Salt Lake City elevation at a glance
| Usually quoted | about 1,288 m (4,226 ft) |
|---|---|
| GeoNames elevation | 1,299 m (4,262 ft) |
| SRTM model at the GeoNames point | 1,311 m (4,301 ft) |
| GeoNames point | 40.7608° N, 111.8911° W |
| Population (GeoNames) | 192,672 |
Salt Lake City lies in a broad valley between the Wasatch Range to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west, with the Great Salt Lake on the plain to the north-west. The valley floor is the bed of ancient Lake Bonneville, a vast Ice Age lake whose old shorelines are still visible as flat terraces, or benches, on the mountain fronts. Neighbourhoods on the East Bench and in the Avenues lie on these terraces, well above the downtown grid; the University of Utah sits higher than the State Capitol, and the Wasatch peaks behind them reach more than 3,000 m, almost two kilometres above the valley floor.
The Great Salt Lake rises and falls
The surface of the Great Salt Lake has no outlet and changes with snowmelt, rain and the water taken from its rivers. Its level has moved by several metres over recorded history, and in recent dry years it has fallen to record lows, exposing large areas of lake bed. An elevation model taken in one year therefore shows the shoreline of that year, not of today.
Thin, dry air and snow
At about 1,288 m the air pressure in the standard atmosphere is roughly 14 % lower than at sea level. Combined with storms that cross the lake, the height helps produce the light, dry powder that the ski resorts in the canyons above the city are known for. Alta and Snowbird lie well above 2,500 m, more than a kilometre higher than downtown.
In the United States the Terrain Tiles use the USGS 3D Elevation Program, built from lidar over the Salt Lake Valley, so a click on a street or a back yard is usually within a metre or two of a survey.
How to find the elevation of a place in Salt Lake City
- 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 Salt Lake City 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 Salt Lake City higher than Denver?
No. Salt Lake City lies at about 1,288 m and Denver at about 1,609 m, so Denver is roughly 320 m higher.
How high is the Great Salt Lake?
The lake surface has been around 1,280 m above sea level in recent decades, but it changes from year to year. Click the lake on the map to see the level recorded in the elevation model.
Why does the downtown height differ from the east side?
The east side neighbourhoods sit on the benches of old Lake Bonneville at the foot of the Wasatch Range, often 100–300 m above the downtown grid. Click both on the map to compare.
Something wrong or missing? E-mail [email protected] and it will be fixed.