Custer County, SD Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Custer County, South Dakota, shaded from 2,480 ft on the east side to 6,960 ft on the northwest side
Elevation
6,960 ft 2,120 m5,840 ft 1,780 m5,280 ft 1,610 m4,160 ft 1,270 m3,040 ft 925 m2,480 ft 755 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
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

Custer County averages about 4,220 ft (1,285 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 2,480 ft on the east side to 6,960 ft on the northwest side.

Average elevation
4,220 ft 1,285 m
all land inside the county
Highest
6,960 ft 2,120 m
on the northwest side
Lowest
2,480 ft 755 m
on the east side

Custer County spans about 4,480 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 land4,220 ft1,285 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
6,960 ft2,120 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the east side
2,480 ft755 m

Elevation profile, west to east

66 mi west to east through Custer.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Custer County, South Dakota, shaded from 2,480 ft on the east side to 6,960 ft on the northwest side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
County in South Dakota, United States
Population
9,330 2024 est.
Land area
1,556.9 sq mi + 2.1 sq mi water
Density
6.0 per sq mi
Time zone
Mountain UTC−7 / −6
Landform region
Great Plains
Drains to
Gulf of America
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Niobrara County, WY4,530 ft
  2. Weston County, WY4,460 ft
  3. Custer County4,220 ft
  4. Fall River County3,590 ft
  5. Pennington County3,560 ft
  6. Oglala Lakota County3,090 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Limestone Hill6,740 ft
  • Round Mountain6,620 ft
  • Thunderhead Mountain6,520 ft
  • Signal Hill6,490 ft
  • Atlantic Hill6,380 ft
All 5 towns in Custer County by typical elevation
  1. Custer5,340 ft
  2. Pringle4,890 ft
  3. Hermosa3,320 ft
  4. Fairburn3,300 ft
  5. Buffalo Gap3,270 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.
  • 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.