Santa Cruz County, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Santa Cruz County, California, shaded from sea level on Monterey Bay to 3,234 ft on Mount Bielawski
Elevation
3,230 ft 985 m2,430 ft 740 m2,020 ft 615 m1,210 ft 370 m400 ft 125 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 Cruz County averages about 880 ft (265 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from sea level on Monterey Bay to 3,234 ft on Mount Bielawski.

Average elevation
880 ft 265 m
all land inside the county
Highest
3,234 ft 986 m
on Mount Bielawski
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on Monterey Bay

Santa Cruz County spans about 3,230 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 land880 ft265 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Mount Bielawski (NGS survey height)
3,234 ft986 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets Monterey Bay
0 ft0 m

Elevation profile, south to north

25 mi south to north through Santa Cruz.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Santa Cruz County, California, shaded from sea level on Monterey Bay to 3,234 ft on Mount Bielawski
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
County in California, United States
Population
262,406 2024 est.
Land area
445.1 sq mi + 162.1 sq mi water
Density
590 per sq mi
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Pacific Border 97%
Drains to
Pacific Ocean
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. San Benito County1,920 ft
  2. Monterey County1,440 ft
  3. Santa Clara County1,250 ft
  4. Santa Cruz County880 ft
  5. San Mateo County610 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Mount Bielawski3,234 ft
  • Ben Lomond Mountain2,650 ft
  • Santa Rosalia Mountain2,630 ft
  • Eagle Rock, Santa Cruz County2,491 ft
  • Buzzards Roost2,210 ft
All 30 towns in Santa Cruz County by typical elevation
  1. Bonny Doon1,510 ft
  2. Lompico890 ft
  3. Zayante830 ft
  4. Scotts Valley640 ft
  5. Brookdale640 ft
  6. Day Valley630 ft
  7. Boulder Creek610 ft
  8. Ben Lomond500 ft
  9. Mount Hermon500 ft
  10. Pasatiempo400 ft
  11. Felton400 ft
  12. Corralitos390 ft
  13. Aptos Hills-Larkin Valley380 ft
  14. Aptos230 ft
  15. Freedom160 ft
  16. Soquel160 ft
  17. Amesti150 ft
  18. La Selva Beach150 ft
  19. Rio del Mar150 ft
  20. Seacliff140 ft
  21. Interlaken130 ft
  22. Davenport110 ft
  23. Capitola89 ft
  24. Live Oak84 ft
  25. Santa Cruz70 ft
  26. Paradise Park64 ft
  27. Watsonville55 ft
  28. Twin Lakes52 ft
  29. Pleasure Point45 ft
  30. Pajaro Dunes16 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, −1 ft at 36.9676° N, 122.0024° 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.