Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, shaded from 4 ft on the southwest side to 540 ft on the northeast edge, below higher ground just outside
Elevation
540 ft 165 m400 ft 125 m340 ft 105 m200 ft 60 m70 ft 21 m4 ft 1 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 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.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Carmel-by-the-Sea sits at about 200 ft (60 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
200 ft 60 m
most residents: 83–390 ft
Lowest
4 ft 1 m
on the southwest side
Highest
540 ft 165 m
on the northeast edge, below higher ground just outside
Average
180 ft 55 m
all land inside city limits

Carmel-by-the-Sea spans about 536 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
200 ft60 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the northeast edge, below higher ground just outside
540 ft165 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the southwest side
4 ft1 m
Town center
USGS map point for Carmel-by-the-Sea
220 ft65 m
Airport (MRY)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 4.3 mi northeast of the city limits
257 ft78 m
Average of all land180 ft55 m

Elevation profile, west to east

0.9 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, shaded from 4 ft on the southwest side to 540 ft on the northeast edge, below higher ground just outside
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
City in Monterey County, California, United States
Population
3,124 2024 est.
Land area
1.1 sq mi
Density
2,944 per sq mi
Coordinates
36.5552° N, 121.9233° W
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Drains to
Pacific Ocean
Airport
Monterey Regional (MRY) 257 ft
ZIP codes 1
93921
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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, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Carmel Valley Village660 ft
  2. Carmel-by-the-Sea200 ft
  3. Del Monte Forest190 ft
  4. Monterey170 ft
  5. Pacific Grove170 ft
  6. Del Rey Oaks140 ft
  7. Seaside130 ft
  8. Marina77 ft
  9. Spreckels57 ft
  10. Boronda52 ft
  11. Sand City25 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Chews Ridge5,082 ft
  • Palo Escrito Peak4,460 ft
  • Pico Blanco3,690 ft
  • Mount Toro3,564 ft
  • Mount Johnson3,468 ft
How we measure
  • Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the city limits, 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 city limits (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).
  • 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.
  • Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS and Watershed Boundary Dataset; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.