Indianapolis, IN Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Indianapolis, Indiana, shaded from 640 ft on the southwest side to 920 ft on the northwest side
Elevation
920 ft 280 m850 ft 260 m820 ft 250 m750 ft 230 m680 ft 205 m650 ft 195 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.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Indianapolis 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: 710–850 ft
Lowest
640 ft 195 m
on the southwest side
Highest
920 ft 280 m
on the northwest side
Average
780 ft 240 m
all land inside city limits

Indianapolis spans about 280 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 northwest side
920 ft280 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the southwest side
640 ft195 m
Airport (IND)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
796 ft243 m
Average of all land780 ft240 m

Elevation profile, west to east

20 mi west to east through the middle of Indianapolis.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Indianapolis, Indiana, shaded from 640 ft on the southwest side to 920 ft on the northwest side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
Consolidated city and county in Indiana, United States
Population
891,484 2024 est.
Land area
361.0 sq mi + 6.9 sq mi water
Density
2,469 per sq mi
Coordinates
39.7862° N, 86.1424° W
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Central Lowland
Drains to
White River → Wabash River → Ohio River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport
Indianapolis International (IND) 796 ft
ZIP codes 38
38 ZIP codes46077 46113 46183 46201 46202 46203 46204 46205 46206 46208 46214 46217 46218 46219 46220 46221 46222 46224 46225 46226 46227 46228 46229 46231 46234 46235 46236 46237 46239 46240 46241 46250 46254 46256 46259 46260 46268 46278
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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. Warren Park830 ft
  2. Beech Grove800 ft
  3. Indianapolis780 ft
  4. Washington Township760 ft
  5. North Crows Nest760 ft
  6. Spring Hill760 ft
  7. Wynnedale750 ft
  8. Crows Nest750 ft
  9. Wayne Township750 ft
  10. Center Township730 ft
  11. Rocky Ripple710 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Polk Hill, Johnson County870 ft
  • Kelly Hill860 ft
  • Sally Doty Hill830 ft
  • Mann Hill830 ft
  • Travis Hill780 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, 280 ft at 39.7024° N, 86.2074° 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.