Chico, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Chico, California, shaded from 130 ft on the southwest side to 1,640 ft on the northeast edge, below higher ground just outside
Elevation
1,640 ft 500 m1,260 ft 385 m1,080 ft 330 m700 ft 215 m320 ft 100 m130 ft 40 m
Contours every 200 ft, bold every 1,000 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

Chico 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: 180–250 ft
Lowest
130 ft 40 m
on the southwest side
Highest
1,640 ft 500 m
on the northeast edge, below higher ground just outside
Average
310 ft 95 m
all land inside city limits

Chico spans about 1,510 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
1,640 ft500 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the southwest side
130 ft40 m
Town center
USGS map point for Chico
200 ft60 m
Airport (CIC)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
240 ft73 m
Average of all land310 ft95 m

Elevation profile, west to east

5.0 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Chico, California, shaded from 130 ft on the southwest side to 1,640 ft on the northeast edge, below higher ground just outside
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 100 ft (30 m).
Location
City in Butte County, California, United States
Population
102,911 2024 est.
Land area
34.7 sq mi + 0.2 sq mi water
Density
2,965 per sq mi
Coordinates
39.7285° N, 121.8375° W
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Pacific Border
Drains to
Sacramento River → Pacific Ocean
Airport
Chico Regional (CIC) 240 ft
ZIP codes 4
95926 95928 95929 95973
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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. Cohasset2,500 ft
  2. Magalia2,470 ft
  3. Forest Ranch2,420 ft
  4. Concow2,250 ft
  5. Paradise1,780 ft
  6. Butte Creek Canyon530 ft
  7. Butte Valley470 ft
  8. Chico200 ft
  9. Durham160 ft
  10. Hamilton City150 ft
  11. Nord150 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Butt Mountain7,874 ft
  • Bald Eagle Mountain7,186 ft
  • Red Hill6,352 ft
  • Bloomer Hill3,004 ft
  • South Butte2,100 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, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; 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.