List of tallest structures in the United States explained
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 1000feet tall mast costs between $0.7 and $1.1 million to build, while a 2000feet 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 in height. Furthermore, it is very difficult to get permission for structures over 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, 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.
State-by-state listing
Alabama
- WTTO Television Tower (Birmingham WB-21)
- 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 30miles away
- 35 floors
Alaska
Arizona
- Midwest Tower Dolan Springs
- Chimney of Hayden Smelter
- Flue gas stacks of the Navajo Generating Station
- Height: 775 ft (236 m)
- Page (36.9033°N -111.3903°W)
- 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 4miles 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
- WBOC Television Tower (Salisbury CBS 16)
District of Columbia
Florida
- WTVY-TV Tower (Dothan, Alabama market)
Georgia
Hawaii
- Navy VLF Antenna
- Height: 1,503 ft (458 m)
- Lualualei (21.4228°N -158.1503°W)
- 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 21.2911°N -157.8356°W
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
- WAVE Television Tower (Louisville NBC 3) – no longer used
- Height: 1,739 ft (530 m)
- La Grange (38.4564°N -85.4244°W)
- 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 (32.1975°N -92.0706°W)
- 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)
Maine
Maryland
- WBFF Television Tower (Baltimore Fox 45)
- Height: 1,280 ft (390 m)
- Baltimore (39.3361°N -76.6494°W)
- Year built: 1987
- Owner: Cunningham Communications/Sinclair
- Second-tallest is WMDT-TV ABC/47 (Salisbury) at 1,027 ft (313 m), near Sharptown
Massachusetts
- WUNI-TV Tower (Worcester/Boston Univision)
- WGBH/WBZ/WCVB Cluster (Boston PBS/CBS/ABC)
Michigan
Minnesota
- KPXM Television Tower (Minneapolis ION 41)
- Height: 1,505 ft (459 m)
- Big Lake (45.3833°N -93.7086°W)
- 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
- Rohn Tower/KMOS Tower
- Height: 2,000 ft (609.6 m)
- Syracuse
- Year built: 2001
- Owner: Central Missouri State University
- KY3 Tower 1
- KY3 Tower 2
- Height: 1,996 ft (608.4 m)
- Marshfield
- Year built: 1973
- Owner: KYTV
- KOZK Television Tower (Springfield PBS 21)
- Height: 1,960 ft (597.4 m)
- Fordland (37.1697°N -92.9419°W)
- Year built: 1971
- Collapsed in 2018 during tower modifications for the FCC spectrum repack.[6] Was not rebuilt
- Owner: Missouri State University (Former SW Missouri State University)
Montana
- KTGF Television Tower (Great Falls NBC 16)
Nebraska
- KLKN Television Tower (Lincoln ABC 8)
- Height: 1,854 ft (565 m)
- Genoa (41.5411°N -97.6794°W)
- 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 30miles 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 2000feet tall mast at Hemingford, which collapsed in 2002
Nevada
- Shamrock Tower
- Height: 1,464 ft (446.2 m)
- Jessup, Nevada (39.9128°N -118.9217°W)
- Year built: 2012
- Owner: Shamrock Communications Scranton, Pennsylvania
- The BREN Tower, located in Jackass Flats (Area 25) of the Nevada Test Site, was a mast that was built for nuclear radiation testing. The 465m (1,526feet) tall, 345-ton structure was constructed by Columbus, Ohio-based Dresser-Ideco in 1962. It was originally erected in Yucca Flat (Area 4) before being dismantled in 1966 and moved to Area 25. The mast was owned by the Department of Energy and maintained by National Security Technologies. On May 23, 2012, the BREN Tower was demolished. The tallest structure in Nevada since mid-2012 is the Shamrock Tower in Jessup, Nevada at 446.2m (1,463.9feet) tall, erected in mid-2012. The second-tallest structure in Nevada is the Moapa Entravision Tower at Moapa, a 426.7m (1,399.9feet) tall guyed TV mast at Moapa erected in 2008, the third-tallest is the 401m (1,316feet) tall Moapa Kemp Tower at Moapa, the fourth-tallest is Stratosphere Tower near downtown Las Vegas, which was erected in 1994–96 and reaches 1,149 ft (350 m) and 921 ft (281 m) without the mast. It is also the second-tallest freestanding structure in the western U.S. after the Kennecott Smokestack in Utah
New Hampshire
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
- 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 (43.305°N -76.05°W)
- 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 (35.6764°N 78.5353°W)
- 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 (47.3422°N -97.2892°W)
- 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 (47.2792°N -97.3408°W)
- 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 5miles 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
- SpectraSite Communications LLC (Youngstown CBS 27)
- Height: 1,476 ft (450 m)
- Boardman (41.0565°N -80.6453°W)
- Year built: 1976
- Owner: American Tower
- There was a taller tower from 1987 or 1988 until 1994 or 1995 when it was dismantled. It belonged to WCOM-TV (Mansfield Ind 68) and was located just south of Butler, Ohio. WCOM-TV signed on March 3, 1988. The height of the tower was 1748feet. WCOM-TV used the tall tower and a directional antenna to try to serve the Columbus market. The station went dark in 1991 and the tower was sold to a religious broadcaster in South Carolina to be used as two separate 800feet towers. An engineer has reported that part of the tower was still on the ground in Sumter, South Carolina
- WNWO Television Tower (Toledo NBC 24)
- Educational Media Foundation (Portsmouth K-Love)
- Height: 1,220 ft (371.9 m)
- Southshore (38.6833°N -83.0128°W)
- Year built: 2006
- Owner: Educational Media Foundation
Oklahoma
- Perry Broadcasting Tower (KVSP 103.5 FM)
- Height: 2,000 ft (609.5 m)
- Carnegie (35.2508°N -98.615°W)
- FCC database lists tower as being in Alfalfa, Oklahoma, a nonincorporated community north of Carnegie
- At 2000feet, this is the tallest structure in Oklahoma
- It is used solely for the broadcast of KVSP 103.5 FM (Power 103.5), with studios in Oklahoma City
- Year built: 2004
- Owner: Perry Broadcasting of Southwest Oklahoma
- KTUL Television Tower (Tulsa ABC 8)
Oregon
- KPDX Television Tower (Portland PDX 49)
- Height: 1,081 ft (329 m)
- Portland (45.5228°N -122.7531°W)
- Year built: 1983
- Owner: KPDX-TV (PDX 49) / Meredith Corporation
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
- WLNE Television Tower (Providence ABC 6)
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
- WIMZ-FM Tower
- Height: 1752feet
- Knoxville (36.135°N -83.7247°W)
- 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 1miles east of House Mountain and stands 1752feet 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
- Winnie Broadcasting Tower (103.7 MHz FM)
- 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 data according to FCC's ASR entries.
Utah
- Kennecott Smelter Smokestack
- Height: 1,215 ft (370 m)
- Magna (40.7217°N -112.1978°W)
- Year built: 1979
- Owner: Kennecott Utah Copper, LLC
- The smokestack was designed to help the Garfield smelter comply with the Clean Air Act. It is a prominent structure along the shore of the Great Salt Lake adjacent to Interstate 80, about 10miles west of Salt Lake City. The smoke rises to an altitude of 8,540 ft (1,689 m) MSL. The tallest non-smokestack structure is a 660 ft (201 m) radio mast near Plain City, owned by the Bible Broadcasting inc.
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 (47.6044°N -122.33°W)
- 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
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 |
|---|
| 1205feet | 367.3 m | ? | Guyed mast | VLF/LF-transmission | | Operated by US Navy |
| 1105feet | 336.8 m | 1971 | Guyed mast | UHF/VHF-transmission | Cayey |
| 1091feet | 332.5 m | 1966 | Guyed mast | UHF/VHF-transmission | Cayey | Destroyed by Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017 |
| Arso Radio Tower | 682feet | 208 m | 1996 | Guyed mast | UHF/VHF-transmission | | |
| La Cadena del Milagro Tower | 548feet | 167 m | 1991 | Lattice tower | UHF/VHF-transmission | | Destroyed by Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017 |
| 492feet | 150 m | 1963 | Radio telescope | Radio and Radar astronomy | | 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 | | | 2060feet |
| Skyscraper | | New York City | 1776feet |
| Guyed mast insulated against ground | | | 1503feet |
| Chimney | | | 1217feet |
| Concrete tower | | | 1149feet |
| Free-standing lattice tower | | | 1081feet |
| Bridge | | | 1053feet |
| Suspension Bridge | | | align=right | 746feet |
| Dam | | | align=right | 770feet |
| Masonry | | | align=right | 585feet |
| Monumental column | | | align=right | 567feet |
| Stone | | Washington, D.C. | align=right | 555feet |
| Electricity pylon | Sunshine Mississippi Powerline Crossing https://web.archive.org/web/20210128003609/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/1552342/sunshine-mississippi-powerline-crossing-baton-rouge-la-usa | | align=right | 540feet |
| Industrial building | | | align=right | 526feet |
| Church | | New York City | align=right | 392feet |
| Aerial tramway support pillar | | New York City | align=center | 250feet | |
See also
External links
- http://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=37743190
Notes and References
- [List of tallest structures in the world#Current]
- Web site: Louisiana's tallest tower collapse adds to Ida broadcasting outages Wireless Estimator. September 2021 .
- Web site: FCCInfo Structure Registration Results.
- Web site: FCCInfo Structure Registration Results.
- Web site: FCCInfo Structure Registration Results.
- Web site: Licensee for Ozarks Public Television reaches $3.2M settlement from 2018 tower collapse. 22 March 2021 .
- Web site: Office Buildings – Skyscrapers || World Trade Center.
- Web site: FCCInfo Structure Registration Results.
- Web site: FCCInfo Results.
- Web site: LORAN-C General Information. 2021-06-02. www.navcen.uscg.gov.
