Imperial County, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Imperial County, California, shaded from 240 ft below sea level on the northwest side to 4,530 ft on the southwest side
Elevation
4,530 ft 1,380 m3,340 ft 1,020 m2,740 ft 835 m1,550 ft 475 m360 ft 110 m−240 ft −75 m
Zoom in for contour lines
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

Imperial County averages about 410 ft (125 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 240 ft below sea level on the northwest side to 4,530 ft on the southwest side.

Average elevation
410 ft 125 m
all land inside the county
Highest
4,530 ft 1,380 m
on the southwest side
Lowest
−240 ft −70 m
on the northwest side

Imperial County spans about 4,770 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 land410 ft125 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the southwest side
4,530 ft1,380 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
−240 ft−70 m

Elevation profile, south to north

53 mi south to north through El Centro.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Imperial County, California, shaded from 240 ft below sea level on the northwest side to 4,530 ft on the southwest side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
County in California, United States
Population
181,724 2024 est.
Land area
4,175.5 sq mi + 305.1 sq mi water
Density
44 per sq mi
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Basin and Range 98%
Drains to
Salton Sea basin (does not reach the sea) 54%, Closed basin (does not reach the sea) 29%, Gulf of California 13%
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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. San Diego County1,970 ft
  2. Riverside County1,860 ft
  3. La Paz County, AZ1,360 ft
  4. Yuma County, AZ860 ft
  5. Imperial County410 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Mount Barrow2,479 ft
  • Carrizo Mountain2,412 ft
  • Sawtooth Mountain, Imperial County2,230 ft
  • Quartz Peak2,180 ft
  • Black Mountain, Imperial County2,150 ft
All 18 towns in Imperial County by typical elevation
  1. Ocotillo390 ft
  2. Palo Verde230 ft
  3. Winterhaven130 ft
  4. Calexico6 ft
  5. Holtville−10 ft
  6. Heber−14 ft
  7. El Centro−38 ft
  8. Seeley−40 ft
  9. El Centro Naval Air Facility−42 ft
  10. Imperial−55 ft
  11. Brawley−110 ft
  12. Niland−140 ft
  13. Salton City−160 ft
  14. Westmorland−160 ft
  15. Calipatria−170 ft
  16. Desert Shores−210 ft
  17. Salton Sea Beach−220 ft
  18. Bombay Beach−220 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 2 arc-second (≈200 ft, 62 m) grid, coarsened from 1 arc-second so the whole area fits one run. Land means the boundary minus Census area water (on this grid, water areas of at least half a cell).
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 highest grid cells. Lowest: the lowest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 lowest grid cells; 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, −240 ft at 33.1604° N, 115.6460° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
  • 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.