San Juan County, CO Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
13,870 ft 4,230 m12,450 ft 3,795 m11,740 ft 3,580 m10,320 ft 3,145 m8,900 ft 2,715 m8,190 ft 2,500 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 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.
- County area
- Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).
Elevation Data
San Juan County averages about 11,390 ft (3,470 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 8,190 ft on the south side to 13,870 ft on Vermilion Peak.
Average elevation
11,390 ft 3,470 m
all land inside the county
Highest
13,870 ft 4,230 m
on Vermilion Peak
Lowest
8,190 ft 2,500 m
on the south side
San Juan County spans about 5,680 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.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Average of all land | 11,390 ft3,470 m |
| Highest point Inside the county, on Vermilion Peak (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height) | 13,870 ft4,230 m |
| Lowest point Inside the county, on the south side | 8,190 ft2,500 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
19 mi west to east through Silverton.
Topographic Map
- Location
- County in Colorado, United States
- Population
- 821 2024 est.
- Land area
- 387.5 sq mi + 0.8 sq mi water
- Density
- 2.1 per sq mi
- Time zone
- Mountain UTC−7 / −6
- Landform region
- Southern Rocky Mountains
- Drains to
- Gulf of California 96%
⤓ Download this map
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
- San Juan County11,390 ft
- Hinsdale County10,910 ft
- Ouray County9,020 ft
- Dolores County8,280 ft
- La Plata County8,010 ft
- San Miguel County7,950 ft
Rankings by average elevation
- Counties in Coloradohighest of 62
- Counties in the United Stateshighest of 3,151
Peaks and hills highest inside
- Jones Mountain, San Juan County13,830 ft
- Vestal Peak13,830 ft
- Tower Mountain13,520 ft
- Sultan Mountain13,360 ft
- North Twilight Peak13,070 ft
The one town in San Juan County
- Silverton9,310 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.
- 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.