McKinley County, NM Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of McKinley County, New Mexico, shaded from 5,710 ft on the northwest side to 9,169 ft on Cerros De Alejandro
Elevation
9,170 ft 2,795 m8,300 ft 2,530 m7,870 ft 2,400 m7,010 ft 2,135 m6,140 ft 1,870 m5,710 ft 1,740 m
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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

McKinley County averages about 6,950 ft (2,115 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 5,710 ft on the northwest side to 9,169 ft on Cerros De Alejandro.

Average elevation
6,950 ft 2,115 m
all land inside the county
Highest
9,169 ft 2,795 m
on Cerros De Alejandro
Lowest
5,710 ft 1,740 m
on the northwest side

McKinley County spans about 3,460 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 land6,950 ft2,115 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Cerros De Alejandro (NGS survey height)
9,169 ft2,795 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
5,710 ft1,740 m

Elevation profile, west to east

98 mi west to east through Gallup.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of McKinley County, New Mexico, shaded from 5,710 ft on the northwest side to 9,169 ft on Cerros De Alejandro
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
County in New Mexico, United States
Population
68,945 2024 est.
Land area
5,451.1 sq mi + 4.9 sq mi water
Density
13 per sq mi
Time zone
Mountain UTC−7 / −6
Landform region
Colorado Plateaus
Drains to
Gulf of California 67%, Gulf of America 33%
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Cibola County7,090 ft
  2. McKinley County6,950 ft
  3. Sandoval County6,710 ft
  4. Apache County, AZ6,550 ft
  5. San Juan County6,050 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Cerros De Alejandro9,169 ft
  • Cerro Redondo8,970 ft
  • Cerro Chivato8,910 ft
  • Mount Powell8,752 ft
  • Hosta Butte8,624 ft
All 44 towns in McKinley County by typical elevation
  1. McGaffey7,810 ft
  2. Bluewater7,460 ft
  3. Homer C Jones7,450 ft
  4. Borrego Pass7,450 ft
  5. Pinehaven7,380 ft
  6. Crystal partly7,380 ft
  7. Continental Divide7,260 ft
  8. Sagar7,240 ft
  9. Thoreau7,170 ft
  10. Vanderwagen7,120 ft
  11. Timberlake7,120 ft
  12. Navajo7,090 ft
  13. Jamestown7,090 ft
  14. Haystack7,070 ft
  15. Black Hat7,020 ft
  16. Pinedale7,010 ft
  17. Ramah6,960 ft
  18. Fort Wingate6,940 ft
  19. Prewitt6,940 ft
  20. Red Rock Ranch6,930 ft
  21. Crownpoint6,930 ft
  22. Iyanbito6,880 ft
  23. Tse Bonito6,870 ft
  24. Ojo Encino6,770 ft
  25. Catalpa Canyon6,770 ft
  26. Sundance6,760 ft
  27. Church Rock6,740 ft
  28. Gamerco6,740 ft
  29. Yah-ta-hey6,640 ft
  30. Rock Springs6,620 ft
  31. White Cliffs6,590 ft
  32. Gallup6,580 ft
  33. Becenti6,570 ft
  34. Pueblo Pintado6,570 ft
  35. Crestview6,540 ft
  36. Black Rock6,440 ft
  37. Purty Rock6,420 ft
  38. Nakaibito6,410 ft
  39. Tohatchi6,400 ft
  40. Manuelito6,400 ft
  41. Williams Acres6,390 ft
  42. Twin Lakes6,340 ft
  43. Zuni Pueblo6,290 ft
  44. Brimhall Nizhoni6,180 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; 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, 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.