Lead, SD Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
5,790 ft 1,765 m5,530 ft 1,685 m5,400 ft 1,645 m5,130 ft 1,565 m4,870 ft 1,485 m4,740 ft 1,445 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
Lead sits at about 5,310 ft (1,620 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
5,310 ft 1,620 m
most residents: 5,010–5,510 ft
Lowest
4,740 ft 1,445 m
on the east side
Highest
5,790 ft 1,765 m
at the foot of the Woodville Hills
Average
5,290 ft 1,610 m
all land inside city limits
Lead spans about 1,050 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 | 5,310 ft1,620 m |
| Highest point Inside city limits, at the foot of the Woodville Hills | 5,790 ft1,765 m |
| Lowest point Inside city limits, on the east side | 4,740 ft1,445 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Lead | 5,200 ft1,585 m |
| Airport (SPF) FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 8.1 mi north of the city limits | 3,933 ft1,199 m |
| Average of all land | 5,290 ft1,610 m |
Elevation profile, south to north
0.7 mi south to north through the town center.
Altitude Effects
What 5,310 ft means day to day, worked out from the typical elevation.
Water boils at
202.1 °F94.5 °C
vs 212 °F at sea level; USDA: food takes longer to cook.
Air pressure
82% of sea level
24.6 inHg (83.3 kPa): each breath holds 18% less air.
Oxygen equivalent
17.2% at sea level
Air is still 21% oxygen, just thinner. Normal at the coast: 20.9%.
Sunburn
+11% more UV
EPA: UV rises about 2% for every 1,000 ft.
Topographic Map
- Location
- City in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States
- Population
- 3,038 2024 est.
- Land area
- 2.1 sq mi
- Density
- 1,476 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 44.3522° N, 103.7652° W
- Time zone
- Mountain UTC−7 / −6
- Landform region
- Great Plains
- Drains to
- Belle Fourche River → Cheyenne River → Missouri River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
- Airport
- Black Hills-Clyde Ice Field (SPF) 3,933 ft
- ZIP codes 1
- 57754
⤓ 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
- Lead5,310 ft
- Central City4,940 ft
- Deadwood4,710 ft
- Mountain Plains4,230 ft
- Boulder Canyon3,970 ft
- Crook City3,750 ft
- Spearfish3,680 ft
- Whitewood3,630 ft
- North Spearfish3,560 ft
- Sturgis3,510 ft
- St. Onge Township3,430 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in South Dakota2nd highest of 1,383
- Towns in Lawrence Countyhighest of 11
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Black Elk Peak7,200 ft
- Green Mountain7,160 ft
- Warren Peaks6,650 ft
- Whitetail Summit5,650 ft
- Bear Butte4,427 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 (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, 4,410 ft at 44.3551° N, 103.7643° 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.