Big Sky, MT Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
11,150 ft 3,400 m9,830 ft 3,000 m9,170 ft 2,795 m7,850 ft 2,395 m6,530 ft 1,990 m5,870 ft 1,790 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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.
- Area
- Fades everything outside the official CDP boundary (US Census).
Elevation Data
Big Sky sits at about 6,450 ft (1,965 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
6,450 ft 1,965 m
most residents: 6,240–8,370 ft
Lowest
5,870 ft 1,790 m
on the east side
Highest
11,150 ft 3,400 m
on Lone Mountain
Average
7,810 ft 2,380 m
all land inside the CDP boundary
Big Sky spans about 5,280 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where its people live, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Typical Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower | 6,450 ft1,965 m |
| Highest point Inside the CDP boundary, on Lone Mountain | 11,150 ft3,400 m |
| Lowest point Inside the CDP boundary, on the east side | 5,870 ft1,790 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Big Sky | 7,220 ft2,200 m |
| Average of all land | 7,810 ft2,380 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
13 mi west to east through the town center.
Altitude Effects
What 6,450 ft means day to day, worked out from the typical elevation.
Water boils at
200.0 °F93.3 °C
vs 212 °F at sea level; USDA: food takes longer to cook.
Air pressure
79% of sea level
23.6 inHg (79.8 kPa): each breath holds 21% less air.
Oxygen equivalent
16.5% at sea level
Air is still 21% oxygen, just thinner. Normal at the coast: 20.9%.
Sunburn
+13% more UV
EPA: UV rises about 2% for every 1,000 ft.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Unincorporated community (census-designated place) in Gallatin and Madison counties, Montana, United States
- Population
- 3,591 2020 Census
- Land area
- 120.0 sq mi + 0.2 sq mi water
- Density
- 30 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 45.2847° N, 111.3683° W
- Time zone
- Mountain UTC−7 / −6
- Landform region
- Northern Rocky Mountains
- Drains to
- Gallatin River → Missouri River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
- ZIP codes 2
- 59716 59730
⤓ 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
Nearby towns by typical elevation
- Big Sky6,450 ft
- Virginia City5,870 ft
- Corwin Springs5,170 ft
- South Glastonbury5,100 ft
- Ennis4,970 ft
- Gallatin Gateway4,950 ft
- Jeffers4,940 ft
- McAllister4,890 ft
- Norris4,850 ft
- King Arthur Park4,850 ft
- Four Corners4,720 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in Montana10th highest of 497
- Towns in Gallatin County3rd highest of 19
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Lone Mountain11,150 ft
- Gallatin Peak10,980 ft
- Fan Mountain10,280 ft
- Pioneer Mountain9,850 ft
- Cinnamon Mountain9,230 ft
How we measure
- Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the CDP boundary, at its USGS 3DEP height, weighted by the people who live there. Half of residents live higher, half lower.
- Lowest, highest, average: USGS 3DEP bare-earth heights on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid, land only, inside the Census CDP boundary (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
- Nearby Places: nearby towns and rankings use each town's typical elevation, so every town is compared like for like. Rankings count every city, town, township and census-designated place, including places inside a town. Peaks and hills: the nearest summits with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence within 62 mi (100 km), then federal (GNIS) summits within 16 mi (25 km) 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).
- Altitude effects: standard-atmosphere formulas applied to the typical elevation; UV from EPA's rule of thumb (about 2% per 1,000 ft).
- 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 (FAA airport elevation, 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.
- Big Sky is an unincorporated community; figures cover the census-designated place, a statistical area.
- Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); BTS time zones. All public domain.