How high is your city? How high is that mountain pass you are driving over? Elevation Finder answers in seconds: type any place on Earth — or paste coordinates — and get its height above sea level in metres and feet.
The data comes live from Open-Meteo’s global elevation model, built from satellite terrain data. If several places share a name, you pick the right one before the elevation is shown.
How to use it
Type a place name — a city, a mountain, a village — and press Find elevation. If the name matches several places, a short list appears; click the one you meant. If you already know the coordinates, switch to the Coordinates tab and enter latitude and longitude directly for an exact reading.
A worked example
Search for Denver. The tool returns about 1,609 metres (5,280 feet) — which is why Denver is called the Mile-High City. Search for Mount Everest and you get about 8,849 metres. The same search works for places with no famous height: your street, a hiking trailhead, a ski resort.
What elevation is good for
Hikers and cyclists check climbs before a route. Travellers check altitude before a trip — high places can mean thinner air and colder nights. Gardeners check frost risk, since cold air pools in low ground. Pilots, drone flyers and photographers check terrain height before they plan shots. And students use it for geography homework that needs real numbers.
Honest limits
The model resolution is about 90 metres, so a reading is the average height of the surrounding patch of ground, not the exact doorstep. On steep slopes or cliffs the true spot height can differ by a few metres. Values are height above mean sea level, not height above the local ground — a building’s roof is not included.
Reading the result like a geographer
Elevation only makes sense against landmarks. Sea level is zero: Amsterdam sits near 2 metres, which is why the Dutch take water so seriously. The Dead Sea shore, around −430 metres, is the lowest land on Earth. La Paz in Bolivia, near 3,640 metres, is the highest capital city. When your result lands between these markers, you can feel what it means: 500 metres is a hill town, 1,500 metres is a ski village, 3,000 metres is thin-air territory where newcomers get out of breath on stairs.
Elevation also explains weather. Temperature falls roughly 6.5 °C for every 1,000 metres of height, which is why a mountain town can be ten degrees cooler than the valley below on the same day. If you are comparing two places for a trip, check both elevations before you pack: the same latitude at different heights is a different climate.
FAQ
Is it free? Yes — unlimited lookups, no sign-up.
Why metres and feet? Metres are standard worldwide; feet are what US readers and aviation use. Both are shown every time.
Can I check a place with no name? Yes — use the Coordinates tab with latitude and longitude from any map app.
How accurate is it? Within a few metres for most towns and open ground; less exact on sharp ridges and cliffs.
What is the lowest inhabited place? Jericho, in the West Bank, sits around −258 metres below sea level — the lowest continuously inhabited town on Earth.
Does the tool work for the ocean? Coordinates in the sea return the elevation of the sea floor model at that point, which is usually a negative number. It is terrain data, not water depth measured live.
One more check worth doing: compare the elevation of your home with the elevation of your workplace or school. A difference of even 100 metres changes morning temperatures and explains why one side of town gets frost while the other does not.
Related tools
Weather Forecast · Sunrise & Sunset Times · Versión en español: Buscador de Elevación · All Free Online Tools.
Embed this tool on your website — free
Copy the code below to add this working tool to your own page. A small credit link stays with it — that’s all we ask.