South Dakota Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of South Dakota, shaded from 960 ft on the northeast side to 7,200 ft on Black Elk Peak
Elevation
7,200 ft 2,195 m5,640 ft 1,720 m4,860 ft 1,480 m3,300 ft 1,005 m1,740 ft 530 m960 ft 295 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.
State area
Fades everything outside the official state boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

South Dakota averages about 2,200 ft (670 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 960 ft on the northeast side to 7,200 ft on Black Elk Peak.

Average elevation
2,200 ft 670 m
all land in South Dakota
Highest
7,200 ft 2,195 m
on Black Elk Peak
Lowest
960 ft 295 m
on the northeast side

South Dakota spans about 6,240 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 land2,200 ft670 m
Highest point
In South Dakota, on Black Elk Peak (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height)
7,200 ft2,195 m
Lowest point
In South Dakota, on the northeast side
960 ft295 m

Elevation profile, west to east

381 mi west to east through Sioux Falls.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of South Dakota, shaded from 960 ft on the northeast side to 7,200 ft on Black Elk Peak
State boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
State in the West North Central division of the Midwest region, United States
Population
924,669 2024 est.
Land area
75,809.3 sq mi + 1,306.6 sq mi water
Density
12 per sq mi
Counties
66
Time zones
Central UTC−6 / −5, Mountain UTC−7 / −6
Landform regions
Great Plains 68%, Central Lowland 32%
Drains to
Gulf of America 96%
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring states sharing a border, by average

  1. Wyoming6,390 ft
  2. Montana4,150 ft
  3. Nebraska2,610 ft
  4. South Dakota2,200 ft
  5. North Dakota1,830 ft
  6. Minnesota1,220 ft
  7. Iowa1,070 ft

Rankings by average elevation

  • States in the United States14th highest of 52

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Black Elk Peak7,200 ft
  • Odakota Mountain7,190 ft
  • Bear Mountain7,160 ft
  • Green Mountain7,160 ft
  • Bear Butte4,427 ft
All 66 counties by average elevation
  1. Lawrence County5,020 ft
  2. Custer County4,220 ft
  3. Fall River County3,590 ft
  4. Pennington County3,560 ft
  5. Bennett County3,170 ft
  6. Oglala Lakota County3,090 ft
  7. Harding County3,060 ft
  8. Butte County3,010 ft
  9. Meade County2,760 ft
  10. Todd County2,700 ft
  11. Perkins County2,600 ft
  12. Jackson County2,530 ft
  13. Haakon County2,290 ft
  14. Ziebach County2,270 ft
  15. Mellette County2,230 ft
  16. Corson County2,100 ft
  17. Tripp County2,090 ft
  18. Jones County2,070 ft
  19. Dewey County2,010 ft
  20. Gregory County1,950 ft
  21. Potter County1,950 ft
  22. Walworth County1,910 ft
  23. Stanley County1,890 ft
  24. Hyde County1,860 ft
  25. McPherson County1,820 ft
  26. Codington County1,820 ft
  27. Sully County1,810 ft
  28. Campbell County1,800 ft
  29. Lyman County1,780 ft
  30. Deuel County1,770 ft
  31. Day County1,740 ft
  32. Hamlin County1,740 ft
  33. Hughes County1,730 ft
  34. Brookings County1,720 ft
  35. Clark County1,720 ft
  36. Lake County1,720 ft
  37. Edmunds County1,690 ft
  38. Brule County1,670 ft
  39. Kingsbury County1,670 ft
  40. Buffalo County1,670 ft
  41. Hand County1,660 ft
  42. Jerauld County1,640 ft
  43. Moody County1,630 ft
  44. Faulk County1,630 ft
  45. Aurora County1,570 ft
  46. Charles Mix County1,560 ft
  47. Douglas County1,560 ft
  48. Marshall County1,550 ft
  49. Minnehaha County1,540 ft
  50. McCook County1,500 ft
  51. Miner County1,490 ft
  52. Grant County1,450 ft
  53. Bon Homme County1,440 ft
  54. Hutchinson County1,390 ft
  55. Turner County1,380 ft
  56. Davison County1,380 ft
  57. Lincoln County1,380 ft
  58. Beadle County1,340 ft
  59. Brown County1,340 ft
  60. Yankton County1,330 ft
  61. Hanson County1,330 ft
  62. Roberts County1,330 ft
  63. Spink County1,320 ft
  64. Sanborn County1,300 ft
  65. Union County1,240 ft
  66. Clay County1,230 ft
All 9 tribal lands by average elevation
  1. Pine Ridge Reservation3,000 ft
  2. Rosebud Indian Reservation2,510 ft
  3. Cheyenne River Reservation2,130 ft
  4. Standing Rock Reservation2,070 ft
  5. Lower Brule Reservation1,690 ft
  6. Crow Creek Reservation1,660 ft
  7. Flandreau Reservation1,570 ft
  8. Yankton Reservation1,530 ft
  9. Lake Traverse Reservation1,490 ft
How we measure
  • Average: every USGS 3DEP bare-earth cell of land inside the Census state boundary (TIGER/Line, Jan 1 2026), weighted equally, on a 7 arc-second (≈710 ft, 216 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 states 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 state 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).
  • Counties: each one's average on its own grid (1 arc-second, coarser for the largest), the same figure its own page shows.
  • 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.