year completed: May 10, 2013
    • Owner: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
    • Stories: Total – 105 (86 usable above-ground floors, 91–99 and 103–104 designated as mechanical space, 100-102 observation floors, top floor designated as 105)
    • Total height (including pinnacle): 1,792 ft[7]
  • WSPX-TV Tower
    • Height: 1,176 ft (358.4 m)
    • West Monroe (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1998
    • Owner: Spectrasite through American Towers
    • FCC ASRN: 1059064
    • Tallest guyed mast in New York State

North Carolina

  • WBTV Television Tower (Charlotte CBS 3)
  • WITN/WNCT Television Tower/WNCT 107.9 FM Radio (Eastern North Carolina NBC/CBS)
    • Height: 1,985 ft (605 m)
    • Grifton
    • Year built: 1979
    • Owner: Tall Towers, Inc. (joint venture between WITN and WNCT)
  • WRAL Television Tower
    • Height: 2,000 ft (609.5 m)
    • Auburn (Template:Coord)
    • Built in 1989 as replacement for two masts of the same height, which collapsed during an ice storm

North Dakota

  • KVLY Television Tower (Fargo NBC 11)
    • Height: 1,987 ft (605.6 m)
    • Blanchard (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1963
    • Owner: Gray Media
    • This tower was known as the KTHI Television Tower until June 1995. It was the fourth-tallest structure in the world, eclipsed only by the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (completed in 2009), the Tokyo Sky Tree in Japan (completed in 2012) and the Shanghai Tower in China. From 1974 until its collapse in 1991, the Warsaw radio mast in Poland also eclipsed the KVLY-TV mast. This tower is used so KVLY-TV can cover both Fargo and Grand Forks. In 2019, the top mount antenna was removed, dropping the overall height to 1,987 ft (605.6 m)[8]
  • KRDK-TV Television Tower (Fargo/Valley City CBS 4)
    • Height: 2,060 ft (628 m)
    • Galesburg (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1998
    • The KRDK-TV tower is the world's fourth-tallest man-made structure. It had collapsed three times due to winter and summer storms, though the first time it collapsed in 1968, it was caused from a Marine helicopter cutting four guy wires of the tower. The KVLY TV tower, was the world's fourth-tallest man-made structure, is only about Template:Convert from the KRDK-TV tower. This tower is used so KRDK-TV can cover both Fargo and Grand Forks until 2019 when the height was reduced

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

  • WIMZ-FM Tower
    • Height: Template:Convert
    • Knoxville (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1963
    • Owner: South Central Communications
    • The tower is home to WIMZ-FM 103.5, whose antenna is at the top. The tower is located Template:Convert east of House Mountain and stands Template:Convert above ground level. When used for television broadcasts by its former owner, Multimedia, Inc. (former licensee of WBIR-TV, Knoxville) it was shielded by mountains from the audience in the western Knoxville suburbs such as Farragut, Oak Ridge, and Oliver Springs. This tower was built because the owners of WBIR-TV could not obtain land atop nearby House Mountain, because the only land suitable for a television tower base on the mountain had been purchased by the station's main competitor WATE-TV, Knoxville. When completed, it was, for a short time the tallest man-made structure on Earth.

Texas

  • Tall Towers Era
    • Height: 2,000 ft (609.6 m)
    • Era (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 2006
    • Owner: Tall Towers Ventures, Inc
  • Winnie Broadcasting Tower (103.7 MHz FM)
    • Height: 2,000 ft (609.6 m)
    • Winnie (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 2005
    • Owner: Educational Media Foundation
  • Liverpool Broadcast Tower (Houston 107.5 FM)
  • Salem Radio Properties Tower
  • Stowell Broadcasting Tower (97.5 MHz FM)
  • Service Broadcasting Tower Decatur
  • Tall Tower Venture Devers
    • Height: 1,993 ft (607.7 m)
    • Devers (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 2006
    • Owner: Tall Towers Ventures, Inc

Height data according to FCC's ASR entries.

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

  • American Tower Corporation Tower Suffolk
    • Height: 1,254.9 feet (382.5 m)
    • Suffolk at 36°48'31.8" N and 76°30'11.3"
    • Year built: 2003
    • Owner: American Tower Corporation )
    • WGNT, WHRO-TV, WTKR, WTPC-TV, WTVZ-TV

Washington

  • Columbia Center
    • Height: 967 ft (295 m)
    • Seattle, 701 Fifth Avenue (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: 1982–85
    • Owner: Equity Office Properties
    • The Columbia Center was intended to be 1,005 ft (306 m) tall but was disapproved by the FAA. It was built in 1982–85 and has 76 floors
  • KREM Tower
    • The tallest antenna tower is the 940 ft (287 m) KREM (CBS-2) tower at Spokane

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

  • Gillette Wyoming Legends Communication Tower [2]
  • Former LORAN-C facility antenna
    • Height: 700 ft (213 m)
    • Gillette (Template:Coord)
    • Year built: ?
    • Owner: U.S. Coast Guard
    • This Coast Guard site in Wyoming was part of the worldwide LORAN marine navigation network. The US Loran system was shut down February 8, 2010.[10] The tower was especially useful to ships plying the Great Lakes. The system radiated 540 kW of power

Puerto Rico

An incomplete list of the tallest structures in Puerto Rico. Main reference: U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) database

Structure Height (ft) Height (metres) Year built Structure Type Use Place Comments
Aguada VLF transmission mast Template:Convert 367.3 m ? Guyed mast VLF/LF-transmission Aguada Operated by US Navy
Telemundo WKAQ TV Tower Template:Convert 336.8 m 1971 Guyed mast UHF/VHF-transmission Cayey
Cayey Pegasus Broadcasting Tower Template:Convert 332.5 m 1966 Guyed mast UHF/VHF-transmission Cayey Destroyed by Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017
Arso Radio Tower Template:Convert 208 m 1996 Guyed mast UHF/VHF-transmission Cabo Rojo
La Cadena del Milagro Tower Template:Convert 167 m 1991 Lattice tower UHF/VHF-transmission Utuado Destroyed by Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017
Arecibo Observatory Template:Convert 150 m 1963 Radio telescope Radio and Radar astronomy Arecibo World's largest radio telescope

By structural type

Tallest structures in the United States for different uses/structural types. Please expand and/or correct, if necessary

Category Structure City Height
Guyed mast KRDK-TV mast Traill County, North Dakota Template:Convert
Skyscraper One World Trade Center New York City Template:Convert
Guyed mast insulated against ground VLF transmitter Lualualei Lualualei, HI Template:Convert
Chimney Homer City Generating Station Homer City, Pennsylvania Template:Convert
Concrete tower Stratosphere Tower Las Vegas Template:Convert
Free-standing lattice tower WITI TV Tower Shorewood, Wisconsin Template:Convert
Bridge Royal Gorge Bridge Cañon City, Colorado Template:Convert
Suspension Bridge Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco Template:Convert
Dam Oroville Dam Oroville, California Template:Convert
Masonry Anaconda Smelter Stack Anaconda, Montana Template:Convert
Monumental column San Jacinto Monument La Porte, Texas Template:Convert
Stone Washington Monument Washington, D.C. Template:Convert
Electricity pylon Sunshine Mississippi Powerline Crossing Template:Usurped Plaquemine, Louisiana Template:Convert
Industrial building VAB Kennedy Space Center, Florida Template:Convert
Church Riverside Church New York City Template:Convert
Aerial tramway support pillar Roosevelt Island Tramway New York City Template:Convert

See also

Notes and references

Template:Reflist

External links

Template:US tallest buildings lists by state Template:US tallest buildings lists Template:TBSW Template:USStateLists

  1. ↑ List of tallest structures in the world#Current
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