San Jose, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of San Jose, California, shaded from sea level level on Guadalupe Slough to 2,340 ft on the east side
Elevation
2,340 ft 715 m1,760 ft 535 m1,460 ft 445 m880 ft 270 m290 ft 90 m0 ft 0 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
⤓ Download this map
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

San Jose sits at about 160 ft (50 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
160 ft 50 m
most residents: 85–260 ft
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on Guadalupe Slough
Highest
2,340 ft 715 m
on the east side
Average
290 ft 90 m
all land inside city limits

San Jose spans about 2,340 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
160 ft50 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the east side
2,340 ft715 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets Guadalupe Slough
0 ft0 m
Town center
USGS map point for San Jose
81 ft25 m
Airport (SJC)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
62 ft19 m
Average of all land290 ft90 m
Nearest peak
Loma Prieta, 2.9 mi south of the city limits (NGS survey)
3,792 ft1,156 m

Elevation profile, south to north

13 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of San Jose, California, shaded from sea level level on Guadalupe Slough to 2,340 ft on the east side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
City in Santa Clara County, California, United States
Population
997,368 2024 est.
Land area
177.9 sq mi + 3.1 sq mi water
Density
5,605 per sq mi
Coordinates
37.3394° N, 121.8950° W
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Pacific Border
Drains to
Pacific Ocean
Airport
Mineta San Jose International (SJC) 62 ft
ZIP codes 32
32 ZIP codes95002 95008 95013 95037 95110 95111 95112 95113 95116 95117 95118 95119 95120 95121 95122 95123 95124 95125 95126 95127 95128 95129 95130 95131 95132 95133 95134 95135 95136 95138 95139 95148
⤓ Download this map

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. East Foothills310 ft
  2. Cupertino260 ft
  3. Cambrian Park240 ft
  4. Campbell210 ft
  5. Alum Rock160 ft
  6. San Jose160 ft
  7. Fruitdale160 ft
  8. Burbank, Santa Clara County120 ft
  9. Sunnyvale100 ft
  10. Santa Clara81 ft
  11. Milpitas37 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Copernicus Peak4,360 ft
  • Black Mountain, Santa Clara County3,955 ft
  • Loma Prieta3,792 ft
  • Mount Bielawski3,234 ft
  • Mount Allison2,664 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, −20 ft at 37.4571° N, 121.9393° 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.