McHenry County, IL Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of McHenry County, Illinois, shaded from 730 ft on the southeast side to 1,190 ft on the northwest side
Elevation
1,190 ft 360 m1,070 ft 325 m1,010 ft 310 m900 ft 275 m790 ft 240 m730 ft 220 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 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.
County area
Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

McHenry County averages about 870 ft (265 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 730 ft on the southeast side to 1,190 ft on the northwest side.

Average elevation
870 ft 265 m
all land inside the county
Highest
1,190 ft 360 m
on the northwest side
Lowest
730 ft 220 m
on the southeast side

McHenry County spans about 460 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.

FigureElevation
Average of all land870 ft265 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
1,190 ft360 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the southeast side
730 ft220 m

Elevation profile, west to east

26 mi west to east through Algonquin Township.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of McHenry County, Illinois, shaded from 730 ft on the southeast side to 1,190 ft on the northwest side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 20 ft (6 m).
Location
County in Illinois, United States
Population
315,959 2024 est.
Land area
603.4 sq mi + 7.7 sq mi water
Density
524 per sq mi
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Central Lowland
Drains to
Gulf of America
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Walworth County, WI920 ft
  2. McHenry County870 ft
  3. Boone County860 ft
  4. DeKalb County830 ft
  5. Kane County810 ft
  6. Kenosha County, WI750 ft
  7. Lake County740 ft
  8. Cook County660 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Hill Fifteen910 ft
  • Camelback Kame870 ft
  • Bald Knob, McHenry County790 ft
All 60 towns in McHenry County by typical elevation
  1. Alden Township1,000 ft
  2. Alden990 ft
  3. Big Foot Prairie950 ft
  4. Hartland Township940 ft
  5. Ridgefield940 ft
  6. Dorr Township940 ft
  7. Chemung Township930 ft
  8. Hebron930 ft
  9. Harvard930 ft
  10. Hartland920 ft
  11. Dunham Township920 ft
  12. Woodstock920 ft
  13. Hebron Township920 ft
  14. Coral920 ft
  15. Harmony910 ft
  16. Chemung900 ft
  17. Lawrence900 ft
  18. Lakewood900 ft
  19. Crystal Lake900 ft
  20. Coral Township890 ft
  21. Grafton Township890 ft
  22. Huntley890 ft
  23. Greenwood Township890 ft
  24. Algonquin880 ft
  25. Riley Township880 ft
  26. Lake in the Hills880 ft
  27. Ringwood870 ft
  28. Seneca Township870 ft
  29. Algonquin Township870 ft
  30. Bull Valley860 ft
  31. Greenwood860 ft
  32. Cary860 ft
  33. Wonder Lake850 ft
  34. Spring Grove850 ft
  35. Burton Township840 ft
  36. Barrington Hills partly840 ft
  37. Franklinville830 ft
  38. Union830 ft
  39. Marengo830 ft
  40. Oakwood Hills830 ft
  41. Marengo Township830 ft
  42. Trout Valley820 ft
  43. Richmond Township820 ft
  44. Riley810 ft
  45. Nunda Township810 ft
  46. Richmond800 ft
  47. McCullom Lake800 ft
  48. Solon Mills790 ft
  49. Johnsburg780 ft
  50. McHenry780 ft
  51. McHenry Township780 ft
  52. Prairie Grove780 ft
  53. Fox River Grove770 ft
  54. Pistakee Highlands770 ft
  55. Lakemoor partly760 ft
  56. Island Lake760 ft
  57. Fox Lake partly750 ft
  58. Burtons Bridge750 ft
  59. Holiday Hills740 ft
  60. Port Barrington740 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. 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.