Brown County, SD Elevation & Topographic Map

Elevation

1,580 ft 480 m1,500 ft 460 m1,460 ft 445 m1,380 ft 420 m1,300 ft 400 m1,260 ft 385 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.
County area: Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Brown County averages about 1,340 ft (405 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,260 ft on the south side to 1,580 ft on the southwest side.

Average elevation

1,340 ft 405 m

all land inside the county

Highest

1,580 ft 480 m

on the southwest side

Lowest

1,260 ft 385 m

on the south side

Brown County spans about 320 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.

Figure	Elevation
Average of all land	1,340 ft405 m
Highest point Inside the county, on the southwest side	1,580 ft480 m
Lowest point Inside the county, on the south side	1,260 ft385 m

Elevation profile, west to east

36 mi west to east through Aberdeen.

Topographic Map

Location: County in South Dakota, United States
Population: 37,495 2024 est.
Land area: 1,713.0 sq mi + 17.9 sq mi water
Density: 22 per sq mi
Time zone: Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region: Central Lowland
Drains to: Gulf of America

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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

McPherson County1,820 ft
Day County1,740 ft
Edmunds County1,690 ft
Faulk County1,630 ft
Marshall County1,550 ft
Dickey County, ND1,530 ft
Brown County1,340 ft
Spink County1,320 ft
Sargent County, ND1,250 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Counties in South Dakota59th highest of 66
Counties in the United States972nd highest of 3,151

Peaks and hills highest inside

Crows Nest (historical)1,470 ft

All 60 towns in Brown County by typical elevation

Palmyra Township1,480 ft
Allison Township1,460 ft
Franklyn Township1,450 ft
Carlisle Township1,440 ft
Osceola Township, Brown County1,430 ft
Savo Township1,400 ft
Frederick Township1,390 ft
Ravinia Township1,390 ft
Oneota Township1,390 ft
Richland Township, Brown County1,390 ft
Frederick1,380 ft
Mercier Township1,380 ft
Highland Township, Brown County1,370 ft
Westport Township1,360 ft
Bates Township, Brown County1,350 ft
Brainard Township1,340 ft
Liberty Township, Brown County1,340 ft
Lincoln Township1,340 ft
New Hope Township1,340 ft
Westport1,330 ft
Greenfield Township1,330 ft
Garland Township1,320 ft
Aberdeen Township1,310 ft
Groton Township1,310 ft
Claremont Township1,300 ft
Riverside Township, Brown County1,300 ft
Verdon1,300 ft
Groton1,300 ft
East Hanson Township1,300 ft
Ordway Township1,300 ft
Bath Corner1,300 ft
Columbia1,300 ft
West Hanson Township1,300 ft
Henry Township1,300 ft
Ferney1,300 ft
Hutterville Colony1,300 ft
Aberdeen1,300 ft
Claremont1,300 ft
Garden Prairie Township1,300 ft
Putney Township1,300 ft
Stratford1,300 ft
Bath1,300 ft
Hecla1,300 ft
Cambria Township1,300 ft
Shelby Township1,300 ft
Bath Township1,300 ft
Gem Township1,300 ft
Warner1,300 ft
Prairiewood Township1,300 ft
Prairiewood Village1,300 ft
West Rondell Township1,300 ft
Portage Township1,300 ft
Columbia Township1,300 ft
Warner Township1,300 ft
Lansing Township1,290 ft
Mansfield1,290 ft
South Detroit Township1,290 ft
East Rondell Township1,290 ft
Hecla Township1,290 ft
North Detroit Township1,290 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 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid. Land means the boundary minus Census area water.
Highest and lowest: the highest land cell. Lowest: the lowest land cell; coastal ground within 3 ft (1 m) of named tidal water counts as sea level.
Pits: the lowest point is the lowest ground outside closed hollows (quarry floors, mine pits, terrain-model artifacts): any hollow under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²), and any hollow under 2 sq mi (5 km²) whose floor is more than 100 ft (30 m) below its rim; and outside patches below sea level of under 0.4 sq mi (1 km²). The single lowest 3DEP cell, 1,260 ft at 45.2454° N, 98.3843° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted.
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.