Lowest Point in Each State of the USA + Geoid and Vertical Relief

A quick survey of lowpoints (lowest elevation points) for every state of the United States. Includes some geological and topographic highlights. Geoid heights are used for sea level lowpoints. At the end of the video, there is a plot of mean elevation and vertical relief by state.

Keywords: Geography Viz, United States Geography, Lowpoints, Lowpointing, Lowest Elevation by State, Geoid, Vertical Relief

Data sources:
Geoid - EGM2008 1' geoid model (EPSG::1027)
ESRI World Imagery basemaps (CONANP, Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, EPA, NPS, Earthstar Geographics)

[BlackTomorrowMusic]

For the Florida low point, I sure wasn't expecting it to be my former hometown. No wonder I always thought living there was the low point in my life.

[andrewthomas]

I had absolutely no idea that Alaska had land below sea level. Thanks for teaching me something!

[john_sensei_ii]

Funny how for every state except California and Alaska, their lowest point is either on a border or a coast

[cqdgqlj]

I’ve always loved geography. I am lucky enough to have a little son who surprisingly shares the same interest and we enjoy watching your videos together. Thank you.

[Nascar]

Here in Maryland we pronounce it like “pa-to-mic”, not “pato-mac”. The river’s hugely important for the geography of Maryland, Virginia, DC and West Virginia. It’s also a huuuuge river, suuuper wide in parts.

[matthewdrennen]

WEST VIRGINIA has the highest average elevation of any state east of the Mississippi River. It's also the only state located entirely within a mountain range.

[Transmontaine]

Nice video but have you never heard of the Potomac River? Not pronounced “pot-oh-mack” but “puh-toe-meck” It’s one of the most famous rivers in the U. S. As it originates in West Virginia and runs through Washington, by the landmarks of our nations capitol. It is often referenced. 😮

[edwardrhoads]

Would be interesting to do this same video but instead of the tops of lakes/rivers you take the elevations of the bottoms. I was thinking about that with Death Valley. If that area actually got decent amounts of rain that would be a lake. I am betting there are a lot of lake bottoms that are below sea level.

[Ceci_et_Cela]

Wow, Alaska made into the top 3 in both your Highest and Lowest uploads!

[samwalko]

For Kentucky, technically it should be a bit further west at the southwest corner of the Kentucky Bend. Even if it's exclaved, it still counts!

[clintonrice]

I liked the video, and especially the geoid tiebreaker, but think there was room to talk more about some of the river low points and even Lake Erie, since those offer some insights about broader land slope, and in some cases are counterintuitive (e.g., Missouri having a downslope just a few miles from the Mississippi that feeds a tributary southward to meet up later in Arkansas).

[anotheryoutuber]

This guy is straight to the point i love it

[alancline]

The lowest point in Colorado is where the Arkansas river flows into Kansas. The elevation at that place is 3150.

[vipahman]

With so many low points, I'm feeling slightly high here in CT.

[tommunyon]

New Mexico's very high lowest point means no citrus growing for us, unlike neighboring Arizona.

[mrozzymania]

@geogviz you made an error with utah one beaver dam wash is actually 2180 ft not 2000ft

[ohnoohyeah]

Thank you for helping me become formidable on trivia night.

[thedoomofred]

I don’t know why I’m surprised you pronounced Belle Fourche correctly but good job

[sophierobinson]

Interesting that the low points are on state boundaries.

[owenbuckleywfb]

Out of all of these, it took until Alaska for there to be a low point not on a state border or on a gigantic body of water