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Open data study

The highest and lowest state capitals in the US

Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the highest state capital in the United States, at 6,997 feet (2,133 m) above sea level, and Providence, Rhode Island, the lowest, at 9 feet (3 m). We ranked all 50 using the USGS terrain model at each city’s official point, and you can download the data.

By the Mapsfera Team Published

Key figures

  • 6,997 ft Santa Fe, the highest state capital (2,133 m)
  • 9 ft Providence, the lowest (3 m)
  • 6,988 ft between the highest and the lowest capital
  • 513 ft is the median elevation of the 50 capitals

Ready-to-quote facts

  • Santa Fe (6,997 ft) is the highest state capital in the US, followed by Cheyenne (6,091 ft) and Denver (5,276 ft).
  • Providence (9 ft) is the lowest state capital.
  • Six state capitals sit above 4,000 feet, all in the West: Santa Fe, Cheyenne, Denver, Carson City, Salt Lake City, and Helena.
  • 11 capitals are below 100 feet: Olympia, Trenton, Hartford, Boston, Baton Rouge, Annapolis, Juneau, Dover, Sacramento, Honolulu, and Providence.
  • At the point the USGS uses for Denver, the Mile High City sits at 5,276 feet, 4 feet short of a mile (5,280 ft).

Feel free to use them as they are, crediting “Source: Mapsfera” with a link to this page.

All 50 capitals on the map

Map of the US with the state capitals colored by elevation Providence (RI): 9 ft Honolulu (HI): 19 ft Sacramento (CA): 27 ft Dover (DE): 28 ft Juneau (AK): 34 ft Annapolis (MD): 44 ft Baton Rouge (LA): 46 ft Boston (MA): 48 ft Hartford (CT): 50 ft Trenton (NJ): 60 ft Olympia (WA): 96 ft Augusta (ME): 123 ft Albany (NY): 143 ft Salem (OR): 157 ft Tallahassee (FL): 204 ft Richmond (VA): 213 ft Montgomery (AL): 238 ft Concord (NH): 274 ft Jackson (MS): 279 ft Columbia (SC): 299 ft Raleigh (NC): 315 ft Harrisburg (PA): 334 ft Little Rock (AR): 337 ft Austin (TX): 487 ft Frankfort (KY): 504 ft Montpelier (VT): 522 ft Nashville (TN): 555 ft Charleston (WV): 596 ft Springfield (IL): 600 ft Jefferson City (MO): 630 ft Indianapolis (IN): 730 ft Columbus (OH): 780 ft St. Paul (MN): 789 ft Lansing (MI): 853 ft Des Moines (IA): 872 ft Madison (WI): 875 ft Topeka (KS): 948 ft Atlanta (GA): 1,050 ft Phoenix (AZ): 1,088 ft Oklahoma City (OK): 1,196 ft Lincoln (NE): 1,202 ft Pierre (SD): 1,479 ft Bismarck (ND): 1,695 ft Boise (ID): 2,700 ft Helena (MT): 4,048 ft Salt Lake City (UT): 4,264 ft Carson City (NV): 4,680 ft Denver (CO): 5,276 ft Cheyenne (WY): 6,091 ft Santa Fe (NM): 6,997 ft Santa Fe 6,997 ft Cheyenne 6,091 ft Denver 5,276 ft Providence 9 ft
  • Under 100 ft
  • 100–500 ft
  • 500–1,000 ft
  • 1,000–4,000 ft
  • 4,000 ft or more
Each dot is a capital, at the USGS point whose elevation is given. Alaska and Hawaii are shown in insets, at a different scale.

The capitals, from highest to lowest

Tap a column header to sort the table.

Rank Capital Elevation Population
1 Santa Fe New Mexico 6,997 ft 2,133 m 89,837
2 Cheyenne Wyoming 6,091 ft 1,857 m 66,507
3 Denver Colorado 5,276 ft 1,608 m 740,613
4 Carson City Nevada 4,680 ft 1,426 m 58,571
5 Salt Lake City Utah 4,264 ft 1,300 m 218,428
6 Helena Montana 4,048 ft 1,234 m 35,138
7 Boise Idaho 2,700 ft 823 m 238,429
8 Bismarck North Dakota 1,695 ft 517 m 77,963
9 Pierre South Dakota 1,479 ft 451 m 13,848
10 Lincoln Nebraska 1,202 ft 366 m 301,522
11 Oklahoma City Oklahoma 1,196 ft 365 m 719,849
12 Phoenix Arizona 1,088 ft 332 m 1,665,481
13 Atlanta Georgia 1,050 ft 320 m 529,110
14 Topeka Kansas 948 ft 289 m 125,795
15 Madison Wisconsin 875 ft 267 m 286,233
16 Des Moines Iowa 872 ft 266 m 212,086
17 Lansing Michigan 853 ft 260 m 113,884
18 St. Paul Minnesota 789 ft 241 m 306,684
19 Columbus Ohio 780 ft 238 m 938,396
20 Indianapolis Indiana 730 ft 222 m 901,116
21 Jefferson City Missouri 630 ft 192 m 42,489
22 Springfield Illinois 600 ft 183 m 112,989
23 Charleston West Virginia 596 ft 182 m 46,117
24 Nashville Tennessee 555 ft 169 m 721,074
25 Montpelier Vermont 522 ft 159 m 7,823
26 Frankfort Kentucky 504 ft 154 m 28,657
27 Austin Texas 487 ft 148 m 1,002,632
28 Little Rock Arkansas 337 ft 103 m 206,427
29 Harrisburg Pennsylvania 334 ft 102 m 50,522
30 Raleigh North Carolina 315 ft 96 m 506,306
31 Columbia South Carolina 299 ft 91 m 147,035
32 Jackson Mississippi 279 ft 85 m 141,196
33 Concord New Hampshire 274 ft 83 m 44,597
34 Montgomery Alabama 238 ft 73 m 195,300
35 Richmond Virginia 213 ft 65 m 237,257
36 Tallahassee Florida 204 ft 62 m 204,902
37 Salem Oregon 157 ft 48 m 181,779
38 Albany New York 143 ft 44 m 101,698
39 Augusta Maine 123 ft 38 m 19,155
40 Olympia Washington 96 ft 29 m 56,724
41 Trenton New Jersey 60 ft 18 m 91,506
42 Hartford Connecticut 50 ft 15 m 121,981
43 Boston Massachusetts 48 ft 15 m 672,973
44 Baton Rouge Louisiana 46 ft 14 m 222,795
45 Annapolis Maryland 44 ft 13 m 40,634
46 Juneau Alaska 34 ft 10 m 31,609
47 Dover Delaware 28 ft 9 m 40,592
48 Sacramento California 27 ft 8 m 536,449
49 Honolulu Hawaii 19 ft 6 m 345,482
50 Providence Rhode Island 9 ft 3 m 195,310

Method

What is measured

The ground elevation at the point the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) uses for each city in its official gazetteer, the GNIS: almost always downtown or the historic center (in Denver, Civic Center, next to the Capitol). It comes from the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), converted to feet and rounded.

At 47 of the 50 capitals the model has a 1-meter grid, built from lidar. A city does not have a single elevation, and neighborhoods can differ by hundreds of feet, so we always compare the same kind of point.

Checks

There is no official elevation for cities: GNIS stopped publishing it in 2021. We use those 2021 figures as a check: the largest difference is Hartford (20 ft), and almost all are within 3 feet.

Capitals with the same elevation share a rank and the next one is skipped. Population is the Census estimate for July 1, 2025 (for Honolulu, the 2020–2024 ACS figure).

How we work with data across the site

Download the data

Download the CSV

50 rows · 4 KB · UTF-8, comma-separated, with a decimal point. The first two lines, starting with #, hold the license and the citation.

The data and maps in this study are published under a CC BY 4.0 license: you may use, publish and adapt them, including commercially, as long as you credit the source with a link to this page. License text.

Suggested citation

Source: Mapsfera, “The highest and lowest state capitals in the US” (2026), https://mapsfera.pages.dev/studies/highest-and-lowest-state-capitals/

With a link, for a website

Source: <a href="https://mapsfera.pages.dev/studies/highest-and-lowest-state-capitals/">Mapsfera, “The highest and lowest state capitals in the US”</a>

Sources and licenses

Frequently asked questions

What is the highest state capital in the US?

Santa Fe, New Mexico, at 6,997 feet (2,133 m). Next come Cheyenne (6,091 ft) and Denver (5,276 ft).

And the lowest?

Providence, Rhode Island, at 9 feet (3 m) at the USGS point.

Is Denver really a mile high?

Almost: at the USGS point next to the Capitol the ground is at 5,276 feet, 4 feet short of a mile (5,280 ft). Parts of the city are higher and parts are lower.

Why do other sources give different numbers?

They measure at a different spot (the Capitol, the airport) or with a different terrain model. Here every figure comes from the same USGS model and the same kind of point.

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