Bellingham, WA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Bellingham, Washington, shaded from sea level level on Bellingham Bay to 920 ft on the southeast edge, below higher ground just outside
Elevation
920 ft 280 m690 ft 210 m570 ft 175 m340 ft 105 m110 ft 35 m0 ft 0 m
Contours every 200 ft, bold every 1,000 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

Bellingham sits at about 170 ft (50 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
170 ft 50 m
most residents: 78–380 ft
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on Bellingham Bay
Highest
920 ft 280 m
on the southeast edge, below higher ground just outside
Average
230 ft 70 m
all land inside city limits

Bellingham spans about 920 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.

FigureElevation
Typical
Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower
170 ft50 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the southeast edge, below higher ground just outside
920 ft280 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets Bellingham Bay
0 ft0 m
Town center
USGS map point for Bellingham
73 ft22 m
Airport (BLI)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 0.5 mi northwest of the city limits
171 ft52 m
Average of all land230 ft70 m
Nearest peak
Lookout Mountain, Whatcom County, 2.8 mi southeast of the city limits
2,670 ft815 m

Elevation profile, south to north

8.4 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Bellingham, Washington, shaded from sea level level on Bellingham Bay to 920 ft on the southeast edge, below higher ground just outside
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 200 ft (61 m).
Location
City in Whatcom County, Washington, United States
Population
95,860 2024 est.
Land area
28.2 sq mi + 2.3 sq mi water
Density
3,402 per sq mi
Coordinates
48.7596° N, 122.4882° W
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Pacific Border
Drains to
Strait of Juan de Fuca
Airport
Bellingham International (BLI) 171 ft
ZIP codes 3
98225 98226 98229
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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, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. Sudden Valley520 ft
  2. Geneva440 ft
  3. Acme330 ft
  4. Alger290 ft
  5. Deming200 ft
  6. Bellingham170 ft
  7. Marietta-Alderwood130 ft
  8. Lynden110 ft
  9. Ferndale98 ft
  10. Everson89 ft
  11. Custer45 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Anderson Mountain3,370 ft
  • Lookout Mountain, Whatcom County2,670 ft
  • Chuckanut Mountain2,300 ft
  • Lummi Peak1,690 ft
  • Squalicum Mountain1,540 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, 0 ft at 48.7585° N, 122.5107° W, is in such a hollow or patch and is not counted; this coastal land's lowest point is sea level on the coast.
  • 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. All public domain.