Mellette County, SD Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Mellette County, South Dakota, shaded from 1,620 ft on the east side to 2,820 ft on the southwest side
Elevation
2,820 ft 860 m2,520 ft 770 m2,370 ft 725 m2,070 ft 630 m1,770 ft 540 m1,620 ft 495 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

Mellette County averages about 2,230 ft (680 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,620 ft on the east side to 2,820 ft on the southwest side.

Average elevation
2,230 ft 680 m
all land inside the county
Highest
2,820 ft 860 m
on the southwest side
Lowest
1,620 ft 495 m
on the east side

Mellette County spans about 1,200 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 land2,230 ft680 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the southwest side
2,820 ft860 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the east side
1,620 ft495 m

Elevation profile, west to east

50 mi west to east through White River.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Mellette County, South Dakota, shaded from 1,620 ft on the east side to 2,820 ft on the southwest side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 100 ft (30 m).
Location
County in South Dakota, United States
Population
1,834 2024 est.
Land area
1,307.3 sq mi + 3.6 sq mi water
Density
1.4 per sq mi
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
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. Todd County2,700 ft
  2. Jackson County2,530 ft
  3. Mellette County2,230 ft
  4. Tripp County2,090 ft
  5. Jones County2,070 ft
  6. Lyman County1,780 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Cross Butte2,640 ft
  • Bus Butte2,620 ft
  • Horseshoe Butte2,540 ft
  • Rattlesnake Butte, Mellette County2,520 ft
All 19 towns in Mellette County by typical elevation
  1. Blackpipe Township2,590 ft
  2. Surprise Valley Township2,520 ft
  3. Norris Township2,510 ft
  4. Norris2,510 ft
  5. Corn Creek2,400 ft
  6. New Surprise Valley Township2,390 ft
  7. Fairview Township, Mellette County2,370 ft
  8. Prospect Township2,330 ft
  9. Running Bird Township2,300 ft
  10. Red Fish Township2,250 ft
  11. Rocky Ford Township2,220 ft
  12. Butte Township2,200 ft
  13. Wood2,150 ft
  14. White River2,120 ft
  15. Mosher Township2,100 ft
  16. Cody Township2,080 ft
  17. Rosebud Township2,070 ft
  18. Horse Creek2,050 ft
  19. Bad Nation Township2,030 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.