The Highest and Lowest Points of All 50 States

Every US state has a geographic high point and a geographic low point. Some are dramatic — towering peaks and ocean-floor depths. Others are surprisingly humble — a gentle hill in Florida or a roadside marker in Delaware. Here's a tour of America's elevation extremes.

The Highest High Points

Denali, Alaska — 20,310 feet. The highest point in North America, and the highest peak in the US by a wide margin. Denali is so massive that its base-to-summit rise (18,000 feet) actually exceeds Everest's when measured from the surrounding terrain.

Mount Whitney, California — 14,505 feet. The highest point in the contiguous 48 states. From the summit, you can see across the Owens Valley to Death Valley, the lowest point in the contiguous US — a 100-mile span covering nearly 300 feet of elevation change.

Mount Elbert, Colorado — 14,440 feet. The highest peak in the Rocky Mountains. Colorado has 53 peaks above 14,000 feet; Mount Elbert is #1.

Mount Rainier, Washington — 14,411 feet. An active stratovolcano that holds more glacial ice than any other mountain in the contiguous US. On a clear day it's visible from Portland, Oregon, 100 miles to the south.

Mauna Kea, Hawaii — 13,796 feet above sea level. But measured from its ocean base, Mauna Kea is actually taller than Everest at over 33,000 feet — the tallest mountain on Earth from base to summit.

Kings Peak, Utah — 13,534 feet. In the Uinta Mountains, the only major range in the US that runs east-west rather than north-south.

Wheeler Peak, New Mexico — 13,161 feet. The highest point in New Mexico's Taos Range, about 35 miles from Taos.

Granite Peak, Montana — 12,807 feet. The highest point in Montana, located in the Beartooth Range; famously difficult to reach.

Borah Peak, Idaho — 12,662 feet. Idaho's high point, in the Lost River Range. The area was struck by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in 1983, which actually raised Borah Peak slightly.

Gannett Peak, Wyoming — 13,809 feet. The highest point in Wyoming, located in the Wind River Range. More remote and harder to climb than most other state high points.

The Lowest Low Points

Badwater Basin, California — -282 feet. The lowest point in North America. A vast salt flat in Death Valley where temperatures have reached 134°F — the hottest reliably recorded temperature in history.

New Orleans, Louisiana — -8 feet (average below sea level). Much of New Orleans sits below sea level, a fact that became catastrophically apparent during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The city is surrounded by levees and pumped constantly.

Salton Sea, California — shared lowest point for parts of the California desert at around -227 feet in some sections.

The Surprising Ones

The lowest high point in the US belongs to Florida: Britton Hill at just 345 feet. It's so unimpressive that there's no dramatic view — just a marker in a pine forest near Lakewood, Florida. Delaware's high point (Ebright Road at 447.85 feet) is literally a road. Rhode Island's high point (Jerimoth Hill at 812 feet) is in someone's backyard — for years hikers had to get permission from the landowner to visit it.

The Closest High/Low Points

The most dramatic elevation contrast is in California: Mount Whitney (14,505 feet) and Badwater Basin (-282 feet) are only about 85 miles apart. You can see the Sierra Nevada from the floor of Death Valley — a 14,787-foot elevation change visible to the naked eye.

Why It Matters for Quizzes

The USGS tracks the precise elevation of every state high point. For quiz purposes, know these: Denali (Alaska), Mount Whitney (California contiguous US), Badwater Basin (lowest in North America), and Britton Hill (lowest high point in the US — Florida). Those four facts cover the most commonly asked geography questions about US elevation.