Chicago, IL Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Chicago, Illinois, shaded from 580 ft on the north side to 740 ft on the south side
Elevation
740 ft 225 m700 ft 215 m680 ft 205 m640 ft 195 m600 ft 180 m580 ft 175 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
⤓ Download this map
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

Chicago sits at about 600 ft (180 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
600 ft 180 m
most residents: 590–620 ft
Lowest
580 ft 175 m
on the north side
Highest
740 ft 225 m
on the south side
Average
610 ft 185 m
all land inside city limits

Chicago spans about 160 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.

FigureElevation
Typical
Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower
600 ft180 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the south side
740 ft225 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the north side
580 ft175 m
Town center
USGS map point for Chicago
590 ft180 m
Airport (MDW)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
620 ft189 m
Average of all land610 ft185 m

Elevation profile, south to north

21 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Chicago, Illinois, shaded from 580 ft on the north side to 740 ft on the south side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
City in Cook County, Illinois, United States
Population
2,721,308 2024 est.
Land area
227.7 sq mi + 6.8 sq mi water
Density
11,949 per sq mi
Coordinates
41.8500° N, 87.6501° W
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Central Lowland
Drains to
Illinois River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport
Chicago Midway International (MDW) 620 ft
ZIP codes 60
60 ZIP codes60018 60106 60601 60602 60603 60604 60605 60606 60607 60608 60609 60610 60611 60612 60613 60614 60615 60616 60617 60618 60619 60620 60621 60622 60623 60624 60625 60626 60628 60629 60630 60631 60632 60633 60634 60636 60637 60638 60639 60640 60641 60642 60643 60644 60645 60646 60647 60649 60651 60652 60653 60654 60655 60656 60657 60659 60660 60661 60707 60827
⤓ Download this map

WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. North Riverside620 ft
  2. Forest Park620 ft
  3. Oak Park620 ft
  4. Riverside Township620 ft
  5. Stickney Township620 ft
  6. Riverside610 ft
  7. Berwyn610 ft
  8. Stickney610 ft
  9. Cicero610 ft
  10. Chicago600 ft
  11. Forest View590 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Mount Hoy830 ft
  • Blanchard Hill780 ft
  • Players Hill620 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).
  • 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, 550 ft at 41.8438° N, 87.6501° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
  • 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).
  • 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. All public domain.