Compare the Elevation of Two Places

Choose two cities, mountains, addresses or coordinates to see how much higher one is, and what that does to boiling point, air pressure and oxygen.

Popular comparisons

Figures from each place's page on this site: USGS elevation at the city center, or the published summit elevation for mountains. Click a row to open it in the tool.

Places	Elevations	Difference	Boils cooler by	Oxygen per breath
Denver, CO vs Boston, MA	5,276 / 48 ft	5,228 ft (1,593 m)	9.5 °F	17 points lower
Denver, CO vs Salt Lake City, UT	5,276 / 4,264 ft	1,012 ft (308 m)	1.8 °F	3 points lower
Colorado Springs, CO vs Denver, CO	6,009 / 5,276 ft	733 ft (223 m)	1.3 °F	2 points lower
Park City, UT vs Salt Lake City, UT	7,014 / 4,264 ft	2,750 ft (838 m)	5.0 °F	8 points lower
Santa Fe, NM vs Albuquerque, NM	6,997 / 4,955 ft	2,042 ft (622 m)	3.7 °F	6 points lower
Tucson, AZ vs Phoenix, AZ	2,481 / 1,088 ft	1,393 ft (425 m)	2.5 °F	5 points lower
South Lake Tahoe, CA vs Sacramento, CA	6,238 / 27 ft	6,211 ft (1,893 m)	11.3 °F	20 points lower
Mammoth Lakes, CA vs Bishop, CA	7,873 / 4,145 ft	3,728 ft (1,136 m)	6.8 °F	11 points lower
La Paz, Bolivia vs Denver, CO	11,977 / 5,276 ft	6,701 ft (2,042 m)	12.3 °F	19 points lower
Mount Whitney, CA vs Mount Elbert, CO	14,505 / 14,440 ft	65 ft (20 m)	0.1 °F	0 points lower

"Boils cooler by" and "oxygen per breath" compare the higher place with the lower one. Oxygen is in percentage points of the sea-level amount.

How it works

Each place's elevation comes from its page on this site, or is looked up live: USGS 3D Elevation Program for US points, Terrain Tiles elsewhere. US addresses are located with the U.S. Census Bureau geocoder first.
Difference = first elevation − second elevation, shown in feet and meters.
Air pressure at each elevation from the U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976: P = 101.325 kPa × (1 − 2.25577 × 10⁻⁵ × h)^5.25588, with h in meters.
Oxygen per breath = P ÷ 101.325 kPa. The air stays 20.9% oxygen; the partial pressure of oxygen falls with total pressure.
Boiling point from the Antoine equation for water: T = 1730.63 / (8.07131 − log₁₀ P) − 233.426, with P in mmHg and T in °C.
Standard temperature = 59 °F (15 °C) at sea level minus 6.5 °C per 1,000 m, about 3.6 °F per 1,000 ft.

Frequently asked questions

How do I compare the elevation of two places?

Pick a city, mountain or world capital from the list for each side, or type a US address or coordinates, then press Compare. "Use my location" fills a side with the ground elevation where you are.

How much higher is Denver than Boston?

Downtown Denver is 5,276 ft and downtown Boston is 48 ft (USGS 3DEP at each city center), so Denver is 5,228 ft (1,594 m) higher.

Is there less oxygen at a higher place?

The air is 20.9% oxygen at every elevation, but the air is thinner, so each breath holds less oxygen. In the standard atmosphere a breath in Denver holds about 82% of the oxygen it would at sea level, against 100% in Boston.

Why is the higher place colder?

In the standard atmosphere, air cools about 3.6 °F for every 1,000 ft you climb (6.5 °C per km). Real weather often differs, so treat the temperature row as the typical difference, not a forecast.

Which elevation is used for a city?

For a city with a page on this site, the figure is the USGS elevation at the city center, the same number shown on that page. Elevation changes inside a city, so type an exact address for a specific spot.

Sources

USGS Elevation Point Query Service — elevation of US cities, addresses and coordinates (3D Elevation Program)
Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen) — elevation outside the US
Published summit elevations (NOAA NGS datasheets, USGS; named on each mountain page) — mountain elevations
U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder — US address search
U.S. Standard Atmosphere, 1976 — air pressure, oxygen per breath and standard temperature by elevation
Antoine equation for water (Lange's Handbook of Chemistry constants) — boiling point from pressure

How each number is produced: methodology and data sources.