Tuolumne County, CA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Tuolumne County, California, shaded from 240 ft on the west side to 13,070 ft on Mount Lyell
Elevation
13,070 ft 3,980 m9,860 ft 3,005 m8,250 ft 2,515 m5,050 ft 1,540 m1,840 ft 560 m240 ft 75 m
Zoom in for contour lines
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

Tuolumne County averages about 5,640 ft (1,720 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 240 ft on the west side to 13,070 ft on Mount Lyell.

Average elevation
5,640 ft 1,720 m
all land inside the county
Highest
13,070 ft 3,980 m
on Mount Lyell
Lowest
240 ft 70 m
on the west side

Tuolumne County spans about 12,830 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 land5,640 ft1,720 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Mount Lyell (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height)
13,070 ft3,980 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the west side
240 ft70 m

Elevation profile, west to east

66 mi west to east through Sonora.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Tuolumne County, California, shaded from 240 ft on the west side to 13,070 ft on Mount Lyell
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 1,000 ft (305 m).
Location
County in California, United States
Population
53,893 2024 est.
Land area
2,220.9 sq mi + 53.5 sq mi water
Density
24 per sq mi
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Cascade-sierra Mountains 96%
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. Mono County7,800 ft
  2. Alpine County7,760 ft
  3. Tuolumne County5,640 ft
  4. Mariposa County3,620 ft
  5. Madera County3,070 ft
  6. Calaveras County2,410 ft
  7. Stanislaus County520 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Mount Lyell13,070 ft
  • Mount Dana13,061 ft
  • Excelsior Mountain12,420 ft
  • Twin Peaks12,290 ft
  • Tower Peak11,700 ft
All 19 towns in Tuolumne County by typical elevation
  1. Cold Springs, Tuolumne County5,550 ft
  2. Strawberry, Tuolumne County5,310 ft
  3. Long Barn4,980 ft
  4. Sierra Village4,810 ft
  5. Mi-Wuk Village4,480 ft
  6. Cedar Ridge3,820 ft
  7. Twain Harte3,690 ft
  8. Groveland3,080 ft
  9. Soulsbyville2,970 ft
  10. Mono Vista2,820 ft
  11. Pine Mountain Lake2,750 ft
  12. Tuolumne City2,620 ft
  13. Phoenix Lake2,620 ft
  14. East Sonora2,170 ft
  15. Columbia2,130 ft
  16. Sonora1,940 ft
  17. Tuttletown1,580 ft
  18. Jamestown1,500 ft
  19. Chinese Camp1,220 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 2 arc-second (≈200 ft, 62 m) grid, coarsened from 1 arc-second so the whole area fits one run. Land means the boundary minus Census area water (on this grid, water areas of at least half a cell).
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 highest grid cells; 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, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 lowest grid cells; 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.