McHenry, IL Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of McHenry, Illinois, shaded from 740 ft on the southeast side to 960 ft on the west side
Elevation
960 ft 290 m900 ft 275 m870 ft 265 m820 ft 250 m760 ft 235 m740 ft 225 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 500 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

McHenry sits at about 780 ft (240 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
780 ft 240 m
most residents: 750–820 ft
Lowest
740 ft 225 m
on the southeast side
Highest
960 ft 290 m
on the west side
Average
800 ft 245 m
all land inside city limits

McHenry spans about 220 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
780 ft240 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the west side
960 ft290 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the southeast side
740 ft225 m
Town center
USGS map point for McHenry
800 ft245 m
Airport (3CK)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 6.7 mi south of the city limits
887 ft270 m
Average of all land800 ft245 m

Elevation profile, west to east

4.9 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of McHenry, Illinois, shaded from 740 ft on the southeast side to 960 ft on the west side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 10 ft (3 m).
Location
City in McHenry County, Illinois, United States
Population
28,825 2024 est.
Land area
15.0 sq mi + 0.4 sq mi water
Density
1,917 per sq mi
Coordinates
42.3334° N, 88.2668° W
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Central Lowland
Drains to
Fox River → Illinois River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport
Lake In the Hills (3CK) 887 ft
ZIP codes 2
60050 60051
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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. Ringwood870 ft
  2. Bull Valley860 ft
  3. Nunda Township810 ft
  4. McCullom Lake800 ft
  5. Johnsburg780 ft
  6. McHenry780 ft
  7. McHenry Township780 ft
  8. Prairie Grove780 ft
  9. Lakemoor760 ft
  10. Burtons Bridge750 ft
  11. Holiday Hills740 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Gander Mountain957 ft
  • Hill Fifteen910 ft
  • Camelback Kame870 ft
  • Bald Knob, McHenry County790 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).
  • 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; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.