Explore Winston Salem, North Carolina, with this interactive street and satellite map.
This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Winston Salem, North Carolina. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of North Carolina or beyond.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to Winston Salem.
Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.
| City | Winston Salem |
| State | North Carolina (NC) |
| County | Forsyth County |
| Country | United States of America |
| Timezone | Eastern Time (America/New_York) |
| Latitude | 36.09986 |
| Longitude | -80.244216 |
| Population | 247,945 |
| Density | 1200.0 /km² |
| Incorporated | N/A |
| ZIP Code | 27101 |
| Area Code | 336 |
| County Seat | Winston-Salem |
Winston Salem occupies a persistent, red-clay expanse of the North Carolina piedmont where the ground feels ancient and settled under the weight of deep summer heat. The Tar Branch carves a quiet, unassuming path through the landscape, acting as a small, rhythmic pulse that defines the local topography before the land eventually rises toward the distant, hazy silhouette of the Appalachian Mountains. Residents often gather at Passageway Park to witness the way the late afternoon sun flattens against the grass, turning the horizon into a muted study of gold and gray. Three miles away, the quiet waters of Winston Lake reflect the sky, offering a stillness that stands in stark contrast to the nearby industrial scars of the Piedmont Quarry, which remains a testament to the raw, excavated earth beneath the pavement.
Moravian settlers established the early foundations of Winston Salem, bringing with them a disciplined, communal approach to life that favored meticulous craftsmanship and orderly planning. These pioneers built their lives around a central square, creating a legacy of brick and timber that prioritized the long-term endurance of the community over the frantic pace of rapid expansion. As the decades passed, the dual identities of the two original settlements gradually fused, leaving behind a historical record etched into the very architecture of the downtown district. The town matured through a slow, deliberate accumulation of experience, eventually transforming from a series of religious outposts into a singular, cohesive municipality defined by its ability to adapt while honoring the gravity of its origins.
Winston Salem maintains a diverse economic character that has shifted from its foundational reliance on tobacco and textile manufacturing toward a modern concentration in biomedicine, information technology, and financial services. The skyline is punctuated by the infrastructure of innovation, bolstered by institutions such as Wake Forest University, which provides a steady influx of intellectual energy and research-driven development. This academic presence ensures that the local economy is consistently refreshed by new perspectives, while the surrounding transit networks connect the region to the broader commerce of the eastern United States. Even as the workday rhythm intensifies, the city retains a practical, industrious spirit that values tangible output and the steady growth of its professional sectors.
Cultural life in Winston Salem thrives on a mixture of deep-seated traditions and the quiet, steady influence of its local inhabitants, including the legacy of poet Maya Angelou, who spent formative years in the region. The community celebrates its heritage through annual festivals that draw crowds to the historic districts, while the local passion for college sports keeps the calendar marked by the seasonal fervor of regional rivalries. Landmarks such as the expansive, preserved homesteads of Old Salem offer a glimpse into the past, standing as quiet observers to the modern development that surrounds them. Whether one is walking through the pathways of Passageway Park or attending a performance in the arts district, the atmosphere remains grounded in a courteous, Southern register that prizes a measured way of living over the frantic noise of the modern world.
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This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Winston Salem, North Carolina. Coordinates: 36.09986, -80.244216. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.
Detailed location data for Winston Salem includes the ZIP code (27101), telephone area code (336), county seat of Forsyth County (Winston-Salem), and school district assignment.
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any US town, county or landmark by name; offers USGS topographic maps and USGS aerial imagery as base layers; overlays a labelled U.S. National Grid (USNG) so the map can be read like a printed topographic quad; measures distance and grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as a USNG grid reference and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles require cell coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map cannot load.
Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Location data | SimpleMaps US Cities Database; coordinates matched to USGS GNIS definitive data |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; USGS The National Map topographic and aerial imagery (public domain); magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Wikipedia validation | Article content matched to USGS GNIS coordinates via Wikipedia geosearch API. |