What is my elevation?

This site shows your elevation above sea level, or the elevation of any address or place on Earth. To see your current elevation, allow location access. To find the elevation of a different place, type an address or place name in the search box. You can show the result in feet or meters.

How this site finds your elevation

The site has two ways to get your elevation. You can select one with the toggle below the search box.

Lookup on web is the default. The site sends your coordinates to our server, and the server reads the ground elevation at that point from public elevation data. In the United States, much of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, most of this data comes from lidar surveys by national mapping agencies. In other areas, it comes from satellite measurements. This method works on all phones and computers, but it does not update as you move.

Use device shows the altitude that your phone calculates from GPS and, on many phones, from its barometer. The reading updates as you move, and it works without an internet connection. It is usually less accurate than the web lookup. The ± value next to the reading is your device's estimate of its own error, at 95% confidence.

When you search for an address or a place, the site always uses the web lookup.

How to find the elevation of an address or your house

1. Type the address in the search box at the top of this page.
2. Select the correct address from the list.
3. Read the elevation in feet or meters.

The result is the ground elevation at the point where the address is mapped. On a sloped lot, the front and back of the property can have different elevations. To check a specific spot, open the elevation map and drag the pin to that spot.

The ground elevation is not the elevation of your floor. The lowest floor of a house is often higher than the ground around it, and an upper floor is higher again.

For flood insurance in the United States, you need an official Elevation Certificate. A licensed land surveyor, engineer, or architect prepares it. The certificate compares the elevation of the building with the base flood elevation on the FEMA flood map for the property. Use this site as a guide, not as a replacement for a survey.

How accurate is my elevation?

The accuracy depends on the data that is available for your location. The label below the elevation (high, medium, or low resolution) tells you which type of data the site used. Tap the label for details.

• High resolution (lidar): Lasers on aircraft measure the bare ground at points about 1 meter apart. U.S. Geological Survey standards require this data to be accurate to about 10 cm (4 inches) on open ground.
• Medium resolution: The data points are 2–10 meters apart. In the lower 48 states, the USGS 10-meter data has a typical error of about 0.8 meters (2.7 feet).
• Low resolution (satellite): The Copernicus GLO-30 data covers the whole world with points every 30 meters (98 feet). In open terrain, it is usually accurate to about 2 meters (7 feet). Satellites measure the tops of buildings and trees, so readings in cities and forests can be too high. Readings on steep slopes are also less accurate.

The web lookup gives the elevation of the ground. If you are on an upper floor, on a tall building, or in an aircraft, your altitude is higher than this value.

Why does my phone show a different elevation?

The altitude on a phone is often different from the elevation on this site by tens of feet. Different phones can also show different values at the same place. These are the usual causes:

• GPS is less accurate vertically. All of the satellites are above you, so GPS measures height less accurately than position. Under open sky, smartphone GPS is usually accurate to about 16 feet (5 meters) horizontally. The vertical error is usually larger, and it increases near buildings and trees.
• GPS uses a different zero. GPS measures height above the ellipsoid, a smooth mathematical model of the Earth. Sea level is above or below the ellipsoid by between about −106 and +85 meters, depending on the location. In the contiguous United States, sea level is below the ellipsoid. A phone that does not correct for this difference shows an elevation that is too low by tens of meters. Some phones and browsers correct for it, and some do not.
• Barometers change with the weather. A barometer can measure small changes, such as a climb up a flight of stairs. But air pressure also changes with the weather, so the barometer reading moves away from the true value unless the phone calibrates it again.
• Your phone is not on the ground. Your phone measures its own height, which includes the floor of the building you are in.

For the most dependable ground elevation, use Lookup on web.

Other ways to check your elevation

• iPhone: Open the Compass app. It shows your elevation below your coordinates. If no elevation appears, make sure that Location Services is on for Compass.
• Apple Watch: On recent models, the Compass app shows your elevation.
• Android: Android has no standard elevation display. Some phone makers include elevation in their compass app.
• Google Maps: Google Maps does not show the elevation of a single point. Select the Terrain map type and zoom in to see contour lines with elevation labels. Our elevation map shows contour lines and also gives the exact elevation at the pin.
• Google Earth: Google Earth Pro on a computer shows the elevation of the point below the cursor, at the bottom of the window.
• Hiking watches and handheld altimeters: Most use a barometric altimeter. Before a hike, calibrate it at a known elevation, such as a trailhead sign or a value from this site.

How an altimeter works

An altimeter is an instrument that measures altitude. Most altimeters measure air pressure, which decreases as you go higher. Near sea level, the pressure decreases by about 1 hectopascal for every 8 meters (27 feet) of climb. Altimeters in aircraft, hiking watches, and smartphones all use this principle.

Air pressure also changes with the weather. A change of 10 hectopascals between fair and stormy weather is common. Without a correction, that change moves an altimeter reading by more than 80 meters (260 feet). Pilots correct for this when they set their altimeter to the local pressure that air traffic control gives them. Hikers calibrate their altimeter at a point of known elevation.

A barometric altimeter is good at measuring changes in height over a short time. GPS and elevation data are better for the absolute elevation of a place. You can use this site as an online altimeter. The web lookup gives your ground elevation. The device reading shows how your altitude changes as you move.

What is elevation?

Elevation is the height of a point on the Earth's surface above mean sea level. Places below sea level have a negative elevation. Elevation is sometimes written as AMSL, for "above mean sea level."

The surface of the sea is not flat, so surveyors measure elevation from the geoid. The geoid is a model of global mean sea level, and it defines zero elevation. Each country connects its elevations to this surface through a national height system, such as NAVD 88 in the United States.

Elevation usually describes the ground. Altitude usually describes an object above the ground, such as an aircraft, and is measured from sea level. In aviation, height is the distance above the ground below the aircraft. In everyday use, people use "elevation," "altitude," and "height above sea level" to mean the same thing.

The United States usually gives elevation in feet. Most other countries use meters. One meter is equal to 3.28 feet, and one foot is equal to 0.3048 meters.

What your elevation tells you

• Cooking: Water boils at a lower temperature at higher elevations. The boiling point decreases by almost 1 °F for every 500 feet. At 7,500 feet, water boils at about 198 °F instead of 212 °F, so food that you cook in water takes longer. The boiling point above is calculated for your elevation.
• Temperature: On average, air temperature decreases by about 3.5 °F for every 1,000 feet of elevation (6.5 °C for every 1,000 meters). The actual rate changes with the weather.
• Altitude sickness: The CDC says that travelers who sleep at 8,000 feet (2,450 meters) or higher before they acclimatize are at risk of altitude sickness.
• Hiking and travel: Your elevation helps you track your progress on a climb and prepare for colder temperatures. See the elevation map and the peaks near you.

Highest and lowest places on Earth

• Mount Everest is the highest point on Earth, at 29,032 feet (8,848.86 meters). China and Nepal measured this value together in 2020.
• Denali in Alaska is the highest point in North America, at 20,310 feet (6,190 meters).
• The shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest land on Earth, at about 1,440 feet (440 meters) below sea level. The water level drops by about 3 feet (1 meter) each year.
• Badwater Basin in Death Valley is the lowest point in North America, at 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level.
• The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the deepest point in the ocean, at about 35,876 feet (10,935 meters) below sea level.
• Denver, the "Mile High City," is at about 5,280 feet (1,609 meters). La Paz, Bolivia, the highest seat of government in the world, is at about 11,900 feet (3,640 meters).

Elevation atlas

The elevation atlas gives the elevation of cities and towns around the world. You can also search for any address or place at the top of this page.