Rio Communities, NM Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
5,000 ft 1,525 m4,950 ft 1,510 m4,930 ft 1,500 m4,870 ft 1,485 m4,820 ft 1,470 m4,790 ft 1,460 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 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.
- City area
- Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).
Elevation Data
Rio Communities sits at about 4,900 ft (1,495 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
4,900 ft 1,495 m
most residents: 4,840–4,950 ft
Lowest
4,790 ft 1,460 m
on the south side
Highest
5,000 ft 1,525 m
on the east side
Average
4,920 ft 1,500 m
all land inside city limits
Rio Communities spans about 210 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 | 4,900 ft1,495 m |
| Highest point Inside city limits, on the east side | 5,000 ft1,525 m |
| Lowest point Inside city limits, on the south side | 4,790 ft1,460 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Rio Communities | 4,830 ft1,470 m |
| Airport (BRG) FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 5.3 mi west of the city limits | 5,200 ft1,585 m |
| Average of all land | 4,920 ft1,500 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
2.7 mi west to east through the town center.
Altitude Effects
What 4,900 ft means day to day, worked out from the typical elevation.
Water boils at
202.9 °F94.9 °C
vs 212 °F at sea level; USDA: food takes longer to cook.
Air pressure
84% of sea level
25.0 inHg (84.6 kPa): each breath holds 16% less air.
Oxygen equivalent
17.5% at sea level
Air is still 21% oxygen, just thinner. Normal at the coast: 20.9%.
Sunburn
+10% more UV
EPA: UV rises about 2% for every 1,000 ft.
Topographic Map
- Location
- City in Valencia County, New Mexico, United States
- Population
- 4,927 2024 est.
- Land area
- 7.7 sq mi
- Density
- 640 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 34.6496° N, 106.7340° W
- Time zone
- Mountain UTC−7 / −6
- Landform region
- Basin and Range
- Drains to
- Rio Grande → Gulf of America
- Airport
- Belen Regional (BRG) 5,200 ft
- ZIP codes 1
- 87002
⤓ Download this map
WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA
Nearby Places
Nearby towns by typical elevation
- Las Maravillas4,990 ft
- Rio Communities4,900 ft
- Madrone4,880 ft
- Casa Colorada4,860 ft
- Los Chaves4,830 ft
- Tome4,830 ft
- Adelino4,820 ft
- Sausal4,810 ft
- Belen4,810 ft
- Pueblitos4,790 ft
- Jarales4,790 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in New Mexico384th highest of 528
- Towns in Valencia County7th highest of 21
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Bosque Peak9,620 ft
- Ladron Peak9,186 ft
- Mesa Gallina7,840 ft
- Polvadera Mountain7,295 ft
- Socorro Peak7,270 ft
How we measure
- Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the city limits, 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 city limits (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
- Pits: the lowest point is the lowest ground outside closed hollows of under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²) (quarry floors, mine pits, terrain-model artifacts) and outside patches below sea level of under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²). The single lowest 3DEP cell, 4,790 ft at 34.6313° N, 106.7407° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
- 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.
- Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.