Kalkaska County, MI Elevation & Topographic Map

Elevation

1,470 ft 445 m1,250 ft 380 m1,140 ft 345 m920 ft 280 m700 ft 215 m590 ft 180 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

Kalkaska County averages about 1,110 ft (340 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 590 ft on the northwest side to 1,470 ft on Cleary Hill.

Average elevation

1,110 ft 340 m

all land inside the county

Highest

1,470 ft 445 m

on Cleary Hill

Lowest

590 ft 180 m

on the northwest side

Kalkaska County spans about 880 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.

Figure	Elevation
Average of all land	1,110 ft340 m
Highest point Inside the county, on Cleary Hill (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height)	1,470 ft445 m
Lowest point Inside the county, on the northwest side	590 ft180 m

Elevation profile, west to east

24 mi west to east through Kalkaska Township.

Topographic Map

Location: County in Michigan, United States
Population: 18,618 2024 est.
Land area: 559.7 sq mi + 10.8 sq mi water
Density: 33 per sq mi
Time zone: Eastern UTC−5 / −4
Landform region: Central Lowland
Drains to: Great Lakes

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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

Crawford County1,210 ft
Missaukee County1,210 ft
Kalkaska County1,110 ft
Antrim County930 ft
Grand Traverse County900 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Counties in Michigan14th highest of 83
Counties in the United States1,232nd highest of 3,151

Peaks and hills highest inside

Cleary Hill1,470 ft
McLachlan Hills1,440 ft
Waldo Hill1,390 ft
Beecher Hill1,350 ft
Lindquist Hill1,350 ft

All 17 towns in Kalkaska County by typical elevation

Blue Lake Township, Kalkaska County1,280 ft
Bear Lake1,240 ft
Coldsprings Township1,230 ft
Bear Lake Township, Kalkaska County1,210 ft
Manistee Lake1,210 ft
Excelsior Township1,200 ft
Garfield Township, Kalkaska County1,140 ft
Orange Township1,140 ft
Oliver Township, Kalkaska County1,130 ft
Springfield Township, Kalkaska County1,090 ft
Rapid River Township1,060 ft
Boardman Township1,060 ft
Kalkaska Township1,040 ft
Kalkaska1,030 ft
South Boardman1,010 ft
Clearwater Township650 ft
Rapid City620 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; it is a named summit, so its height is the peak method: the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it. 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.