Pierre, SD Elevation & Topographic Map

Elevation

1,820 ft 555 m1,720 ft 525 m1,670 ft 510 m1,570 ft 480 m1,470 ft 450 m1,420 ft 435 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

Pierre sits at about 1,540 ft (470 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation

1,540 ft 470 m

most residents: 1,440–1,720 ft

Lowest

1,420 ft 435 m

on the southeast side

Highest

1,820 ft 555 m

on the northeast side

Average

1,610 ft 490 m

all land inside city limits

Pierre spans about 400 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.

Figure	Elevation
Typical Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower	1,540 ft470 m
Highest point Inside city limits, on the northeast side	1,820 ft555 m
Lowest point Inside city limits, on the southeast side	1,420 ft435 m
Town center USGS map point for Pierre	1,480 ft450 m
Airport (PIR) FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways	1,744 ft532 m
Average of all land	1,610 ft490 m

Elevation profile, west to east

4.6 mi west to east through the town center.

Topographic Map

Location: City in Hughes County, South Dakota, United States
Population: 13,788 2024 est.
Land area: 13.0 sq mi
Density: 1,058 per sq mi
Coordinates: 44.3683° N, 100.3510° W
Time zone: Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region: Great Plains
Drains to: Missouri River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
Airport: Pierre Regional (PIR) 1,744 ft
ZIP codes 1: 57501

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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

Virgil Township2,110 ft
Kolls Township2,070 ft
Vivian Township1,900 ft
Vivian1,900 ft
Onida1,870 ft
Oahe Acres1,720 ft
Raber Township1,670 ft
Cow Creek1,640 ft
Blunt1,620 ft
Pierre1,540 ft
Fort Pierre1,440 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Towns in South Dakota788th highest of 1,383
Towns in Hughes Countylowest of 5

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

Snake Butte, Hughes County1,934 ft
Brown Hill1,888 ft
Stony Hill (historical)1,790 ft
Verendrye Hill1,710 ft
Medicine Butte (historical), Stanley County1,660 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, 1,420 ft at 44.3465° N, 100.3035° 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; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.