Sierra County, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Sierra County, California, shaded from 1,760 ft on the southwest side to 8,850 ft on the southeast side
Elevation
8,850 ft 2,695 m7,080 ft 2,155 m6,190 ft 1,885 m4,420 ft 1,345 m2,650 ft 805 m1,760 ft 535 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

Sierra County averages about 5,730 ft (1,750 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,760 ft on the southwest side to 8,850 ft on the southeast side.

Average elevation
5,730 ft 1,750 m
all land inside the county
Highest
8,850 ft 2,695 m
on the southeast side
Lowest
1,760 ft 535 m
on the southwest side

Sierra County spans about 7,090 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 land5,730 ft1,750 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the southeast side
8,850 ft2,695 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the southwest side
1,760 ft535 m

Elevation profile, west to east

51 mi west to east through Loyalton.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Sierra County, California, shaded from 1,760 ft on the southwest side to 8,850 ft on the southeast side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
County in California, United States
Population
3,113 2024 est.
Land area
953.2 sq mi + 9.0 sq mi water
Density
3.3 per sq mi
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Cascade-sierra Mountains
Drains to
Pacific Ocean 75%, Pyramid Lake basin (does not reach the sea) 17%
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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. Sierra County5,730 ft
  2. Washoe County, NV5,400 ft
  3. Lassen County5,390 ft
  4. Plumas County5,330 ft
  5. Nevada County4,080 ft
  6. Yuba County1,040 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Babbitt Peak8,765 ft
  • Sierra Buttes8,520 ft
  • Verdi Peak8,451 ft
  • Sardine Peak8,110 ft
  • Haskell Peak8,090 ft
All 11 towns in Sierra County by typical elevation
  1. Sierra Brooks5,200 ft
  2. Verdi5,170 ft
  3. Sattley5,020 ft
  4. Sierraville4,990 ft
  5. Calpine4,990 ft
  6. Loyalton4,950 ft
  7. Sierra City4,280 ft
  8. Alleghany4,240 ft
  9. Pike3,290 ft
  10. Downieville2,980 ft
  11. Goodyears Bar2,850 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. Lowest: the lowest land cell; 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.