Rapid Valley, SD Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
3,430 ft 1,045 m3,350 ft 1,020 m3,300 ft 1,005 m3,220 ft 980 m3,130 ft 955 m3,090 ft 940 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
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.
- Area
- Fades everything outside the official CDP boundary (US Census).
Elevation Data
Rapid Valley sits at about 3,170 ft (965 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
3,170 ft 965 m
most residents: 3,130–3,260 ft
Lowest
3,090 ft 940 m
on the southeast side
Highest
3,430 ft 1,045 m
on the northeast side
Average
3,220 ft 985 m
all land inside the CDP boundary
Rapid Valley spans about 340 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 | 3,170 ft965 m |
| Highest point Inside the CDP boundary, on the northeast side | 3,430 ft1,045 m |
| Lowest point Inside the CDP boundary, on the southeast side | 3,090 ft940 m |
| Town center USGS map point for Rapid Valley | 3,160 ft960 m |
| Airport (RAP) FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 1.7 mi east of the CDP boundary | 3,204 ft977 m |
| Average of all land | 3,220 ft985 m |
Elevation profile, south to north
1.2 mi south to north through the town center.
Altitude Effects
What 3,170 ft means day to day, worked out from the typical elevation.
Water boils at
206.1 °F96.7 °C
vs 212 °F at sea level; USDA: food takes longer to cook.
Air pressure
89% of sea level
26.7 inHg (90.3 kPa): each breath holds 11% less air.
Oxygen equivalent
18.7% at sea level
Air is still 21% oxygen, just thinner. Normal at the coast: 20.9%.
Sunburn
+6% more UV
EPA: UV rises about 2% for every 1,000 ft.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Unincorporated community (census-designated place) in Pennington County, South Dakota, United States
- Population
- 8,098 2020 Census
- Land area
- 6.4 sq mi
- Density
- 1,264 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 44.0625° N, 103.1463° W
- Time zone
- Mountain UTC−7 / −6
- Landform region
- Great Plains
- Drains to
- Rapid Creek → Cheyenne River → Missouri River → Mississippi River → Gulf of America
- Airport
- Rapid City Regional (RAP) 3,204 ft
- ZIP codes 1
- 57703
⤓ Download this map
WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA
Nearby Places
Nearby towns by typical elevation
- Johnson Siding4,480 ft
- Colonial Pine Hills4,060 ft
- Summerset3,660 ft
- Wonderland Homes3,600 ft
- Blackhawk3,560 ft
- Rapid City3,320 ft
- Rapid Valley3,170 ft
- Box Elder3,160 ft
- Ashland Heights3,120 ft
- Green Valley3,050 ft
- Caputa2,920 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in South Dakota45th highest of 1,383
- Towns in Pennington County6th highest of 34
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Black Elk Peak7,200 ft
- Green Mountain7,160 ft
- Bear Butte4,427 ft
- Cowboy Hill3,800 ft
- Hangman Hill3,586 ft
How we measure
- Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the CDP boundary, 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 CDP boundary (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
- 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).
- Altitude effects: standard-atmosphere formulas applied to the typical elevation; UV from EPA's rule of thumb (about 2% per 1,000 ft).
- 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.
- Rapid Valley is an unincorporated community; figures cover the census-designated place, a statistical area.
- Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); FAA airport data; BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.