Meade County, SD Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Meade County, South Dakota, shaded from 1,890 ft on the east side to 5,460 ft on the southwest side
Elevation
5,460 ft 1,665 m4,570 ft 1,390 m4,120 ft 1,255 m3,230 ft 985 m2,340 ft 710 m1,890 ft 575 m
Zoom in for contour lines
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

Meade County averages about 2,760 ft (840 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,890 ft on the east side to 5,460 ft on the southwest side.

Average elevation
2,760 ft 840 m
all land inside the county
Highest
5,460 ft 1,665 m
on the southwest side
Lowest
1,890 ft 575 m
on the east side

Meade County spans about 3,570 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 land2,760 ft840 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the southwest side
5,460 ft1,665 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the east side
1,890 ft575 m

Elevation profile, south to north

24 mi south to north through Sturgis.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Meade County, South Dakota, shaded from 1,890 ft on the east side to 5,460 ft on the southwest side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
County in South Dakota, United States
Population
30,918 2024 est.
Land area
3,470.9 sq mi + 11.9 sq mi water
Density
8.9 per sq mi
Time zone
Mountain UTC−7 / −6
Landform region
Great Plains
Drains to
Gulf of America
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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

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Lawrence County5,020 ft
  2. Pennington County3,560 ft
  3. Butte County3,010 ft
  4. Meade County2,760 ft
  5. Perkins County2,600 ft
  6. Haakon County2,290 ft
  7. Ziebach County2,270 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Flagstaff Mountain5,410 ft
  • Deadman Mountain4,940 ft
  • Bear Butte4,427 ft
  • Bald Mountain, Meade County4,370 ft
  • Oyster Mountain4,050 ft
All 17 towns in Meade County by typical elevation
  1. Blucksberg Mountain3,770 ft
  2. Summerset3,660 ft
  3. Wonderland Homes3,600 ft
  4. Blackhawk3,560 ft
  5. Piedmont3,520 ft
  6. Sturgis3,510 ft
  7. Box Elder partly3,160 ft
  8. Upper Red Owl Township2,880 ft
  9. Eagle Township, Meade County2,800 ft
  10. Viewfield Township2,770 ft
  11. Lakeside Township2,740 ft
  12. Faith2,580 ft
  13. Elm Springs Township2,550 ft
  14. Union Township, Meade County2,480 ft
  15. Smithville Township2,460 ft
  16. Howard Township, Meade County2,440 ft
  17. Dakota Township2,430 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 2 arc-second (≈200 ft, 62 m) grid, coarsened from 1 arc-second so the whole area fits one run. Land means the boundary minus Census area water (on this grid, water areas of at least half a cell).
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 highest grid cells. Lowest: the lowest land cell, re-read at 1 arc-second around the 25 lowest grid cells; 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.