National City, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of National City, California, shaded from sea level level on San Diego Bay to 320 ft on the east side
Elevation
320 ft 95 m240 ft 75 m200 ft 60 m120 ft 35 m40 ft 12 m0 ft 0 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

National City sits at about 85 ft (26 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
85 ft 26 m
most residents: 35–150 ft
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on San Diego Bay
Highest
320 ft 95 m
on the east side
Average
68 ft 21 m
all land inside city limits

National City spans about 320 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
85 ft26 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the east side
320 ft95 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets San Diego Bay
0 ft0 m
Town center
USGS map point for National City
67 ft20 m
Airport (SAN)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 4.7 mi northwest of the city limits
17 ft5 m
Average of all land68 ft21 m
Nearest peak
San Miguel Mountain, 6.9 mi east of the city limits (NGS survey)
2,569 ft783 m

Elevation profile, west to east

4.1 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of National City, California, shaded from sea level level on San Diego Bay to 320 ft on the east side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
City in San Diego County, California, United States
Population
58,460 2024 est.
Land area
7.3 sq mi + 2.0 sq mi water
Density
7,960 per sq mi
Coordinates
32.6781° N, 117.0992° W
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Lower Californian
Drains to
Pacific Ocean
Airport
San Diego International (SAN) 17 ft
ZIP codes 1
91950
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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. Casa de Oro-Mount Helix640 ft
  2. La Mesa550 ft
  3. Spring Valley490 ft
  4. Lemon Grove430 ft
  5. La Presa340 ft
  6. San Diego320 ft
  7. Chula Vista320 ft
  8. Bonita200 ft
  9. National City85 ft
  10. Imperial Beach23 ft
  11. Coronado16 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Tecate Peak3,780 ft
  • Lyons Peak3,741 ft
  • El Cajon Mountain3,677 ft
  • Otay Mountain3,560 ft
  • San Miguel Mountain2,569 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).
  • 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, −1 ft at 32.6782° N, 117.1276° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted; this coastal land's lowest point is sea level on the coast.
  • 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.