Sterling, AK Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Sterling, Alaska, shaded from 72 ft on the southwest side to 510 ft on the northwest side
Elevation
510 ft 155 m400 ft 120 m340 ft 105 m230 ft 70 m130 ft 40 m72 ft 22 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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How to use this mapviews, tools and data
Elevation
Ground colored by height from green (lowest) to white (highest), with contour lines every 40–500 ft (USGS data).
Satellite
A 2016 satellite photo at 33 ft (10 m) detail; contours off.
3D
Tilt and turn the terrain; hills are raised 1.5×, or set ×1 for true height.
Click or tap anywhere
The exact elevation of that spot in ft and m.
Measure
Pick two points for the climb, descent and grade along a straight line.
Area
Fades everything outside the official CDP boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Sterling sits at about 270 ft (85 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
270 ft 85 m
most residents: 210–340 ft
Lowest
72 ft 22 m
on the southwest side
Highest
510 ft 155 m
on the northwest side
Average
280 ft 85 m
all land inside the CDP boundary

Sterling spans about 438 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where its people live, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.

FigureElevation
Typical
Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower
270 ft85 m
Highest point
Inside the CDP boundary, on the northwest side
510 ft155 m
Lowest point
Inside the CDP boundary, on the southwest side
72 ft22 m
Town center
USGS map point for Sterling
220 ft65 m
Average of all land280 ft85 m

Elevation profile, south to north

4.5 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Sterling, Alaska, shaded from 72 ft on the southwest side to 510 ft on the northwest side
CDP boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 20 ft (6 m).
Location
Unincorporated community (census-designated place) in Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States
Population
5,918 2020 Census
Land area
77.5 sq mi + 2.0 sq mi water
Density
76 per sq mi
Coordinates
60.5372° N, 150.7647° W
Time zone
Alaska UTC−9 / −8
Drains to
Kenai River → Gulf of Alaska
ZIP codes 2
99669 99672
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WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Sterling270 ft
  2. Ridgeway190 ft
  3. Funny River190 ft
  4. Kasilof150 ft
  5. Nikiski130 ft
  6. Point Possession130 ft
  7. Cohoe120 ft
  8. Soldotna100 ft
  9. Salamatof96 ft
  10. Kalifornsky91 ft
  11. Kenai91 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Cooper Mountain5,230 ft
  • Langille Mountain4,370 ft
  • Russian Mountain4,300 ft
  • Round Mountain, Kenai Peninsula Borough3,890 ft
  • Hideout Hill2,860 ft
How we measure
  • Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the CDP boundary, at its USGS 3DEP height, weighted by the people who live there. Half of residents live higher, half lower.
  • Lowest, highest, average: USGS 3DEP bare-earth heights on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid, land only, inside the Census CDP boundary (TIGER, Jan 1 2026). Much of Alaska's 3DEP comes from airborne radar (IfSAR), good to a few meters.
  • Nearby Places: nearby towns and rankings use each town's typical elevation, so every town is compared like for like. Rankings count every city, town, township and census-designated place, including places inside a town. Peaks and hills: the nearest summits with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence within 62 mi (100 km), then federal (GNIS) summits within 16 mi (25 km) when there are fewer than 5; each is the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a usable survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it (shown as published).
  • Rounding: computed heights are rounded to 10 ft (5 m), or to 1 ft (1 m) under 100 ft; 3DEP is good to about a meter, not a foot. Published figures (FAA airport elevation, NGS survey heights) are shown as their publisher gives them.
  • Datum: North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). NGS plans to replace NAVD 88 with a new datum (NAPGD2022); heights will then shift slightly.
  • Sterling is an unincorporated community; figures cover the census-designated place, a statistical area.
  • Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS and Watershed Boundary Dataset; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); BTS time zones. All public domain.