List of tallest structures in the United States


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 and Federal Communications Commission.
This list is populated heavily by antenna [Radio Radio masts and towers|masts and towers|masts]. The engineering aspects of super-tall masts are highly specialized. Only four companies erect the majority of such structures: Doty Moore Tower Services ; Kline Towers ; LeBlanc Royal Telecom ; and Stainless Inc.. The design and construction are largely governed by RS222E Electronic Industries Alliance standards. A tall mast costs between $0.7 and $1.1 million to build, while a 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, 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
  • * Windham Springs
  • * Year built: 1986
  • * At 2,000 ft, this structure ties 19 others around the United States as the seventh-tallest structure in the world
  • * 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
  • * 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 away
  • * 35 floors

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

  • KXTV/KOVR Television Tower
  • * Height: 2,049 ft
  • * Walnut Grove
  • * Year built: 2000
  • * Owner: Gannett/CBS
  • * This is the sixth-tallest structure in the world, just behind KVLY-TV mast and KRDK-TV mast in North Dakota. KXTV and KOVR, serve the Sacramento – Stockton – Modesto market. The tower has been used for research ozone sampling at different heights
  • * In the same area, there are the 2,000 ft tall Hearst-Argyle Tower and the 1,994 ft tall Channel 40 Tower

Colorado

Connecticut

  • WTIC Television Tower
  • * Height: 1,339 ft
  • * Farmington
  • * Year built: 1984
  • * Owner: Communications Site Management LLC

Delaware

  • WBOC Television Tower
  • * Height: 1,000 ft
  • * Laurel, Delaware
  • * Year built: 2000
  • * Owner: WBOC

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

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

Idaho

  • KMVT
  • * Height: 682 ft
  • * Jerome
  • * Year built: 1961
  • * Owner: KMVT Broadcasting

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

  • KWCH 12 Tower
  • * Height: 1,501 ft
  • * Burrton
  • * Year built: 1963
  • * Owner: Gray Television
  • * This was KTVH-TV until 1983, when it became KWCH-TV. Signal also broadcast on DT on Ch 19

Kentucky

  • WAVE Television Tower – no longer used
  • * Height: 1,739 ft
  • * La Grange
  • * 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
  • * Columbia
  • * Year built: 1998
  • * Owner: American Tower Corporation
  • * Now current tallest tower after the WZRH/KVDU tower collapsed
  • WZRH/KVDU Radio Tower
  • * Height: 2,000 ft
  • * Vacherie
  • * Year built: 1986
  • * Owners: Cumulus and iHeartMedia; Cumulus is managing partner
  • * Tower collapsed in late August, 2021 during Hurricane Ida

Maine

Maryland

  • WBFF Television Tower
  • * Height: 1,280 ft
  • * Baltimore
  • * Year built: 1987
  • * Owner: Cunningham Communications/Sinclair
  • * Second-tallest is WMDT-TV ABC/47 at 1,027 ft, near Sharptown

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

  • KPXM Television Tower
  • * Height: 1,505 ft
  • * Big Lake
  • * Year built: 1997
  • * 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
  • * Height: 1,854 ft
  • * Genoa
  • * Year built: 1969
  • * Owner: Citadel Communications
  • * The KDUH-TV tower at 1,965 ft tall at Hemingford collapsed in early 2003 during reinforcement work. The Duhamel Broadcasting Tower Angora was constructed about away and was completed in September 2003. The replacement tower is 160 m shorter than the original. KXVO and KPTM in Omaha have an FCC construction permit to build a taller tower that would put their antennas 577 m up. There was also a tall mast at Hemingford, which collapsed in 2002

Nevada

  • Shamrock Tower
  • * Height: 1,464 ft
  • * Jessup, Nevada
  • * Year built: 2012
  • * Owner: Shamrock Communications Scranton, Pennsylvania
  • * The BREN Tower, located in Jackass Flats of the Nevada Test Site, was a mast that was built for nuclear radiation testing. The tall, 345-ton structure was constructed by Columbus, Ohio-based Dresser-Ideco in 1962. It was originally erected in Yucca Flat 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 tall, erected in mid-2012. The second-tallest structure in Nevada is the Moapa Entravision Tower at Moapa, a tall guyed TV mast at Moapa erected in 2008, the third-tallest is the 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 and 921 ft without the mast. It is also the second-tallest freestanding structure in the western U.S. after the Kennecott Smokestack in Utah

New Hampshire

  • WRLP Tower
  • * Height: 663 ft
  • * Winchester
  • * 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

North Carolina

  • WBTV Television Tower
  • * Height: 2,000 ft
  • * Dallas
  • * Year built: 1984
  • * Owner: Gray Media Group
  • WITN/WNCT Television Tower/WNCT 107.9 FM Radio
  • * Height: 1,985 ft
  • * Grifton
  • * Year built: 1979
  • * Owner: Tall Towers, Inc.
  • WRAL Television Tower
  • * Height: 2,000 ft
  • * Auburn
  • * Built in 1989 as replacement for two masts of the same height, which collapsed during an ice storm

North Dakota

  • KVLY Television Tower
  • * Height: 1,987 ft
  • * Blanchard
  • * 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, the Tokyo Sky Tree in Japan 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
  • KRDK-TV Television Tower
  • * Height: 2,060 ft
  • * Galesburg
  • * 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 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
  • * Height: 1,476 ft
  • * Boardman
  • * 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 and was located just south of Butler, Ohio. WCOM-TV signed on March 3, 1988. The height of the tower was. 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 towers. An engineer has reported that part of the tower was still on the ground in Sumter, South Carolina
  • WNWO Television Tower
  • * Height: 1,437 ft
  • * Oregon
  • * Year built: 1983
  • * Owner: Barrington Broadcasting
  • Educational Media Foundation
  • * Height: 1,220 ft
  • * Southshore
  • * Year built: 2006
  • * Owner: Educational Media Foundation

Oklahoma

Oregon

  • KPDX Television Tower
  • * Height: 1,081 ft
  • * Portland
  • * Year built: 1983
  • * Owner: KPDX-TV / Meredith Corporation

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

  • WLNE Television Tower
  • * Height: 1,001 ft
  • * Tiverton
  • * Year built: 1965
  • * Owner: Citadel Communications

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

  • Tall Towers Era
  • * Height: 2,000 ft
  • * Era
  • * Year built: 2006
  • * Owner: Tall Towers Ventures, Inc
  • Winnie Broadcasting Tower
  • * Height: 2,000 ft
  • * Winnie
  • * Year built: 2005
  • * Owner: Educational Media Foundation
  • Liverpool Broadcast Tower
  • * Height: 1,999 ft
  • * Liverpool
  • * Year built: 1986
  • * Owner: American Tower Corporation
  • Salem Radio Properties Tower
  • * Height: 1,999 ft
  • * Collinsville
  • * Year built: 2002
  • * Owner: Salem Radio Properties
  • Stowell Broadcasting Tower
  • * Height: 1,999 ft
  • * Stowell
  • * Year built: 2001
  • * Owner: GOW Broadcasting
  • Service Broadcasting Tower Decatur
  • * Height: 1,994 ft
  • * Decatur
  • * Year built: 2000
  • * Owner: Service Broadcasting Corp.
  • Tall Tower Venture Devers
  • * Height: 1,993 ft
  • * Devers
  • * 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
  • * 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

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

  • Gillette Wyoming Legends Communication Tower
  • * Height: 1,153 ft
  • * Gillette
  • * Year built: 2009
  • Former LORAN-C facility antenna
  • * Height: 700 ft
  • * Gillette
  • * 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. 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 database
StructureHeight Height Year builtStructure TypeUsePlaceComments
Aguada VLF transmission mast367.3 m?Guyed mastVLF/LF-transmissionAguadaOperated by US Navy
Telemundo WKAQ TV Tower336.8 m1971Guyed mastUHF/VHF-transmissionCayey-
Cayey Pegasus Broadcasting Tower332.5 m1966Guyed mastUHF/VHF-transmissionCayeyDestroyed by Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017
Arso Radio Tower208 m1996Guyed mastUHF/VHF-transmissionCabo Rojo
La Cadena del Milagro Tower167 m1991Lattice towerUHF/VHF-transmissionUtuadoDestroyed by Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017
Arecibo Observatory150 m1963Radio telescopeRadio and Radar astronomyAreciboWorld'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
CategoryStructureCityHeight
Guyed mastKRDK-TV mastTraill County, North Dakota
SkyscraperOne World Trade CenterNew York City
Guyed mast insulated against groundVLF transmitter LualualeiLualualei, HI
ChimneyHomer City Generating StationHomer City, Pennsylvania
Concrete towerStratosphere TowerLas Vegas
Free-standing lattice towerWITI TV TowerShorewood, Wisconsin
BridgeRoyal Gorge BridgeCañon City, Colorado
Suspension BridgeGolden Gate BridgeSan Francisco
DamOroville DamOroville, California
MasonryAnaconda Smelter StackAnaconda, Montana
Monumental columnSan Jacinto MonumentLa Porte, Texas
StoneWashington MonumentWashington, D.C.
Electricity pylonSunshine Mississippi Powerline Crossing Plaquemine, Louisiana
Industrial buildingVABKennedy Space Center, Florida
ChurchRiverside ChurchNew York City
Aerial tramway support pillarRoosevelt Island TramwayNew York City