Santa Clara County, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Santa Clara County, California, shaded from sea level on San Francisco Bay to 4,360 ft on Copernicus Peak
Elevation
4,360 ft 1,330 m3,270 ft 995 m2,720 ft 830 m1,630 ft 500 m540 ft 165 m0 ft 0 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

Santa Clara County averages about 1,250 ft (380 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from sea level on San Francisco Bay to 4,360 ft on Copernicus Peak.

Average elevation
1,250 ft 380 m
all land inside the county
Highest
4,360 ft 1,325 m
on Copernicus Peak
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on San Francisco Bay

Santa Clara County spans about 4,360 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.

FigureElevation
Average of all land1,250 ft380 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Copernicus Peak (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height)
4,360 ft1,325 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets San Francisco Bay
0 ft0 m

Elevation profile, west to east

42 mi west to east through San Jose.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Santa Clara County, California, shaded from sea level on San Francisco Bay to 4,360 ft on Copernicus Peak
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
County in California, United States
Population
1,926,325 2024 est.
Land area
1,291.1 sq mi + 13.0 sq mi water
Density
1,492 per sq mi
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Pacific Border
Drains to
Pacific Ocean
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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

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. San Benito County1,920 ft
  2. Santa Clara County1,250 ft
  3. Santa Cruz County880 ft
  4. Alameda County840 ft
  5. San Mateo County610 ft
  6. Stanislaus County520 ft
  7. Merced County390 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Copernicus Peak4,360 ft
  • Mount Isabel4,230 ft
  • Eylar Mountain4,087 ft
  • Black Mountain3,955 ft
  • Loma Prieta3,792 ft
All 24 towns in Santa Clara County by typical elevation
  1. Lexington Hills1,400 ft
  2. Los Altos Hills440 ft
  3. Monte Sereno420 ft
  4. Morgan Hill360 ft
  5. Saratoga360 ft
  6. Los Gatos360 ft
  7. East Foothills310 ft
  8. Loyola300 ft
  9. San Martin290 ft
  10. Cupertino260 ft
  11. Cambrian Park240 ft
  12. Gilroy220 ft
  13. Campbell210 ft
  14. Los Altos180 ft
  15. Alum Rock160 ft
  16. San Jose160 ft
  17. Fruitdale160 ft
  18. Burbank, Santa Clara County120 ft
  19. Sunnyvale100 ft
  20. Stanford81 ft
  21. Santa Clara81 ft
  22. Mountain View78 ft
  23. Milpitas37 ft
  24. Palo Alto32 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 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid. Land means the boundary minus Census area water.
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell; 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; 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, −30 ft at 37.4265° N, 122.0804° 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: 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.