Riley County, KS Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Riley County, Kansas, shaded from 970 ft on the southeast side to 1,520 ft on the southeast side
Elevation
1,520 ft 465 m1,380 ft 420 m1,310 ft 400 m1,180 ft 360 m1,040 ft 315 m970 ft 295 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

Riley County averages about 1,250 ft (380 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 970 ft on the southeast side to 1,520 ft on the southeast side.

Average elevation
1,250 ft 380 m
all land inside the county
Highest
1,520 ft 465 m
on the southeast side
Lowest
970 ft 295 m
on the southeast side

Riley County spans about 550 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 land1,250 ft380 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the southeast side
1,520 ft465 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the southeast side
970 ft295 m

Elevation profile, south to north

12 mi south to north through Manhattan.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Riley County, Kansas, shaded from 970 ft on the southeast side to 1,520 ft on the southeast side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
County in Kansas, United States
Population
72,557 2024 est.
Land area
609.7 sq mi + 12.4 sq mi water
Density
119 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. Washington County1,390 ft
  2. Marshall County1,300 ft
  3. Clay County1,290 ft
  4. Geary County1,270 ft
  5. Wabaunsee County1,250 ft
  6. Riley County1,250 ft
  7. Pottawatomie County1,220 ft

Rankings by average elevation

  • Counties in Kansas73rd highest of 104
  • Counties in the United States1,055th highest of 3,151

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Custer Hill1,360 ft
  • Morris Hill1,340 ft
  • Harvey Hill1,330 ft
  • Caisson Hill1,330 ft
  • Randolph Hill1,330 ft
All 23 towns in Riley County by typical elevation
  1. Leonardville1,380 ft
  2. Bala Township1,370 ft
  3. Fancy Creek Township1,320 ft
  4. May Day Township1,320 ft
  5. Madison Township1,290 ft
  6. Fort Riley1,290 ft
  7. Riley1,290 ft
  8. Sherman Township, Riley County1,290 ft
  9. Swede Creek Township1,290 ft
  10. Wildcat Township1,280 ft
  11. Bala1,280 ft
  12. Center Township, Riley County1,260 ft
  13. Jackson Township, Riley County1,250 ft
  14. Randolph1,250 ft
  15. Grant Township, Riley County1,190 ft
  16. Keats1,130 ft
  17. Zeandale Township1,080 ft
  18. Manhattan1,080 ft
  19. Ashland Township1,070 ft
  20. Ogden Township1,060 ft
  21. Ogden1,050 ft
  22. Manhattan Township1,040 ft
  23. Zeandale1,010 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.