Alameda County, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Alameda County, California, shaded from sea level on San Francisco Bay to 3,830 ft on Discovery Peak
Elevation
3,830 ft 1,170 m2,880 ft 875 m2,400 ft 730 m1,440 ft 440 m480 ft 145 m0 ft 0 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.
County area
Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Alameda County averages about 840 ft (255 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from sea level on San Francisco Bay to 3,830 ft on Discovery Peak.

Average elevation
840 ft 255 m
all land inside the county
Highest
3,830 ft 1,170 m
on Discovery Peak
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on San Francisco Bay

Alameda County spans about 3,830 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where most of its land lies, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.

FigureElevation
Average of all land840 ft255 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Discovery Peak (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height)
3,830 ft1,170 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets San Francisco Bay
0 ft0 m

Elevation profile, west to east

43 mi west to east through Oakland.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Alameda County, California, shaded from sea level on San Francisco Bay to 3,830 ft on Discovery Peak
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
County in California, United States
Population
1,649,060 2024 est.
Land area
737.5 sq mi + 83.7 sq mi water
Density
2,236 per sq mi
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Pacific Border 98%
Drains to
Pacific Ocean
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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

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Santa Clara County1,250 ft
  2. Alameda County840 ft
  3. San Mateo County610 ft
  4. Stanislaus County520 ft
  5. Contra Costa County500 ft
  6. San Francisco County180 ft
  7. San Joaquin County170 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Discovery Peak3,830 ft
  • Rose Peak, Alameda County3,819 ft
  • Cedar Mountain, Alameda County3,680 ft
  • Mount Allison2,664 ft
  • Sunol Peak2,191 ft
All 20 towns in Alameda County by typical elevation
  1. Sunol600 ft
  2. Livermore510 ft
  3. Dublin380 ft
  4. Fairview370 ft
  5. Pleasanton340 ft
  6. Piedmont280 ft
  7. Castro Valley270 ft
  8. Berkeley190 ft
  9. Oakland70 ft
  10. Cherryland67 ft
  11. Albany58 ft
  12. Fremont52 ft
  13. Hayward52 ft
  14. Ashland43 ft
  15. San Leandro38 ft
  16. San Lorenzo31 ft
  17. Newark23 ft
  18. Union City19 ft
  19. Emeryville18 ft
  20. Alameda15 ft
How we measure
  • Average: every USGS 3DEP bare-earth cell of land inside the Census county boundary (TIGER/Line, Jan 1 2026), weighted equally, on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid. Land means the boundary minus Census area water.
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell; it is a named summit, so its height is the peak method: the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it. Lowest: the lowest land cell; coastal ground within 3 ft (1 m) of named tidal water counts as sea level.
  • Pits: the lowest point is the lowest ground outside closed hollows (quarry floors, mine pits, terrain-model artifacts): any hollow under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²), and any hollow under 2 sq mi (5 km²) whose floor is more than 100 ft (30 m) below its rim; and outside patches below sea level of under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²). The single lowest 3DEP cell, −23 ft at 37.8260° N, 122.2968° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted; this coastal land's lowest point is sea level on the coast.
  • Nearby Places: neighboring counties and rankings use each one's average elevation, on its own grid, the same figure its page shows. Peaks and hills: the highest summits inside the county with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence, then the highest federal (GNIS) summits inside it 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).
  • Towns: each town's typical elevation (population-weighted median of its own 2020 blocks at 1 arc-second); a town is listed when any of its 2020 residents live in the county.
  • 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 (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.
  • Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (TIGER boundaries and water, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, county adjacency); NOAA NGS survey heights; BTS time zones. All public domain.