McPherson County, SD Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of McPherson County, South Dakota, shaded from 1,440 ft on the east side to 2,180 ft on the northwest side
Elevation
2,180 ft 665 m2,000 ft 610 m1,900 ft 580 m1,720 ft 525 m1,530 ft 465 m1,440 ft 440 m
Contours every 500 ft, bold every 2,500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
⤓ Download this map
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

McPherson County averages about 1,820 ft (555 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,440 ft on the east side to 2,180 ft on the northwest side.

Average elevation
1,820 ft 555 m
all land inside the county
Highest
2,180 ft 665 m
on the northwest side
Lowest
1,440 ft 440 m
on the east side

McPherson County spans about 740 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 land1,820 ft555 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
2,180 ft665 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the east side
1,440 ft440 m

Elevation profile, west to east

48 mi west to east through Eureka.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of McPherson County, South Dakota, shaded from 1,440 ft on the east side to 2,180 ft on the northwest side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
County in South Dakota, United States
Population
2,307 2024 est.
Land area
1,136.7 sq mi + 14.9 sq mi water
Density
2.0 per sq mi
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform regions
Great Plains 78%, Central Lowland 22%
Drains to
Gulf of America 50%, Closed basin (does not reach the sea) 33%
⤓ Download this map

WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. McIntosh County, ND2,050 ft
  2. Walworth County1,910 ft
  3. McPherson County1,820 ft
  4. Campbell County1,800 ft
  5. Edmunds County1,690 ft
  6. Dickey County, ND1,530 ft
  7. Brown County1,340 ft

Rankings by average elevation

All 12 towns in McPherson County by typical elevation
  1. Wacker Township2,050 ft
  2. Long Lake1,950 ft
  3. Hoffman Township1,930 ft
  4. Eureka1,890 ft
  5. Hillsview1,850 ft
  6. Spring Creek Colony1,670 ft
  7. Leola1,590 ft
  8. Wachter Township1,540 ft
  9. Carl Township1,510 ft
  10. Grassland Colony1,480 ft
  11. Long Lake Colony1,470 ft
  12. Wetonka1,470 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.