Dane County, WI Elevation & Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Dane County, Wisconsin, shaded from 720 ft on the northwest side to 1,500 ft on the west side
Elevation
1,500 ft 455 m1,300 ft 395 m1,210 ft 370 m1,010 ft 310 m820 ft 250 m720 ft 220 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.
County area
Fades everything outside the official county boundary (US Census).

Elevation Data

Dane County averages about 950 ft (290 m) above sea level across all its land. Its ground runs from 720 ft on the northwest side to 1,500 ft on the west side.

Average elevation
950 ft 290 m
all land inside the county
Highest
1,500 ft 455 m
on the west side
Lowest
720 ft 220 m
on the northwest side

Dane County spans about 780 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 land950 ft290 m
Highest point
Inside the county, on the west side
1,500 ft455 m
Lowest point
Inside the county, on the northwest side
720 ft220 m

Elevation profile, west to east

42 mi west to east through Madison.

Topographic Map

Topographic elevation map of Dane County, Wisconsin, shaded from 720 ft on the northwest side to 1,500 ft on the west side
County boundary (dashed) over shaded terrain, with contours every 40 ft (12 m).
Location
County in Wisconsin, United States
Population
588,347 2024 est.
Land area
1,196.5 sq mi + 41.0 sq mi water
Density
492 per sq mi
Time zone
Central UTC−6 / −5
Landform region
Central Lowland
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. Iowa County1,020 ft
  2. Sauk County970 ft
  3. Dane County950 ft
  4. Green County930 ft
  5. Dodge County910 ft
  6. Columbia County910 ft
  7. Rock County880 ft
  8. Jefferson County840 ft

Rankings by average elevation

Peaks and hills highest inside

  • Sugarloaf Hill1,140 ft
  • Liberty Mound1,075 ft
  • Mount Pleasant1,040 ft
  • Mount Julia1,030 ft
  • Eagle Heights1,020 ft
All 60 towns in Dane County by typical elevation
  1. Blue Mounds1,330 ft
  2. Mount Horeb1,190 ft
  3. Town of Blue Mounds1,130 ft
  4. Town of Middleton1,090 ft
  5. Town of Dane1,080 ft
  6. Perry1,070 ft
  7. Dane1,070 ft
  8. Springdale1,050 ft
  9. Berry1,040 ft
  10. Primrose1,030 ft
  11. Town of Oregon1,020 ft
  12. Springfield1,020 ft
  13. Town of Verona1,010 ft
  14. Vermont1,010 ft
  15. Town of Cross Plains1,000 ft
  16. Verona1,000 ft
  17. Sun Prairie980 ft
  18. Fitchburg980 ft
  19. Village of Brooklyn970 ft
  20. Town of Bristol970 ft
  21. Oregon970 ft
  22. Burke960 ft
  23. Vienna960 ft
  24. Rutland950 ft
  25. DeForest940 ft
  26. Town of Sun Prairie940 ft
  27. Middleton930 ft
  28. Waunakee930 ft
  29. Windsor920 ft
  30. Town of Cottage Grove910 ft
  31. Cottage Grove910 ft
  32. Madison910 ft
  33. Cross Plains910 ft
  34. Montrose910 ft
  35. Roxbury910 ft
  36. Christiana900 ft
  37. York, Dane County900 ft
  38. Shorewood Hills900 ft
  39. Stoughton890 ft
  40. McFarland890 ft
  41. Town of Deerfield890 ft
  42. Maple Bluff890 ft
  43. Dunn880 ft
  44. Blooming Grove880 ft
  45. Pleasant Springs880 ft
  46. Westport880 ft
  47. Dunkirk880 ft
  48. Deerfield880 ft
  49. Belleville870 ft
  50. Monona870 ft
  51. Medina870 ft
  52. Town of Black Earth870 ft
  53. Marshall860 ft
  54. Cambridge860 ft
  55. Albion850 ft
  56. Edgerton partly840 ft
  57. Rockdale830 ft
  58. Black Earth820 ft
  59. Town of Mazomanie780 ft
  60. Mazomanie780 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 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid. Land means the boundary minus Census area water.
  • Highest and lowest: the highest land cell. Lowest: the lowest land cell; 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.