Palm Springs, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Palm Springs, California, shaded from 310 ft on the southeast side to 5,220 ft on the south side
Elevation
5,220 ft 1,590 m3,990 ft 1,215 m3,380 ft 1,030 m2,150 ft 655 m920 ft 280 m310 ft 95 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.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Palm Springs sits at about 450 ft (140 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
450 ft 140 m
most residents: 380–620 ft
Lowest
310 ft 95 m
on the southeast side
Highest
5,220 ft 1,590 m
on the south side
Average
1,600 ft 485 m
all land inside city limits

Palm Springs spans about 4,910 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
450 ft140 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the south side
5,220 ft1,590 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the southeast side
310 ft95 m
Town center
USGS map point for Palm Springs
480 ft145 m
Airport (PSP)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
477 ft145 m
Average of all land1,600 ft485 m
Nearest peak
San Jacinto Peak, 3.1 mi west of the city limits
10,790 ft3,285 m

Elevation profile, west to east

7.0 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Palm Springs, California, shaded from 310 ft on the southeast side to 5,220 ft on the south side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
City in Riverside County, California, United States
Population
45,453 2024 est.
Land area
94.5 sq mi + 0.1 sq mi water
Density
481 per sq mi
Coordinates
33.8303° N, 116.5453° W
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Basin and Range
Drains to
Whitewater River → Salton Sea basin (does not reach the sea)
Airport
Palm Springs International (PSP) 477 ft
ZIP codes 7
92234 92258 92260 92262 92264 92282 92549
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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. Idyllwild-Pine Cove5,560 ft
  2. Whitewater1,540 ft
  3. Sky Valley1,160 ft
  4. Desert Hot Springs1,100 ft
  5. Desert Edge1,000 ft
  6. Garnet850 ft
  7. Palm Springs450 ft
  8. Cathedral City370 ft
  9. Rancho Mirage280 ft
  10. Thousand Palms240 ft
  11. Palm Desert200 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • San Jacinto Peak10,780 ft
  • Toro Peak8,690 ft
  • Palm View Peak7,160 ft
  • Martinez Mountain6,570 ft
  • Asbestos Mountain5,250 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. All public domain.