DeKalb, IL Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of DeKalb, Illinois, shaded from 830 ft on the north side to 920 ft on the east side
Elevation
920 ft 280 m900 ft 275 m890 ft 270 m860 ft 265 m840 ft 255 m830 ft 255 m
Contours every 200 ft, bold every 1,000 ft
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.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

DeKalb sits at about 880 ft (265 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
880 ft 265 m
most residents: 860–890 ft
Lowest
830 ft 255 m
on the north side
Highest
920 ft 280 m
on the east side
Average
880 ft 270 m
all land inside city limits

DeKalb spans about 90 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
880 ft265 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the east side
920 ft280 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the north side
830 ft255 m
Town center
USGS map point for DeKalb
880 ft270 m
Airport (DKB)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
913 ft278 m
Average of all land880 ft270 m

Elevation profile, south to north

5.8 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of DeKalb, Illinois, shaded from 830 ft on the north side to 920 ft on the east side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
City in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States
Population
40,491 2024 est.
Land area
17.8 sq mi + 0.2 sq mi water
Density
2,274 per sq mi
Coordinates
41.9295° N, 88.7504° W
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Central Lowland
Drains to
South Branch Kishwaukee River → Rock River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport
De Kalb Taylor Municipal (DKB) 913 ft
ZIP codes 1
60115
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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, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Malta910 ft
  2. Malta Township910 ft
  3. Cortland890 ft
  4. Cortland Township880 ft
  5. DeKalb880 ft
  6. DeKalb Township880 ft
  7. Afton Township870 ft
  8. Sycamore860 ft
  9. Sycamore Township850 ft
  10. Mayfield Township850 ft
  11. Pierce Township830 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Johnsons Mound890 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, 830 ft at 41.9685° N, 88.7293° 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.