Seattle, WA Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Seattle, Washington, shaded from sea level level on the Salmon Bay Waterway to 520 ft on the southwest side
Elevation
520 ft 160 m390 ft 120 m330 ft 100 m200 ft 60 m65 ft 20 m0 ft 0 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.
City area
Fades everything outside the official city limits (US Census).

Elevation Data

Seattle sits at about 230 ft (70 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.

Typical elevation
230 ft 70 m
most residents: 70–370 ft
Lowest
0 ft 0 m
at sea level on the Salmon Bay Waterway
Highest
520 ft 160 m
on the southwest side
Average
200 ft 60 m
all land inside city limits

Seattle spans about 520 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
230 ft70 m
Highest point
Inside city limits, on the southwest side
520 ft160 m
Lowest point
Where the land meets the Salmon Bay Waterway
0 ft0 m
Town center
USGS map point for Seattle
180 ft55 m
Airport (SEA)
FAA airport elevation, the highest point of its runways, 3.7 mi south of the city limits
432 ft132 m
Average of all land200 ft60 m
Nearest peak
Squak Mountain, 8.1 mi southeast of the city limits
2,020 ft615 m

Elevation profile, south to north

15 mi south to north through the town center.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Seattle, Washington, shaded from sea level level on the Salmon Bay Waterway to 520 ft on the southwest side
City limits (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 100 ft (30 m).
Location
City in King County, Washington, United States
Population
780,995 2024 est.
Land area
84.0 sq mi + 58.0 sq mi water
Density
9,295 per sq mi
Coordinates
47.6062° N, 122.3321° W
Time zone
Pacific UTC−8 / −7
Landform region
Pacific Border
Drains to
Strait of Juan de Fuca
Airport
Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) 432 ft
ZIP codes 31
31 ZIP codes98101 98102 98103 98104 98105 98106 98107 98108 98109 98112 98115 98116 98117 98118 98119 98121 98122 98125 98126 98133 98134 98136 98144 98146 98154 98164 98174 98177 98178 98195 98199
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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS, FAA

Nearby Places

Nearby towns by typical elevation

  1. White Center410 ft
  2. Bellevue300 ft
  3. Kirkland250 ft
  4. Seattle230 ft
  5. Clyde Hill220 ft
  6. Mercer Island200 ft
  7. Boulevard Park170 ft
  8. Beaux Arts Village140 ft
  9. Medina98 ft
  10. Yarrow Point91 ft
  11. Hunts Point44 ft

Rankings by typical elevation

Peaks and hills nearest, by height

  • Rattlesnake Mountain, King County3,519 ft
  • Tiger Mountain3,004 ft
  • Taylor Mountain2,610 ft
  • Squak Mountain2,020 ft
  • Gold Mountain, Kitsap County1,760 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, −5 ft at 47.6671° N, 122.3871° 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; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.