Mahaska County, IA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Mahaska County, Iowa, shaded from 660 ft on the south side to 920 ft on the north side
Elevation
920 ft 280 m850 ft 260 m820 ft 250 m760 ft 230 m690 ft 210 m660 ft 200 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

Mahaska County averages about 790 ft (240 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 660 ft on the south side to 920 ft on the north side.

Average elevation
790 ft 240 m
all land inside the county
Highest
920 ft 280 m
on the north side
Lowest
660 ft 200 m
on the south side

Mahaska County spans about 260 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 land790 ft240 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the north side
920 ft280 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the south side
660 ft200 m

Elevation profile, south to north

24 mi south to north through Oskaloosa.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Mahaska County, Iowa, shaded from 660 ft on the south side to 920 ft on the north side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 20 ft (6 m).
Location
County in Iowa, United States
Population
22,034 2024 est.
Land area
570.9 sq mi + 2.5 sq mi water
Density
39 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. Poweshiek County910 ft
  2. Jasper County890 ft
  3. Monroe County890 ft
  4. Marion County840 ft
  5. Mahaska County790 ft
  6. Keokuk County770 ft
  7. Wapello County770 ft

Rankings by average elevation

  • Counties in Iowa85th highest of 99
  • Counties in the United States1,815th highest of 3,151
All 11 towns in Mahaska County by typical elevation
  1. Barnes City900 ft
  2. New Sharon870 ft
  3. Pella partly860 ft
  4. Fremont840 ft
  5. Oskaloosa830 ft
  6. University Park820 ft
  7. Rose Hill810 ft
  8. Leighton790 ft
  9. Keomah Village770 ft
  10. Beacon740 ft
  11. Eddyville partly670 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.
  • 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, 660 ft at 41.1651° N, 92.6385° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
  • 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.