The 10 Steepest States of the USA

What are the steepest states of the United States? Steepest here is defined simply as the highest average slope angle over full state areas (including inland water bodies). Analyses were conducted in Google Earth Engine using the highest currently available resolution DEM product (USGS 3DEP, 10 m) that spans all 50 states. Alaska has a data gap, but this is not anticipated to impact presented results. Maps produced in ArcGIS Pro. Results for the ten steepest states:

Rank State Deg Dominant Steep Physiographic Region(s)
1 WV 17.01 Appalachian Plateau; Appalachian Mountains
2 WA 13.28 Coast Range; Cascades; Northern Rockies
3 ID 13.25 Northern Rocky Mountains
4 CA 11.99 Coast Range; Sierra Nevada; Basin and Range; +
5 OR 11.07 Coast Range; Cascades; Intermontane Mtns
6 KY 10.05 Appalachian Mountains; Interior Plateaus
7 UT 10.03 Rocky Mountains; Basin and Range
8 HI 9.90 Hawaiʻi Hotspot Volcanoes
9 AK 9.37 Aleutian Range; Alaska Range; Brooks Range; +
10 VT 9.18 Appalachian Highlands

Remaining states have an average slope angle below 9 degrees. Please see my separate video on the flattest states of the USA.

Complete state listing of average slopes (degrees) in ascending order:

FL,0.98; DE,1.40; LA,1.62; MN,2.11; KS,2.36; IL,2.39; MI,2.46; ND,2.50; TX,2.57; SC,2.95; IN,3.02; NJ,3.11; OK,3.23; WI,3.36; IA,3.37; SD,3.38; GA,3.60; MS,3.69; RI,3.73; NE,3.76; DC,4.48; MD,4.53; AR,4.57; ME,4.70; OH,4.77; MO,4.93; MA,5.23; AL,5.29; CT,5.67; NM,5.74; NC,5.79; NY,5.96; WY,7.77; AZ,7.77; PA,8.11; NH,8.19; NV,8.39; TN,8.60; CO,8.65; VA,8.75; MT,8.80; VT,9.18; AK,9.37; HI,9.90; UT,10.03; KY,10.05; OR,11.07; CA,11.99; ID,13.25; WA,13.28; WV,17.01

Keywords: Geography Viz, United States Geography, Steepness by State, Average Slope, Mountain States, USGS 3DEP DEM, Google Earth Engine

Data Sources:

USGS; 3DEP 10m National Map Seamless (1/3 Arc-Second [10 m]) DEM; https://developers.google.com/earth-e...

ESRI; Terrain - Multi-Directional Hillshade function; https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html...

ESRI; USA States Generalized Boundaries; https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html...

sparksa_umich; great_lakes; https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html...

ESRI; World Terrain Basemap

Image sources:

10 VT; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:So... Mike9827

9a AK; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... PD-USGov-Interior-FWS

9b AK; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Frank K

9c AK; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... images.fws.gov

8a HI; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... USGS J.D. Griggs

8b HI; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... MEBurkhart

7a UT; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... CanyonChaser

7b UT; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Don LaVange

6a KY; https://www.lpm.org/news/2019-07-13/l... Kentucky National Land Trust

6b KY; https://www.nps.gov/maca/planyourvisi... NPS Photo Thomas DiGiovannangelo

5a OR; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... brx0

5b OR; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Doug Kerr

4 CA; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Jeffrey Pang

3 ID; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Forest Service Northern Region

2a WA; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Dllu

2b WA; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Walter Siegmund

2c WA; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... David Gluns

1 WV; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... ForestWander