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U.S. Cities with the Highest Elevation

Name the cities in the United States with a METRO AREA population of at least 100,000 and an elevation above 2,000 ft.
2022 Census estimates
Only two of these are east of the Mississippi
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: May 18, 2023
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First submittedJanuary 9, 2012
Times taken25,927
Average score35.1%
Rating4.22
6:00
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Elevation
Population
City
7260 ft
155,664
Santa Fe
6910 ft
144,060
Flagstaff
6062 ft
100,723
Cheyenne
6035 ft
765,424
Colorado Springs
5395 ft
120,418
Farmington
5368 ft
246,191
Prescott
5340 ft
327,468
Boulder
5312 ft
919,543
Albuquerque
5280 ft
2,985,871
Denver
5003 ft
366,778
Fort Collins
4705 ft
165,608
Idaho Falls
4692 ft
169,544
Pueblo
4658 ft
350,176
Greeley
4593 ft
158,636
Grand Junction
4551 ft
715,001
Provo
4534 ft
155,362
Logan
4505 ft
500,915
Reno
4300 ft
713,839
Ogden
4226 ft
1,266,191
Salt Lake City
Elevation
Population
City
4000 ft
223,337
Las Cruces
3745 ft
119,007
Twin Falls
3740 ft
872,195
El Paso
3623 ft
206,549
Bend
3605 ft
271,171
Amarillo
3209 ft
121,041
Missoula
3202 ft
328,283
Lubbock
3202 ft
145,159
Rapid City
3123 ft
190,208
Billings
2900 ft
160,869
Odessa
2860 ft
197,680
St. George
2782 ft
177,216
Midland
2730 ft
811,336
Boise
2389 ft
1,057,597
Tucson
2188 ft
183,578
Coeur d'Alene
2134 ft
476,072
Asheville
2080 ft
165,812
Blacksburg
2001 ft
2,322,985
Las Vegas
+4
Level 28
Jan 9, 2012
This is tough--and Blacksburg, VA (VA Tech!) is a real surprise!
+1
Level 70
Jul 9, 2023
I was expecting none east of the Mississippi! Almost right!
+3
Level 70
Apr 13, 2013
I live in Prescott, AZ. Population is only 39,984 - Jul 2011

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

+5
Level 85
Aug 6, 2013
"metro area"
+3
Level 70
Dec 28, 2013
There are about 40,000 people in the city of Prescott and about 40,000 in Prescott Valley, the two largest cities in the "metro area." Chino Valley, the third largest city in the area has 11,000 people. I'd like to know where the other 100,000 people live.
+1
Level 92
Apr 11, 2014
@jma - the cutoff for the quiz is 100,000 people. Even using your numbers, that only leaves 9,000 people unaccounted for, most of whom live in the unincorporated county areas. Total population of the metro area (as of 2010) was just over 103K.
+4
Level 82
Nov 22, 2016
The quiz says there are over 200,000 people in the metro area.
+1
Level 50
Feb 2, 2020
It definitely says 100,000 now.
+3
Level 82
May 29, 2020
It says 235,000 now.
+2
Level 70
Oct 9, 2014
I'm questioning the population given in this quiz. It states that Prescott, AZ has

a population of 215,133 and that is a lot more than 100,00. I'm not arguing that the "metro area" is close to 100,000.

+8
Level 88
Jun 24, 2020
There's been an influx in the population in and around Prescott recently. Mostly Germans from the Bielfield area, I think. ;)
+2
Level 48
Jul 10, 2020
Hey loganite, at least this American gets that!
+7
Level ∞
Jul 12, 2017
The census bureau is reporting fake populations. The people demand the truth!
+7
Level 88
Oct 20, 2019
They do. For example, New Mexico counties are used in whole as a "metropolitan" area including vast stretches of nothing. Put that same land area in Pennsylvania and you have 8 metro areas, again defined by willy nilly county lines, but at least with a pretty much continuous semi-suburban spread of people. The "metropolitan" guidelines used by the U.S. Census Bureau do deliver thoroughly varying boundaries for the size of land around a city to be included in the population count. It's like they let Wikipedia write the tables.
+2
Level 74
Apr 7, 2021
The metro area is just defined as Yavapai county
+2
Level 42
Jul 22, 2013
I can't believe i forgot Asheville -_-
+2
Level 74
Nov 14, 2013
Really cool quiz. Definitely makes you think.
+10
Level 77
May 28, 2014
Thanks to recent legislation, Denver makes this list no matter what definition of "highest" you choose to use.
+3
Level 82
Oct 9, 2014
I got Flagstaff, but had no idea it was up that high.
+2
Level 75
Oct 9, 2014
Ft. Wayne, Ft. Myers, Ft. Apache...Collins just would not come to me, and we just drove through there a few weeks ago. I think mice are chewing holes in my brain when I'm asleep.
+3
Level 84
Jun 2, 2020
What I do is just set spring-loaded mouse traps on either side of my head. (coat the traps with peanut butter...mice loooove peanut butter) Added bonus: you always hear it when you nab one.

Try not to move too much, though. That can complicate things.

+6
Level 82
Oct 9, 2014
"It's no surprise that many of these cities are in Colorado"- is that a remark on the legal status of marijuana in the state?
+14
Level 74
Mar 24, 2015
Way to ruin the joke...
+3
Level 82
Jul 6, 2020
Or to make one? I assume the original statement was not actually a joke but in reference to the well-known fact that the state of Colorado is very mountainous. Way to miss the point...
+4
Level 75
Jul 6, 2020
John Denver was ahead of his time.
+2
Level 65
Jan 6, 2015
I got all the ones I've heard of including Bend. Very tough!
+3
Level 71
Oct 26, 2016
I loathe the day when there actually are 200K+ people in Greeley, CO. There are too many now.

GET OUT OF COLORADO.

+5
Level 69
Nov 11, 2016
Well, it's "metro area", so who knows what all is being counted? What I am really trying to figure out though, is how Boulder even supposedly *has* a "metro area". Broomfield is its own county, so that can't count. No way could you include Longmont. All I can imagine is Louisville, Lafayette, Ned, Niwot, Jamestown, and Lyons, and there's no way those TRIPLE the population. I'm guessing that the whole 36 corridor is being included in BOTH Denver's *and* Boulder's count. In fact, Boulder itself is usually included as part of metro Denver, much to the eternal chagrin of us Boulderites.
+5
Level 88
Oct 21, 2019
They use counties. The county line is just to the south, which becomes the Denver metropolitan area at the imaginary line in the carpet of development. Meanwhile across the county, the "metropolitan area" line runs clean through the city of Longmont. All across the city, Boulder "metropolitan area" neighbors live next door to their Greeley "metropolitan area" neighbors, none of whom live near either city. The southern part of Greeley's county, its "metropolitan area", includes direct suburbs of Denver, including a part of Thornton. So yeah, the population count is b.s. random in the real world, but not a bureaucratic statistician's mind.
+1
Level 79
Jul 26, 2023
Would love to see this quiz with a more accurate measure of population, if there is one. I was similarly baffled by Boulder's numbers and confused as to why Longmont wasn't on the list while the stinky city of Greeley somehow has a "metro area" of 350K people. Thanks for explaining, though.
+4
Level ∞
Jul 12, 2017
Closer to 300k in the Greeley metro now.
+1
Level 69
Sep 2, 2022
Jeez, so toxic

You have no greater right to Colorado smh

+2
Level 72
Mar 20, 2017
spokane?
+2
Level ∞
Jul 12, 2017
1,843 ft
+4
Level 50
Jun 10, 2017
i got colorado springs and denver. that is it.
+4
Level 73
Dec 7, 2017
pretty difficult for a non american. I only manage to get 10 (not too bad for a French) , which were obviously the biggest ones...
+3
Level 82
Dec 7, 2017
Didn't know there were that many people in Blacksburg
+5
Level 88
Jun 26, 2018
US "metropolitan areas" just gobble up numerous whole counties, which have wildly varying sizes, not an accurate gauge of metropolitan population for smaller cities at all.
+1
Level 68
Mar 21, 2023
agreed. in any other country on earth there's no way these 'metropolitan areas' would even be considered a city.
+2
Level 64
Jul 6, 2020
It's the Blacksburg-Christiansburg Metropolitan Statistical Area. It includes Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Radford, and the surrounding counties.
+2
Level 27
Dec 7, 2017
12 right and I get 4 points this is very weird
+2
Level 88
Jun 26, 2018
I only got 29 of 35 before I ran out of time and beat 99.2% of people? That's a peculiar statistic.
+3
Level 87
May 29, 2020
Bozeman, MT. Metro population 114,434. Elevation 4,820. (Wikipedia) Decent skiing nearby.
+1
Level ∞
May 18, 2023
Bozeman doesn't have a Metropolitan area according to the Census Bureau.
+1
Level 79
Jul 26, 2023
Apparently Bozeman has a "micropolitan statistical area," some glorious bureaucratic invention for cities too small to have proper "metro" areas.
+3
Level 90
May 30, 2020
Be nice to see the state revealed for these cities - educational for non-Americans.
+4
Level 86
May 30, 2020
Educational for plenty of Americans, too.
+2
Level 64
Jul 6, 2020
Yes please
+2
Level 70
May 30, 2020
Got 11. Thought that was pretty good for a european. 0 points though.
+2
Level 72
Jul 6, 2020
Very interesting quiz. Hard to figure out the effective elevation without metric, but still super cool
+2
Level 66
Jul 6, 2020
Need to add a caveat - Don't forget about Idaho.
+3
Level 66
Jul 6, 2020
Idaho isn't real, everyone knows that.
+4
Level 67
Jul 7, 2020
Not sure that metro area population is the best number to use for this largely rural region of the US. I'm Wyoming born and raised and I was shocked to see Cheyenne make this list since the city itself is only about 60,000 people and the few surrounding communities are all under 10,000 - most are likely under 5000! It just doesn't really capture the true nature of many of these cities.
+2
Level 68
Jul 7, 2020
Wow such a tough quiz in comparison to many others on here :) I like it tho, right up my alley
+3
Level 64
Jul 7, 2020
The One World Trade Center in New York is almost making the list ^^
+3
Level 58
Jul 12, 2020
There is no way Blacksburg has over 150,000 people living there
+2
Level 65
Nov 9, 2021
I like how there are no cities from Alaska. Nor California, the second tallest.
+6
Level 82
Aug 26, 2022
These are pretty high cities. The height of Santa Fe is such that the only equivalent in Australia would be the summit of Mt Kosciuszko, our highest peak. Our highest city over 100,000 people would be Toowomba at about 700m elevation, which Google tells me is just shy of 2,300 feet. Europe doesn't fair much better: Burgos, Spain is its highest city of over 100,000, sitting at 865m or 2838 ft.

On the other hand, they're not that impressive compared to the rest of the Americas. Mexico City, with over 20 million people, is higher than Santa Fe. Bogota, Colombia is over 8600 ft up. El Alto (aptly named), a satellite city of La Paz in Bolivia is home to almost a million people and sits at well over 13,000 ft (over 4000m). I believe El Alto is the highest city of over 100,000 in the world.

Get rid of the 100,000 cutoff and La Rinconada in Peru, home to over 30,000 people, sits at 5,052m (16,700 ft), which is just breathtaking (literally). It is the highest permanent human settlement.

+1
Level 70
Jul 9, 2023
Even due north in Canada the elevations taper off a lot. We still have many cities, including my own, which would make the cutoff but in general we don't quite get the same soaring mountain passes the US does.
+1
Level 80
Jul 9, 2023
Please accept CDA for Coeur d'Alene? Works on other quizzes
+1
Level ∞
Jul 9, 2023
CDA is not an existing official type-in, but I added it.
+1
Level 79
Jul 26, 2023
Just for fun, I added up all these populations, and the total for these 37 metro areas above 2000 feet is over 18 million, closest to New York state in number. Seems absurd to me.
+1
Level 44
Mar 17, 2024
Just missed Rapid City, Odessa, and Midland. I just thought Odessa wouldn't be on the quiz. Also St. George metro is now 210,088.