Madison, SD Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Madison, South Dakota, shaded from 1,640 ft on the southeast side to 1,740 ft on the northeast side
Elevation
1,740 ft 530 m1,710 ft 520 m1,700 ft 520 m1,670 ft 510 m1,650 ft 505 m1,640 ft 500 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 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.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Madison sits at about 1,690 ft (515 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
1,690 ft 515 m
most residents: 1,670–1,720 ft
Lowest
1,640 ft 500 m
on the southeast side
Highest
1,740 ft 530 m
on the northeast side
Average
1,690 ft 515 m
all land inside city limits

Madison spans about 100 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.

FigureElevation
Typical
Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower
1,690 ft515 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the northeast side
1,740 ft530 m
Lowest point
Inside city limits, on the southeast side
1,640 ft500 m
Town center
USGS map point for Madison
1,680 ft510 m
Airport (MDS)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways
1,718 ft524 m
Average of all land1,690 ft515 m

Elevation profile, west to east

2.4 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Madison, South Dakota, shaded from 1,640 ft on the southeast side to 1,740 ft on the northeast side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 10 ft (3 m).
Location
City in Lake County, South Dakota, United States
Population
6,086 2024 est.
Land area
4.6 sq mi
Density
1,318 per sq mi
Coordinates
44.0061° N, 97.1139° W
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Central Lowland
Drains to
Skunk Creek → Big Sioux River → Missouri River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport
Madison Municipal (MDS) 1,718 ft
ZIP codes 1
57042
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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

  1. Orland Township1,780 ft
  2. Farmington Township1,780 ft
  3. Nunda Township1,750 ft
  4. Franklin Township1,730 ft
  5. Le Roy Township1,720 ft
  6. Herman Township1,710 ft
  7. Wentworth1,700 ft
  8. Madison1,690 ft
  9. Wentworth Township1,640 ft
  10. Lake View Township1,620 ft
  11. Lake Madison1,610 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Macey Hill1,710 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, 1,640 ft at 43.9904° N, 97.0901° 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).
  • 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.