Pennington County, SD Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Pennington County, South Dakota, shaded from 1,890 ft on the northeast side to 7,200 ft on Black Elk Peak
Elevation
7,200 ft 2,195 m5,870 ft 1,790 m5,210 ft 1,585 m3,880 ft 1,185 m2,550 ft 780 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

Pennington County averages about 3,560 ft (1,085 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 1,890 ft on the northeast side to 7,200 ft on Black Elk Peak.

Average elevation
3,560 ft 1,085 m
all land inside the county
Highest
7,200 ft 2,195 m
on Black Elk Peak
Lowest
1,890 ft 575 m
on the northeast side

Pennington County spans about 5,310 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 land3,560 ft1,085 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on Black Elk Peak (3DEP terrain model; no NGS survey height)
7,200 ft2,195 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the northeast side
1,890 ft575 m

Elevation profile, west to east

102 mi west to east through Rapid City.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Pennington County, South Dakota, shaded from 1,890 ft on the northeast side to 7,200 ft on Black Elk Peak
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 500 ft (152 m).
Location
County in South Dakota, United States
Population
115,979 2024 est.
Land area
2,776.8 sq mi + 7.7 sq mi water
Density
42 per sq mi
Time zone
Mountain UTC−7 / −6
Landform region
Great Plains
Drains to
Gulf of America
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS

Nearby Places

Neighboring counties sharing a border, by average

  1. Lawrence County5,020 ft
  2. Weston County, WY4,460 ft
  3. Custer County4,220 ft
  4. Pennington County3,560 ft
  5. Oglala Lakota County3,090 ft
  6. Meade County2,760 ft
  7. Jackson County2,530 ft
  8. Haakon County2,290 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Black Elk Peak7,200 ft
  • Odakota Mountain7,190 ft
  • Bear Mountain7,160 ft
  • Green Mountain7,160 ft
  • Crows Nest Peak7,052 ft
All 34 towns in Pennington County by typical elevation
  1. Hill City5,030 ft
  2. Keystone4,560 ft
  3. Johnson Siding4,480 ft
  4. Colonial Pine Hills4,060 ft
  5. Rapid City3,320 ft
  6. Rapid Valley3,170 ft
  7. Box Elder3,160 ft
  8. Ashland Heights3,120 ft
  9. Green Valley3,050 ft
  10. Caputa2,920 ft
  11. Huron Township2,870 ft
  12. New Underwood2,850 ft
  13. Wall2,830 ft
  14. Crooked Creek Township2,810 ft
  15. Scenic Township2,810 ft
  16. Fairview Township, Pennington County2,810 ft
  17. Lake Hill Township2,770 ft
  18. Lake Flat Township2,770 ft
  19. Cedar Butte Township2,710 ft
  20. Owanka Township2,710 ft
  21. Ash Township, Pennington County2,680 ft
  22. Imlay Township2,680 ft
  23. Peno Township2,680 ft
  24. Lake Creek Township2,650 ft
  25. Quinn2,620 ft
  26. Quinn Township2,610 ft
  27. Flat Butte Township2,600 ft
  28. Conata Township2,570 ft
  29. Shyne Township2,520 ft
  30. Wasta Township2,510 ft
  31. Sunnyside Township2,510 ft
  32. Rainy Creek/Cheyenne Township2,480 ft
  33. Castle Butte Township2,460 ft
  34. Wasta2,320 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; it is a named summit, so its height is the peak method: the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it. 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.