Buffalo, SD Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
2,980 ft 905 m2,940 ft 900 m2,930 ft 895 m2,900 ft 885 m2,870 ft 875 m2,850 ft 870 m
Contours every 40 ft, bold every 200 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.
- Town area
- Fades everything outside the official town limits (US Census).
Elevation Data
Buffalo sits at about 2,890 ft (880 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
2,890 ft 880 m
most residents: 2,860–2,910 ft
Lowest
2,850 ft 870 m
on the south side
Highest
2,980 ft 905 m
on the northeast side
Average
2,900 ft 885 m
all land inside town limits
Buffalo spans about 130 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 | 2,890 ft880 m |
| Highest point Inside town limits, on the northeast side | 2,980 ft905 m |
| Lowest point Inside town limits, on the south side | 2,850 ft870 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Buffalo | 2,880 ft875 m |
| Airport (9D2) FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 0.3 mi east of the town limits | 2,891 ft881 m |
| Average of all land | 2,900 ft885 m |
Elevation profile, south to north
0.8 mi south to north through the town center.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Town in Harding County, South Dakota, United States
- Population
- 353 2024 est.
- Land area
- 0.6 sq mi
- Density
- 637 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 45.5842° N, 103.5460° W
- Time zone
- Mountain UTC−7 / −6
- Landform region
- Great Plains
- Drains to
- South Fork Grand River → Grand River → Missouri River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
- Airport
- Harding County (9D2) 2,891 ft
- ZIP codes 1
- 57720
⤓ Download this map
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA
Nearby Places
Nearby towns by typical elevation
- Nebo Township, ND3,160 ft
- Camp Crook3,120 ft
- Langberg Township, ND3,120 ft
- Grand River Township, ND2,970 ft
- Buffalo2,890 ft
- Ladd Township, ND2,870 ft
- Boyesen Township, ND2,860 ft
- Minnehaha Township, ND2,810 ft
- Goldfield Township, ND2,790 ft
- Haley Township, ND2,720 ft
- Glendo Township2,650 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in South Dakota58th highest of 1,383
- Towns in Harding Countylowest of 2
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Sheep Mountain, Harding County3,580 ft
- Juhala Hill3,490 ft
- McKenzie Butte3,490 ft
- Red Butte, Harding County3,370 ft
- Brush Creek Butte3,090 ft
How we measure
- Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the town 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 town limits (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
- 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).
- 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. All public domain.