Polk County, IA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Polk County, Iowa, shaded from 750 ft on the southeast side to 1,050 ft on the northwest side
Elevation
1,050 ft 320 m970 ft 295 m930 ft 285 m860 ft 260 m790 ft 240 m750 ft 230 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
⤓ Download this map
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

Polk County averages about 910 ft (275 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 750 ft on the southeast side to 1,050 ft on the northwest side.

Average elevation
910 ft 275 m
all land inside the county
Highest
1,050 ft 320 m
on the northwest side
Lowest
750 ft 230 m
on the southeast side

Polk County spans about 300 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 land910 ft275 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
1,050 ft320 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the southeast side
750 ft230 m

Elevation profile, south to north

24 mi south to north through Des Moines.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Polk County, Iowa, shaded from 750 ft on the southeast side to 1,050 ft on the northwest side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 20 ft (6 m).
Location
County in Iowa, United States
Population
516,185 2024 est.
Land area
572.7 sq mi + 19.2 sq mi water
Density
901 per sq mi
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Central Lowland
Drains to
Gulf of America
⤓ Download this map

WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Boone County1,060 ft
  2. Story County1,010 ft
  3. Dallas County990 ft
  4. Warren County910 ft
  5. Polk County910 ft
  6. Jasper County890 ft
  7. Marion County840 ft

Rankings by average elevation

  • Counties in Iowa75th highest of 99
  • Counties in the United States1,584th highest of 3,151
All 20 towns in Polk County by typical elevation
  1. Sheldahl partly1,030 ft
  2. Alleman990 ft
  3. Elkhart970 ft
  4. Bondurant960 ft
  5. Mitchellville960 ft
  6. Ankeny950 ft
  7. Altoona950 ft
  8. Grimes950 ft
  9. Urbandale940 ft
  10. West Des Moines940 ft
  11. Clive930 ft
  12. Polk City930 ft
  13. Saylorville910 ft
  14. Johnston900 ft
  15. Granger partly890 ft
  16. Des Moines890 ft
  17. Pleasant Hill890 ft
  18. Windsor Heights880 ft
  19. Runnells820 ft
  20. Carlisle partly820 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.