Vandalia, IL Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Vandalia, Illinois, shaded from 460 ft near the middle to 660 ft on the southwest side
Elevation
660 ft 200 m610 ft 185 m590 ft 180 m540 ft 165 m490 ft 150 m460 ft 140 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

Vandalia sits at about 520 ft (160 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
520 ft 160 m
most residents: 480–560 ft
Lowest
460 ft 140 m
near the middle
Highest
660 ft 200 m
on the southwest side
Average
520 ft 160 m
all land inside city limits

Vandalia spans about 200 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
520 ft160 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the southwest side
660 ft200 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, near the middle
460 ft140 m
Town center
USGS map point for Vandalia
520 ft160 m
Airport (VLA)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 1.7 mi northwest of the city limits
537 ft164 m
Average of all land520 ft160 m

Elevation profile, west to east

3.7 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Vandalia, Illinois, shaded from 460 ft near the middle to 660 ft on the southwest side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 10 ft (3 m).
Location
City in Fayette County, Illinois, United States
Population
7,358 2024 est.
Land area
8.2 sq mi
Density
903 per sq mi
Coordinates
38.9606° N, 89.0937° W
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Central Lowland
Drains to
Kaskaskia River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport
Vandalia Municipal (VLA) 537 ft
ZIP codes 1
62471
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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. Brownstown590 ft
  2. Otego Township580 ft
  3. Shafter Township570 ft
  4. Wilberton Township560 ft
  5. Mulberry Grove Township560 ft
  6. Bear Grove Township530 ft
  7. Vandalia Township520 ft
  8. Vandalia520 ft
  9. Sharon Township520 ft
  10. Kaskaskia Township510 ft
  11. Seminary Township500 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Dean Hills698 ft
  • Bridges Knob690 ft
  • The Mound, Fayette County570 ft
  • Island Hill, Fayette County570 ft
  • White Oak Mound510 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.