Nevada County, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Elevation

9,150 ft 2,790 m6,930 ft 2,110 m5,820 ft 1,775 m3,600 ft 1,100 m1,390 ft 420 m280 ft 85 m

Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 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.
County area: Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Nevada County averages about 4,080 ft (1,245 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 280 ft on the southwest side to 9,147 ft on Mount Lola.

Average elevation

4,080 ft 1,245 m

all land inside the county

Highest

9,147 ft 2,788 m

on Mount Lola

Lowest

280 ft 85 m

on the southwest side

Nevada County spans about 8,870 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	4,080 ft1,245 m
Highest point Inside the county, on Mount Lola (NGS survey height)	9,147 ft2,788 m
Lowest point Inside the county, on the southwest side	280 ft85 m

Elevation profile, west to east

64 mi west to east through Truckee.

Topographic Map

Location: County in California, United States
Population: 102,195 2024 est.
Land area: 957.8 sq mi + 16.0 sq mi water
Density: 107 per sq mi
Time zone: Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region: Cascade-sierra Mountains 93%
Drains to: Pacific Ocean 75%, Pyramid Lake basin (does not reach the sea) 25%

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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

Sierra County5,730 ft
Washoe County, NV5,400 ft
Nevada County4,080 ft
Placer County3,650 ft
Yuba County1,040 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Counties in California12th highest of 57
Counties in the United States257th highest of 3,151

Peaks and hills highest inside

Mount Lola9,147 ft
Castle Peak, Nevada County9,060 ft
Basin Peak9,010 ft
English Mountain8,350 ft
Andesite Peak8,200 ft

All 14 towns in Nevada County by typical elevation

Soda Springs6,740 ft
Floriston6,210 ft
Kingvale6,090 ft
Truckee5,950 ft
Graniteville5,010 ft
Washington2,700 ft
Nevada City2,600 ft
Grass Valley2,520 ft
North San Juan2,180 ft
Alta Sierra2,160 ft
Rough and Ready2,040 ft
Lake of the Pines1,550 ft
Penn Valley1,430 ft
Lake Wildwood1,350 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; it is a named summit, so its height is the peak method: the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it. 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.
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.