Houghton County, MI Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Houghton County, Michigan, shaded from 600 ft on the north side to 1,670 ft on the southwest side
Elevation
1,670 ft 510 m1,400 ft 430 m1,270 ft 385 m1,000 ft 305 m730 ft 225 m600 ft 185 m
Zoom in for contour lines
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

Houghton County averages about 1,030 ft (315 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 600 ft on the north side to 1,670 ft on the southwest side.

Average elevation
1,030 ft 315 m
all land inside the county
Highest
1,670 ft 510 m
on the southwest side
Lowest
600 ft 185 m
on the north side

Houghton County spans about 1,070 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 land1,030 ft315 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the southwest side
1,670 ft510 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the north side
600 ft185 m

Elevation profile, south to north

32 mi south to north through Houghton.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Houghton County, Michigan, shaded from 600 ft on the north side to 1,670 ft on the southwest side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 100 ft (30 m).
Location
County in Michigan, United States
Population
38,041 2024 est.
Land area
1,009.1 sq mi + 492.4 sq mi water
Density
38 per sq mi
Time zone
Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region
Superior Upland 98%
Drains to
Great Lakes
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Iron County1,540 ft
  2. Baraga County1,340 ft
  3. Marquette County1,240 ft
  4. Ontonagon County1,120 ft
  5. Houghton County1,030 ft
  6. Keweenaw County850 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Tolonen Hill1,500 ft
  • Haystack Mountain1,440 ft
  • Silver Mount1,316 ft
  • Arcadian Hill1,230 ft
  • Limestone Mountain1,130 ft
All 29 towns in Houghton County by typical elevation
  1. Painesdale1,320 ft
  2. Trimountain1,300 ft
  3. Duncan Township1,300 ft
  4. Elm River Township1,250 ft
  5. Calumet1,210 ft
  6. Calumet Township1,210 ft
  7. Laurium1,210 ft
  8. South Range1,130 ft
  9. Adams Township1,130 ft
  10. Franklin Township, Houghton County1,080 ft
  11. Quincy Township, Houghton County1,020 ft
  12. Atlantic Mine1,000 ft
  13. Laird Township1,000 ft
  14. Dodgeville980 ft
  15. Hurontown920 ft
  16. Copper City880 ft
  17. Portage Township840 ft
  18. Stanton Township830 ft
  19. Hancock750 ft
  20. Hancock Township740 ft
  21. Houghton720 ft
  22. Chassell Township670 ft
  23. Torch Lake Township660 ft
  24. Hubbell650 ft
  25. Schoolcraft Township, Houghton County650 ft
  26. Chassell630 ft
  27. Lake Linden630 ft
  28. Osceola Township630 ft
  29. Dollar Bay620 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 2 arc-second (≈200 ft, 62 m) grid, coarsened from 1 arc-second so the whole area fits one run. Land means the boundary minus Census area water (on this grid, water areas of at least half a cell).
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 highest grid cells. Lowest: the lowest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 lowest grid cells; 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.