Alta Sierra, Kern County, CA Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
6,490 ft 1,980 m6,160 ft 1,880 m5,990 ft 1,825 m5,660 ft 1,725 m5,320 ft 1,620 m5,150 ft 1,570 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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
Alta Sierra, Kern County sits at about 5,790 ft (1,765 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
5,790 ft 1,765 m
most residents: 5,510–5,920 ft
Lowest
5,150 ft 1,570 m
on the east side
Highest
6,490 ft 1,980 m
at the foot of the Greenhorn Mountains
Average
5,860 ft 1,785 m
all land inside the CDP boundary
Alta Sierra, Kern County spans about 1,340 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.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Typical Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower | 5,790 ft1,765 m |
| Highest point Inside the CDP boundary, at the foot of the Greenhorn Mountains | 6,490 ft1,980 m |
| Lowest point Inside the CDP boundary, on the east side | 5,150 ft1,570 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Alta Sierra, Kern County | 5,720 ft1,745 m |
| Airport (L05) FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 6.6 mi east of the CDP boundary | 2,614 ft797 m |
| Average of all land | 5,860 ft1,785 m |
| Nearest peak Tobias Peak, 7.4 mi north of the CDP boundary (NGS survey) | 8,292 ft2,527 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
1.1 mi west to east through the town center.
Altitude Effects
What 5,790 ft means day to day, worked out from the typical elevation.
Water boils at
201.2 °F94.0 °C
vs 212 °F at sea level; USDA: food takes longer to cook.
Air pressure
81% of sea level
24.2 inHg (81.8 kPa): each breath holds 19% less air.
Oxygen equivalent
16.9% at sea level
Air is still 21% oxygen, just thinner. Normal at the coast: 20.9%.
Sunburn
+12% more UV
EPA: UV rises about 2% for every 1,000 ft.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Unincorporated community (census-designated place) in Kern County, California, United States
- Population
- 103 2020 Census
- Land area
- 1.0 sq mi
- Density
- 101 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 35.7291° N, 118.5495° W
- Time zone
- Pacific UTC−8 / −7
- Landform region
- Cascade-sierra Mountains
- Drains to
- Kern River → Closed basin (does not reach the sea)
- Airport
- Kern Valley (L05) 2,614 ft
- ZIP codes 1
- 93285
⤓ Download this map
WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA
Nearby Places
Nearby towns by typical elevation
- Alta Sierra, Kern County5,790 ft
- Sugarloaf Saw Mill5,510 ft
- Sugarloaf Village5,140 ft
- Panorama Heights5,070 ft
- McClenney Tract4,820 ft
- Poso Park4,640 ft
- Idlewild3,810 ft
- Glennville3,080 ft
- Wofford Heights2,850 ft
- Kernville2,730 ft
- Lake Isabella2,500 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in California42nd highest of 1,622
- Towns in Kern Countyhighest of 88
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Cannell Peak9,470 ft
- Tobias Peak8,292 ft
- Baker Peak7,910 ft
- Black Mountain, Kern County7,430 ft
- Blue Mountain, Kern County4,829 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).
- 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).
- Altitude effects: standard-atmosphere formulas applied to the typical elevation; UV from EPA's rule of thumb (about 2% per 1,000 ft).
- 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.
- Alta Sierra, Kern County is an unincorporated community; figures cover the census-designated place, a statistical area.
- Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.