Denver elevation at a glance
| Usually quoted | about 1,609 m (5,279 ft) |
|---|---|
| GeoNames elevation | 1,609 m (5,279 ft) |
| SRTM model at the GeoNames point | 1,636 m (5,367 ft) |
| GeoNames point | 39.7392° N, 104.9847° W |
| Population (GeoNames) | 715,522 |
Denver sits on the high plains at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where the Front Range rises to the west and the land falls gently towards Kansas to the east. The famous mile is marked on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol: an engraved step and brass markers show where surveyors have placed 5,280 feet over the years, and newer surveys put it a few steps lower than the original carving. The city itself is not flat. The South Platte River and Cherry Creek run through the lowest ground, and neighbourhoods on the higher ground away from the rivers sit noticeably higher, so two addresses in Denver can differ by tens of metres.
What a mile of height means in Denver
At about 1,609 m the air pressure in the standard atmosphere is roughly 18 % lower than at sea level, so each breath holds less oxygen. Visitors from the coast often notice it on the first day of a run or a hike, and the sun burns faster because there is less air to filter it. Water boils at about 95 °C instead of 100 °C, which is why Colorado recipes and cake mixes carry high-altitude instructions.
Thinner air also means less drag. A baseball hit at Coors Field travels farther than the same hit at sea level, and the ballpark keeps its baseballs in a humidor to even this out. Golfers in Denver notice the same effect on long drives.
Checking a Denver address
In the United States the Terrain Tiles behind this map come from the USGS 3D Elevation Program, which is built from lidar over most of the Denver area. Clicking a street or a back yard therefore gives a ground height that is usually within a metre or two of a surveyed value. Click the river bank and then a hilltop park to see how much the height changes within the city.
How to find the elevation of a place in Denver
- The map opens on the city point and shows its elevation in the panel.
- Search for another place or zoom in to the street, park or plot you want.
- Click the exact spot; each click adds a point with its height in metres and feet.
- Switch to feet if you prefer, copy the share link, or download the points as CSV or GeoJSON.
The map opens on the GeoNames point for Denver and reads its height straight away. Heights come from the open Terrain Tiles dataset and are read in your browser; nothing is uploaded. A city has no single elevation: the number depends on the spot, so the values on this page are a guide, and official heights come from the national mapping agency. Read more in how to find the elevation of a location.
Frequently asked questions
Is Denver exactly one mile high?
Only at certain spots. The State Capitol steps mark the mile, but the city spreads over ground that is both lower, along the South Platte River, and higher, towards the eastern plains and the foothills. "One mile" is a fair average, not a single value for the whole city.
Is Denver higher than Salt Lake City?
Yes. Denver is about 1,609 m above sea level and Salt Lake City about 1,288 m, so Denver is roughly 320 m (1,050 ft) higher. Both cities sit below the mountains that surround them.
Why does my phone show a different altitude in Denver?
A phone's GPS altitude is often 10–20 m off vertically, and some apps show the height above the ellipsoid rather than above sea level. In Colorado those two references differ by more than ten metres. The map value is the ground height above sea level from an elevation model.
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