Kern County, CA Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
8,800 ft 2,685 m6,650 ft 2,025 m5,580 ft 1,700 m3,420 ft 1,045 m1,270 ft 390 m200 ft 60 m
Zoom in for contour lines
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.
- County area
- Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).
Elevation Data
Kern County averages about 2,390 ft (730 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 200 ft on the northwest side to 8,800 ft on the southwest side.
Average elevation
2,390 ft 730 m
all land inside the county
Highest
8,800 ft 2,685 m
on the southwest side
Lowest
200 ft 60 m
on the northwest side
Kern County spans about 8,600 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.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Average of all land | 2,390 ft730 m |
| Highest point Inside the county, on the southwest side | 8,800 ft2,685 m |
| Lowest point Inside the county, on the northwest side | 200 ft60 m |
Elevation profile, south to north
68 mi south to north through Bakersfield.
Topographic Map
- Location
- County in California, United States
- Population
- 922,529 2024 est.
- Land area
- 8,134.7 sq mi + 30.2 sq mi water
- Density
- 113 per sq mi
- Time zone
- Pacific UTC−8 / −7
- Landform regions
- Pacific Border 46%, Cascade-sierra Mountains 31%, Basin and Range 23%
- Drains to
- Closed basin (does not reach the sea) 50%, Rogers Lake basin (does not reach the sea) 21%
⤓ Download this map
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
- Tulare County4,290 ft
- Inyo County4,160 ft
- San Bernardino County2,660 ft
- Ventura County2,650 ft
- Kern County2,390 ft
- Los Angeles County2,250 ft
- Santa Barbara County1,800 ft
- San Luis Obispo County1,530 ft
- Kings County380 ft
Rankings by average elevation
- Counties in California24th highest of 57
- Counties in the United States510th highest of 3,151
Peaks and hills highest inside
- Owens Peak8,452 ft
- Piute Peak8,437 ft
- Covington Mountain7,880 ft
- Cummings Mountain7,750 ft
- Breckenridge Mountain7,577 ft
All 88 towns in Kern County by typical elevation
- Alta Sierra, Kern County5,790 ft
- Pine Mountain Club5,740 ft
- Lake of the Woods5,170 ft
- Frazier Park4,830 ft
- Bear Valley Springs4,350 ft
- Mountain Meadows4,310 ft
- Tehachapi4,000 ft
- Lebec3,990 ft
- Golden Hills3,950 ft
- Stallion Springs3,830 ft
- Randsburg3,590 ft
- Johannesburg3,560 ft
- Bodfish3,190 ft
- Glennville3,080 ft
- Keene3,020 ft
- Squirrel Mountain Valley2,950 ft
- Wofford Heights2,850 ft
- Onyx2,790 ft
- Mojave2,760 ft
- Weldon2,760 ft
- Kernville2,730 ft
- Mountain Mesa2,680 ft
- Lake Isabella2,500 ft
- Boron2,450 ft
- Inyokern2,450 ft
- China Lake Acres2,420 ft
- Ridgecrest Heights2,420 ft
- California City2,390 ft
- Edwards AFB2,380 ft
- Rosamond2,350 ft
- Ridgecrest2,300 ft
- North Edwards2,300 ft
- Woody2,230 ft
- Derby Acres1,360 ft
- Fellows1,320 ft
- Taft Heights1,160 ft
- McKittrick1,060 ft
- South Taft1,050 ft
- Tarina1,040 ft
- Taft940 ft
- Ford City880 ft
- Maricopa880 ft
- Bakersfield Country Club650 ft
- Choctaw Valley630 ft
- Edison560 ft
- Mettler540 ft
- La Cresta520 ft
- East Niles500 ft
- Di Giorgio490 ft
- Rivergrove490 ft
- Hillcrest480 ft
- Edmundson Acres480 ft
- Oildale470 ft
- East Bakersfield470 ft
- Goodmanville470 ft
- Arvin420 ft
- Valley Acres420 ft
- Fairfax, Kern County420 ft
- Fuller Acres410 ft
- Potomac Park400 ft
- Casa Loma400 ft
- Lamont400 ft
- Benton Park390 ft
- Cottonwood, Kern County390 ft
- Old Stine390 ft
- Olde Stockdale380 ft
- Weedpatch380 ft
- Greenacres380 ft
- Bakersfield380 ft
- Rexland Acres360 ft
- Dustin Acres360 ft
- Rosedale350 ft
- McFarland350 ft
- Pumpkin Center350 ft
- Greenfield, Kern County350 ft
- Shafter340 ft
- Old River340 ft
- El Adobe330 ft
- Cherokee Strip330 ft
- Mexican Colony330 ft
- Smith Corner330 ft
- Lakeside, Kern County320 ft
- Tupman320 ft
- Wasco320 ft
- Delano310 ft
- Stebbins310 ft
- Lost Hills290 ft
- Buttonwillow270 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 3 arc-second (≈300 ft, 93 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, 200 ft at 35.7676° N, 119.5082° 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.