Polk County, MN Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Polk County, Minnesota, shaded from 790 ft on the northwest side to 1,570 ft on the southeast side
Elevation
1,570 ft 480 m1,380 ft 420 m1,280 ft 390 m1,080 ft 330 m890 ft 270 m790 ft 240 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

Polk County averages about 1,010 ft (310 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 790 ft on the northwest side to 1,570 ft on the southeast side.

Average elevation
1,010 ft 310 m
all land inside the county
Highest
1,570 ft 480 m
on the southeast side
Lowest
790 ft 240 m
on the northwest side

Polk County spans about 780 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 land1,010 ft310 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the southeast side
1,570 ft480 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
790 ft240 m

Elevation profile, west to east

67 mi west to east through East Grand Forks.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Polk County, Minnesota, shaded from 790 ft on the northwest side to 1,570 ft on the southeast side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
County in Minnesota, United States
Population
30,413 2024 est.
Land area
1,971.0 sq mi + 26.8 sq mi water
Density
15 per sq mi
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Central Lowland
Drains to
Canada
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Clearwater County1,420 ft
  2. Mahnomen County1,350 ft
  3. Pennington County1,120 ft
  4. Red Lake County1,090 ft
  5. Marshall County1,020 ft
  6. Grand Forks County, ND1,020 ft
  7. Polk County1,010 ft
  8. Norman County990 ft
  9. Traill County, ND950 ft

Rankings by average elevation

All 73 towns in Polk County by typical elevation
  1. Columbia Township1,400 ft
  2. Lengby1,390 ft
  3. Queen Township1,330 ft
  4. Eden Township, Polk County1,300 ft
  5. Fosston1,300 ft
  6. Brandsvold Township1,290 ft
  7. Gully1,290 ft
  8. Rosebud Township1,280 ft
  9. Hill River Township1,280 ft
  10. Sletten Township1,240 ft
  11. King Township1,240 ft
  12. Winger Township1,230 ft
  13. Knute Township1,230 ft
  14. Winger1,230 ft
  15. McIntosh1,230 ft
  16. Gully Township1,230 ft
  17. Trail1,210 ft
  18. Lessor Township1,200 ft
  19. Woodside Township1,200 ft
  20. Garden Township1,190 ft
  21. Erskine1,190 ft
  22. Godfrey Township1,180 ft
  23. Badger Township1,180 ft
  24. Grove Park-Tilden Township1,170 ft
  25. Mentor1,170 ft
  26. Johnson Township1,160 ft
  27. Chester Township, Polk County1,150 ft
  28. Garfield Township1,150 ft
  29. Fertile1,140 ft
  30. Liberty Township, Polk County1,020 ft
  31. Kertsonville Township1,000 ft
  32. Onstad Township960 ft
  33. Gentilly Township950 ft
  34. Belgium Township950 ft
  35. Helgeland Township940 ft
  36. Brandt Township940 ft
  37. Parnell Township940 ft
  38. Reis Township910 ft
  39. Beltrami900 ft
  40. Russia Township900 ft
  41. Crookston Township900 ft
  42. Fairfax Township890 ft
  43. Euclid Township890 ft
  44. Crookston890 ft
  45. Fanny Township880 ft
  46. Lowell Township880 ft
  47. Scandia Township880 ft
  48. Brislet Township880 ft
  49. Hammond Township880 ft
  50. Andover Township870 ft
  51. Angus Township870 ft
  52. Nielsville870 ft
  53. Hubbard Township, Polk County860 ft
  54. Vineland Township860 ft
  55. Climax860 ft
  56. Roome Township860 ft
  57. Fisher850 ft
  58. Fisher Township850 ft
  59. Tynsid Township850 ft
  60. Keystone Township850 ft
  61. Nesbit Township850 ft
  62. Tabor Township840 ft
  63. Bygland Township840 ft
  64. Farley Township840 ft
  65. Huntsville Township840 ft
  66. Rhinehart Township830 ft
  67. East Grand Forks830 ft
  68. Sullivan Township830 ft
  69. Grand Forks Township830 ft
  70. Northland Township, Polk County820 ft
  71. Esther Township820 ft
  72. Sandsville Township820 ft
  73. Higdem Township810 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.
  • 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, 790 ft at 48.1579° N, 97.1218° 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.