Otero County, NM Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Otero County, New Mexico, shaded from 3,610 ft on the southeast side to 11,981 ft on Sierra Blanca Peak
Elevation
11,980 ft 3,650 m9,890 ft 3,015 m8,840 ft 2,695 m6,750 ft 2,060 m4,660 ft 1,420 m3,610 ft 1,100 m
Zoom in for contour lines
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
⤓ Download this map
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

Otero County averages about 5,270 ft (1,610 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 3,610 ft on the southeast side to 11,981 ft on Sierra Blanca Peak.

Average elevation
5,270 ft 1,610 m
all land inside the county
Highest
11,981 ft 3,652 m
on Sierra Blanca Peak
Lowest
3,610 ft 1,100 m
on the southeast side

Otero County spans about 8,370 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 land5,270 ft1,610 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Sierra Blanca Peak (NGS survey height)
11,981 ft3,652 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the southeast side
3,610 ft1,100 m

Elevation profile, west to east

59 mi west to east through Alamogordo.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Otero County, New Mexico, shaded from 3,610 ft on the southeast side to 11,981 ft on Sierra Blanca Peak
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
County in New Mexico, United States
Population
69,711 2024 est.
Land area
6,612.6 sq mi + 14.3 sq mi water
Density
11 per sq mi
Time zone
Mountain UTC−7 / −6
Landform region
Basin and Range 99%
Drains to
Closed basin (does not reach the sea) 46%, Antelope Tank basin (does not reach the sea) 13%, Big Salt Lake basin (does not reach the sea) 13%
⤓ 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

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Lincoln County5,860 ft
  2. Sierra County5,480 ft
  3. Otero County5,270 ft
  4. Doña Ana County4,450 ft
  5. Hudspeth County, TX4,430 ft
  6. Chaves County4,250 ft
  7. Culberson County, TX4,130 ft
  8. El Paso County, TX4,060 ft
  9. Eddy County3,750 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Sierra Blanca Peak11,981 ft
  • Cathey Peak9,640 ft
  • Cow Mountain, Otero County9,390 ft
  • Wind Mountain7,269 ft
  • Alamo Mountain6,670 ft
All 17 towns in Otero County by typical elevation
  1. Cloudcroft8,760 ft
  2. Twin Forks7,820 ft
  3. Sacramento7,680 ft
  4. Weed7,300 ft
  5. Mescalero7,130 ft
  6. Timberon7,120 ft
  7. Mayhill7,050 ft
  8. High Rolls6,770 ft
  9. Pinon5,990 ft
  10. Bent5,900 ft
  11. La Luz4,680 ft
  12. Tularosa4,520 ft
  13. Alamogordo4,400 ft
  14. Orogrande4,240 ft
  15. Boles Acres4,110 ft
  16. Holloman AFB4,070 ft
  17. Chaparral4,060 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.