Cook County, IL Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
950 ft 290 m840 ft 255 m780 ft 240 m670 ft 205 m560 ft 170 m510 ft 155 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
Cook County averages about 660 ft (200 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 510 ft on the west side to 950 ft on the northwest side.
Average elevation
660 ft 200 m
all land inside the county
Highest
950 ft 290 m
on the northwest side
Lowest
510 ft 155 m
on the west side
Cook County spans about 440 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 | 660 ft200 m |
| Highest point Inside the county, on the northwest side | 950 ft290 m |
| Lowest point Inside the county, on the west side | 510 ft155 m |
Elevation profile, south to north
47 mi south to north through Chicago.
Topographic Map
- Location
- County in Illinois, United States
- Population
- 5,182,617 2024 est.
- Land area
- 944.9 sq mi + 689.7 sq mi water
- Density
- 5,485 per sq mi
- Time zone
- Central UTC−6 / −5
- Landform region
- Central Lowland
- Drains to
- Gulf of America 54%
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Nearby Places
Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average
- McHenry County870 ft
- Kane County810 ft
- Lake County740 ft
- DuPage County730 ft
- Porter County, IN700 ft
- Berrien County, MI690 ft
- Will County660 ft
- Cook County660 ft
- Lake County, IN660 ft
Rankings by average elevation
- Counties in Illinois36th highest of 102
- Counties in the United States2,112th highest of 3,151
Peaks and hills highest inside
- Players Hill620 ft
All 156 towns in Cook County by typical elevation
- Barrington Township860 ft
- South Barrington850 ft
- Deer Park partly840 ft
- Barrington840 ft
- Inverness840 ft
- Barrington Hills840 ft
- Hoffman Estates820 ft
- Streamwood810 ft
- Hanover Township810 ft
- Elgin partly800 ft
- Schaumburg800 ft
- Hanover Park800 ft
- Schaumburg Township800 ft
- Bartlett partly790 ft
- Roselle partly770 ft
- University Park partly770 ft
- Palatine750 ft
- Palatine Township740 ft
- Richton Park730 ft
- Lemont730 ft
- Lemont Township720 ft
- South Chicago Heights720 ft
- Orland Hills710 ft
- Rolling Meadows710 ft
- Park Forest710 ft
- Steger partly710 ft
- Rich Township710 ft
- Hinsdale partly710 ft
- Orland Township710 ft
- Elk Grove Village710 ft
- Matteson700 ft
- Tinley Park700 ft
- Orland Park700 ft
- Arlington Heights700 ft
- Olympia Fields700 ft
- Indian Head Park700 ft
- Country Club Hills700 ft
- Oak Brook partly700 ft
- Elk Grove Township690 ft
- Buffalo Grove partly690 ft
- Burr Ridge partly690 ft
- Palos Park680 ft
- Elmhurst partly680 ft
- Flossmoor680 ft
- Wheeling Township680 ft
- Deerfield partly670 ft
- Oak Forest670 ft
- Mount Prospect670 ft
- Berkeley670 ft
- Chicago Heights660 ft
- Northbrook660 ft
- Glencoe660 ft
- Countryside660 ft
- Western Springs660 ft
- Hillside660 ft
- Northfield Township660 ft
- Wheeling660 ft
- Bremen Township650 ft
- Hickory Hills650 ft
- Bloom Township650 ft
- Sauk Village650 ft
- Homewood650 ft
- Hazel Crest650 ft
- Glenview650 ft
- Harwood Heights650 ft
- Niles650 ft
- Northlake650 ft
- Norwood Park Township650 ft
- Prospect Heights650 ft
- La Grange650 ft
- Norridge650 ft
- Maine Township640 ft
- Des Plaines640 ft
- Franklin Park640 ft
- Park Ridge640 ft
- Leyden Township640 ft
- Schiller Park640 ft
- Stone Park640 ft
- Westchester640 ft
- Rosemont640 ft
- Palos Township630 ft
- Golf630 ft
- Ford Heights630 ft
- Melrose Park630 ft
- Bellwood630 ft
- Elmwood Park630 ft
- Winnetka630 ft
- Morton Grove630 ft
- Proviso Township630 ft
- Northfield630 ft
- Maywood630 ft
- Lyons Township630 ft
- River Forest630 ft
- River Grove630 ft
- Broadview630 ft
- Palos Heights630 ft
- La Grange Park630 ft
- New Trier Township620 ft
- Evergreen Park620 ft
- Wilmette620 ft
- Glenwood620 ft
- North Riverside620 ft
- Merrionette Park620 ft
- Brookfield620 ft
- Forest Park620 ft
- Justice620 ft
- Hometown620 ft
- East Hazel Crest620 ft
- Thornton620 ft
- Oak Park620 ft
- Bridgeview620 ft
- Blue Island620 ft
- Riverside Township620 ft
- Burbank620 ft
- Stickney Township620 ft
- Midlothian620 ft
- Lyons620 ft
- Niles Township620 ft
- Lynwood620 ft
- Riverside610 ft
- Crestwood610 ft
- Bedford Park610 ft
- Worth Township610 ft
- Summit610 ft
- Willow Springs610 ft
- McCook610 ft
- Kenilworth610 ft
- Oak Lawn610 ft
- Lansing610 ft
- Markham610 ft
- Berwyn610 ft
- Skokie610 ft
- Hodgkins610 ft
- Worth610 ft
- Lincolnwood610 ft
- Stickney610 ft
- Robbins610 ft
- Cicero610 ft
- Calumet Park610 ft
- Calumet Township600 ft
- Posen600 ft
- Harvey600 ft
- Evanston600 ft
- South Holland600 ft
- Phoenix600 ft
- Thornton Township600 ft
- Riverdale600 ft
- Dixmoor600 ft
- Palos Hills600 ft
- Dolton600 ft
- Chicago Ridge600 ft
- Alsip600 ft
- Chicago600 ft
- Forest View590 ft
- Calumet City590 ft
- Burnham580 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. 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.
- 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, 250 ft at 41.5768° N, 87.6232° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
- 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.