South Lake Tahoe, CA Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
7,850 ft 2,395 m7,450 ft 2,270 m7,240 ft 2,210 m6,840 ft 2,085 m6,430 ft 1,960 m6,230 ft 1,900 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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
South Lake Tahoe sits at about 6,270 ft (1,910 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
6,270 ft 1,910 m
most residents: 6,240–6,310 ft
Lowest
6,230 ft 1,900 m
on the northeast side
Highest
7,850 ft 2,395 m
at the foot of the Crystal Range
Average
6,310 ft 1,925 m
all land inside city limits
South Lake Tahoe spans about 1,620 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.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Typical Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower | 6,270 ft1,910 m |
| Highest point Inside city limits, at the foot of the Crystal Range | 7,850 ft2,395 m |
| Lowest point Inside city limits, on the northeast side | 6,230 ft1,900 m |
| Town center USGS map point for South Lake Tahoe | 6,240 ft1,900 m |
| Airport (TVL) FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways | 6,268 ft1,910 m |
| Average of all land | 6,310 ft1,925 m |
| Nearest peak Monument Peak, Alpine County, 1.9 mi east of the city limits | 10,040 ft3,060 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
4.3 mi west to east through the town center.
Altitude Effects
What 6,270 ft means day to day, worked out from the typical elevation.
Water boils at
200.3 °F93.5 °C
vs 212 °F at sea level; USDA: food takes longer to cook.
Air pressure
79% of sea level
23.7 inHg (80.4 kPa): each breath holds 21% less air.
Oxygen equivalent
16.6% at sea level
Air is still 21% oxygen, just thinner. Normal at the coast: 20.9%.
Sunburn
+13% more UV
EPA: UV rises about 2% for every 1,000 ft.
Topographic Map
- Location
- City in El Dorado County, California, United States
- Population
- 21,225 2024 est.
- Land area
- 10.1 sq mi + 0.3 sq mi water
- Density
- 2,096 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 38.9332° N, 119.9843° W
- Time zone
- Pacific UTC−8 / −7
- Landform region
- Cascade-sierra Mountains
- Drains to
- Truckee River → Pyramid Lake basin (does not reach the sea)
- Airport
- Lake Tahoe (TVL) 6,268 ft
- ZIP codes 1
- 96150
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA
Nearby Places
Nearby towns by typical elevation
- Round Hill Village, NV7,620 ft
- Logan Creek, NV7,260 ft
- Kingsbury, NV6,820 ft
- Lakeridge, NV6,520 ft
- Meyers6,370 ft
- Zephyr Cove, NV6,360 ft
- Skyland, NV6,320 ft
- Glenbrook, NV6,280 ft
- South Lake Tahoe6,270 ft
- Stateline, NV6,250 ft
- Genoa, NV4,710 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in California31st highest of 1,622
- Towns in El Dorado County3rd highest of 15
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Freel Peak10,886 ft
- Monument Peak, Alpine County10,040 ft
- Dicks Peak9,950 ft
- Waterhouse Peak9,501 ft
- Genoa Peak9,130 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).
- Altitude effects: standard-atmosphere formulas applied to the typical elevation; UV from EPA's rule of thumb (about 2% per 1,000 ft).
- 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.