Short answer
- The tallest mountain in the United States is Denali in Alaska, at 20,310 feet (6,190 meters) above sea level. It is also the highest peak in North America. The next tallest are Mount Saint Elias at 18,008 feet (5,489 meters) and Mount Foraker at 17,400 feet (5,304 meters), both also in Alaska. In fact, all ten of the tallest mountains in the United States stand in Alaska, so the national ranking and the Alaska ranking look the same at the top. The tallest mountain outside Alaska is Mount Whitney in California, at 14,505 feet (4,421 meters), which is the highest peak in the contiguous United States. Do not confuse that list with the list of state high points. A state high point is simply the highest ground in one state, whether or not it ranks among the tallest mountains in the country. Mount Mitchell in North Carolina, for example, is the highest point in its state at 6,684 feet (2,037 meters), but it is nowhere near the national top ten.
The direct answer: Denali stands alone at the top
Denali rises in the Alaska Range in interior Alaska, inside Denali National Park and Preserve. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) gives its elevation as 20,310 feet (6,190 meters) above sea level, and the National Park Service uses the same figure. That puts Denali more than 2,300 feet above the second tallest peak in the country. For comparison, Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the tallest peak in the northeastern United States, stands at 6,288 feet (1,917 meters), which is less than one third of Denali’s height.
Denali is also remarkable for how much mountain you can see in one view. The USGS notes that Denali rises about 18,000 feet (5,500 meters) from its base to its summit, a vertical rise greater than that of Mount Everest, whose base already sits high on a plateau. Everest remains the highest mountain on Earth above sea level, but Denali wins the base to summit comparison on land, because its lowland base sits at roughly 2,000 feet above sea level. That distinction between highest and tallest matters throughout this article, and it is explained in full in the section on measurement.
The name of the mountain needs a short explanation, because readers will meet two names for it. Denali comes from the Koyukon language, in which Deenaalee means the high one, and it is the name long used by Alaska Native peoples in the region. A gold prospector named the peak Mount McKinley in 1896 for William McKinley, who later became the 25th president, and the federal government used Mount McKinley as the official name from 1917 until 2015. The Department of the Interior restored Denali as the federal name in 2015, and then reverted the federal designation to Mount McKinley in January 2025. The national park around it remains Denali National Park and Preserve, and Alaska continues to use Denali. This article uses Denali, with Mount McKinley noted as the current federal designation, so that readers can recognize the peak under either name.
The first verified ascent of Denali’s higher south summit took place on June 7, 1913, by Hudson Stuck, Harry Karstens, Walter Harper, and Robert Tatum. An earlier claim of an ascent in 1906 by Frederick Cook is not accepted as verified. Modern guided climbs still take about three weeks on the standard West Buttress route, and success depends on weather windows that can close for days at a time.
The ranked list: the ten tallest mountains in the United States
The table below ranks mountains by summit elevation above sea level. It counts every named summit, and it includes peaks that straddle the border with Canada, because part of each of those peaks stands in the United States. A stricter list that only counts summits with at least 500 meters (1,640 feet) of prominence removes low-prominence subpeaks, so major summits below the top ten move up the order. That alternative convention is discussed after the table.
| Rank | Mountain | Range | Location | Elevation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Denali | Alaska Range | Alaska | 20,310 feet (6,190 meters) |
| 2 | Mount Saint Elias | Saint Elias Mountains | Alaska and Yukon, Canada | 18,008 feet (5,489 meters) |
| 3 | Mount Foraker | Alaska Range | Alaska | 17,400 feet (5,304 meters) |
| 4 | Mount Bona | Saint Elias Mountains | Alaska | 16,550 feet (5,044 meters) |
| 5 | Mount Blackburn | Wrangell Mountains | Alaska | 16,390 feet (4,996 meters) |
| 6 | Mount Sanford | Wrangell Mountains | Alaska | 16,237 feet (4,949 meters) |
| 7 | Mount Fairweather | Saint Elias Mountains | Alaska and British Columbia, Canada | 15,325 feet (4,671 meters) |
| 8 | Mount Hubbard | Saint Elias Mountains | Alaska and Yukon, Canada | 14,951 feet (4,557 meters) |
| 9 | Mount Bear | Saint Elias Mountains | Alaska | 14,831 feet (4,520 meters) |
| 10 | Mount Hunter | Alaska Range | Alaska | 14,573 feet (4,442 meters) |
Three facts jump out of that table. First, Alaska holds all ten places. Second, only three ranges supply the whole top ten: the Alaska Range, the Saint Elias Mountains, and the Wrangell Mountains. Third, the tenth tallest mountain in the country, Mount Hunter, is still taller than Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous United States, by 68 feet.
Mount Saint Elias, in second place, stands on the Alaska and Yukon border and rises almost directly from the Gulf of Alaska coast near Icy Bay, so its relief, the difference between its summit and the nearby sea level base, is among the greatest of any coastal mountain in the world. It is the second highest peak in both the United States and Canada. Its elevation is sometimes printed as 18,009 feet rather than 18,008 feet, a one foot difference caused by rounding between metric and imperial figures. The figure used here, 18,008 feet (5,489 meters), matches the metric value most consistently across current lists.
Mount Foraker, in third place, stands about 14 miles southwest of Denali in the Alaska Range, inside the same national park. Local Dena’ina tradition knew it as Sultana. Although it is nearly 3,000 feet lower than Denali, it is a serious climbing objective in its own right, with steep ridges and severe weather, and it is far less visited than its famous neighbor.
Mount Bona, Mount Blackburn, and Mount Sanford show how the ranking spreads across ranges. Bona is a large, heavily glaciated volcano in the Saint Elias Mountains. Blackburn and Sanford are both extinct volcanoes in the Wrangell Mountains, whose broad, ice capped summits look very different from the sharp granite ridges of the Alaska Range.
Mount Fairweather, Mount Hubbard, and Mount Bear complete the Saint Elias contribution. Fairweather stands on the Alaska and British Columbia border and is, despite its name, notorious for bad weather. Hubbard, on the Alaska and Yukon border, is a massive glaciated peak whose glaciers are among the longest in North America. Mount Hunter, in tenth place, closes the list in the Alaska Range, not far from Denali and Foraker. Its steep granite faces make it one of the most technically demanding climbs in Alaska.
Just below the top ten: where the rest of the country enters
The first peak outside Alaska in a ranking of major summits is Mount Whitney, as many readers expect, at 14,505 feet (4,421 meters). Just below the top ten in that ranking, Mount Whitney is followed by Mount Alverstone, a Saint Elias Mountains summit on the Alaska and Yukon border at 14,500 feet (4,420 meters), and then by University Peak in Alaska at 14,470 feet (4,410 meters). The exact order just below the top ten therefore depends on which convention a list uses, because a list that counts every named summit adds Alaska subpeaks above Whitney.
The confusion comes from prominence. Lists that require a summit to rise at least 500 meters above the pass that connects it to higher ground treat these peaks differently from lists that count every named summit. In the prominence filtered list used by many peak references, the order after Mount Hunter runs Mount Whitney, then Mount Alverstone, then University Peak, then Mount Elbert in Colorado. In a list that counts every summit without a prominence cutoff, additional Alaska subpeaks such as Mount Vancouver and South Buttress appear above Whitney as well. Neither list is wrong. They answer slightly different questions. This article uses the simple elevation ranking for the top ten, where the two conventions agree.
Mount Whitney itself needs no such qualification for its own record. At 14,505 feet (4,421 meters), it is the highest summit in the contiguous United States and the highest point in California. It stands in the Sierra Nevada on the boundary of Sequoia National Park and Inyo National Forest, and its summit is the southern terminus of the John Muir Trail. The first recorded ascent was made on August 18, 1873, by Charles Begole, Albert Johnson, and John Lucas. Unlike Denali, Whitney can be reached by a maintained trail in summer, though permits are required and altitude sickness is a real risk for hikers who ascend too fast.
Mount Elbert in Colorado, at 14,440 feet (4,401 meters), is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains and the highest point in Colorado. It stands in the Sawatch Range, and it is a broad, rounded summit that can be hiked by trail in summer. Some older sources print Elbert at 14,433 feet, a difference of seven feet that reflects older surveys and datum changes. Mount Rainier in Washington, at 14,411 feet (4,392 meters), is the highest peak in the Cascade Range and the highest point in Washington. It is also the most topographically prominent peak in the contiguous United States, and it carries the largest glacier system of any peak in the contiguous United States. Rainier is an active volcano, though currently quiet, and its glaciers make it a far more technical climb than Whitney or Elbert, despite a similar elevation. North of the United States border, the same Rocky Mountain system continues as the Canadian Rockies, divided between Alberta and British Columbia by the Continental Divide.
Taken together, Whitney, Elbert, and Rainier are the three great non Alaska summits that most readers picture when they think of tall American mountains. They are the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada, the Rockies, and the Cascades respectively. Yet none of them reaches the top ten nationally, because Alaska’s three great ranges each hold several peaks above them.
Three Alaskan ranges, and why Alaska is so tall
Alaska’s height is not an accident of one range. It is the product of ongoing tectonic collision along the southern edge of the state, where the Pacific Plate and the Yakutat microplate push northward into the North American Plate. The USGS explains Denali’s uplift as the result of that collision combined with a bend in the Denali Fault, which stacks rocks upward at the point where Denali stands. The same broad collision builds the Saint Elias Mountains, where the Yakutat terrane is actively colliding with North America, and it feeds the volcanic Wrangell Mountains further east. In short, southern Alaska is still being squeezed upward, and its peaks are young, high, and still rising very slowly.
The Alaska Range runs in an arc across south central Alaska, and Denali, Foraker, and Hunter are its three representatives in the top ten. The range forms the spine of Denali National Park and Preserve, which covers more than six million acres and has only one road.
The Saint Elias Mountains run along the Alaska, Yukon, and British Columbia borders, and they hold the largest nonpolar icefield in the world. Bona, Saint Elias, Fairweather, Hubbard, and Bear all stand in this range, and several summits sit directly on the border, so the United States and Canada share their highest mountains there.
The Wrangell Mountains are the volcanic member of the trio. Blackburn and Sanford are both extinct volcanoes, and the range also holds Mount Wrangell itself, an active volcano that reaches 14,163 feet (4,317 meters). Their height comes from repeated eruptions building huge volcanic piles, later capped and carved by glaciers.
The Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascades in context
Colorado is the state most associated with high peaks in the Lower 48, and for good reason. It holds the largest number of peaks above 14,000 feet, known as fourteeners, of any state outside Alaska. After Elbert at 14,440 feet, the next highest Colorado peaks are Mount Massive at 14,428 feet (4,398 meters) and Mount Harvard at 14,421 feet (4,396 meters), both also in the Sawatch Range. The Colorado fourteeners are popular precisely because many of them can be reached by trail in summer, though their altitude, afternoon thunderstorms, and exposure still demand respect.
California’s Sierra Nevada holds Whitney and a second group of very high peaks, including Mount Williamson at 14,383 feet (4,384 meters) and White Mountain Peak at 14,252 feet (4,344 meters). Williamson is notable because, unlike Whitney, it has no maintained trail to its summit.
East of the Rockies, the picture changes completely. The Appalachian Mountains are far older and far more eroded, and their highest peak, Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet, is lower than the lowest peak in the national top ten by nearly 8,000 feet. That does not make the Appalachians unimpressive: they are older than the Rockies by hundreds of millions of years, and Mount Washington in New Hampshire is famous for some of the worst weather ever recorded on Earth. But in a ranking by elevation alone, the East simply does not compete, and that is a matter of geological age.
State high points: a different list that answers a different question
A state high point is the highest point of ground within one state. Every state has one, from Denali in Alaska down to Britton Hill in Florida at 345 feet (105 meters). The list below gives the top of that ranking, plus a few eastern and low examples that readers most often ask about. It is not a list of the tallest mountains in the country.
| State high point rank | State | Peak | Elevation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alaska | Denali | 20,310 feet (6,190 meters) |
| 2 | California | Mount Whitney | 14,505 feet (4,421 meters) |
| 3 | Colorado | Mount Elbert | 14,440 feet (4,401 meters) |
| 4 | Washington | Mount Rainier | 14,411 feet (4,392 meters) |
| 5 | Wyoming | Gannett Peak | 13,804 feet (4,207 meters) |
| 6 | Hawaii | Mauna Kea | 13,803 feet (4,207 meters) |
| 7 | Utah | Kings Peak | 13,528 feet (4,123 meters) |
| 8 | New Mexico | Wheeler Peak | 13,161 feet (4,011 meters) |
| 9 | Nevada | Boundary Peak | 13,140 feet (4,005 meters) |
| 10 | Montana | Granite Peak | 12,799 feet (3,901 meters) |
| 16 | North Carolina | Mount Mitchell | 6,684 feet (2,037 meters) |
| 18 | New Hampshire | Mount Washington | 6,288 feet (1,917 meters) |
| 50 | Florida | Britton Hill | 345 feet (105 meters) |
Several common mix ups follow from confusing these two lists. First, Mount Mitchell is the highest peak in the eastern United States, but it ranks only sixteenth among state high points, because fifteen western states have higher ground. Second, Hawaii’s Mauna Kea ranks sixth among state high points by elevation above sea level, even though it is the tallest mountain on Earth when measured from its base on the ocean floor, as explained in the measurement section. Third, Nevada’s Boundary Peak is the highest point in Nevada, but it is a subsidiary summit on the shoulder of Montgomery Peak in California, which is a reminder that a state high point need not be an independent mountain at all. It only needs to be the highest ground in that state.
The hobby of visiting all fifty state high points, known as highpointing, illustrates the difference well. A highpointer who has climbed Denali, Whitney, Elbert, Rainier, and Gannett Peak has done serious mountaineering. The same hobby also requires standing on Britton Hill in Florida, a gentle rise in a county park. Both lists are legitimate. They simply measure different things.
How elevations are measured, and why figures sometimes differ
Every elevation in this article is a height above sea level, but sea level itself is not a fixed, obvious surface. Surveyors use a reference model called a vertical datum, and the current standard in the United States is the North American Vertical Datum of 1988, usually shortened to NAVD 88. Older surveys used an earlier datum from 1929, and converting between datums can shift a peak’s published height by several feet even when the mountain itself has not changed at all. That is one reason why a peak can appear at 14,433 feet in one book and 14,440 feet in another.
A second reason is snow and ice. Many high summits are covered by snow and ice, and surveyors must decide whether to measure to the top of the snow or to the rock beneath it. Denali’s official elevation of 20,310 feet is measured to the top of the snow on its summit. Where a summit’s snow depth changes from year to year, repeated surveys can differ by a few feet for that reason alone.
A third reason is the surveying technology itself. Denali’s elevation history shows all three effects at work. The official figure for decades was 20,320 feet, based on a 1952 photogrammetry survey that estimated height from aerial photographs. A 2013 airborne radar survey produced 20,237 feet, but radar of that kind measures broad terrain rather than a precise summit point, and it was not adopted as the official spot elevation. In June 2015, a USGS team carried GPS receivers to the summit itself, and that September the USGS announced the current official figure of 20,310 feet. Denali did not shrink or grow between those surveys. The measuring tools improved, and the official number followed the better measurement.
Small differences of one foot, such as Saint Elias at 18,008 feet versus 18,009 feet, or Bona at 16,550 feet versus 16,500 feet in some older lists, usually come from rounding between feet and meters. This article uses the figures that match the metric values most consistently in current peak lists.
Two related measurements often confuse readers further: prominence and isolation. Prominence measures how far a peak rises above the lowest pass connecting it to any higher peak, so it measures independence rather than height. Denali’s prominence is about 20,156 feet, which makes it the third most prominent peak on Earth after Everest and Aconcagua. Isolation measures how far away the nearest point of equal elevation lies, and Denali’s isolation of about 4,621 miles is again the third greatest on Earth. Ranking by elevation, prominence, and isolation give three different lists, and only the first is used for the main ranking in this article.
Finally, there is the question of tallest versus highest. Highest means the greatest elevation above sea level, and by that measure Everest wins worldwide and Denali wins in the United States. Tallest can mean the greatest rise from base to summit, and by that measure Denali beats Everest on land, at about 18,000 feet of rise against Everest’s roughly 12,000 feet of rise above its high plateau base. If the base is taken as the ocean floor, Mauna Kea in Hawaii wins worldwide, because it rises about 33,500 feet from the Pacific seafloor to its summit, of which only 13,803 feet stand above sea level. None of these claims contradicts the others. They use different starting lines, and a careful article should say which starting line it is using.
Why the tallest U.S. mountains matter beyond climbing
These mountains matter for reasons that have nothing to do with summit lists. Alaska’s high ranges hold some of the largest icefields outside the polar regions, and their glaciers feed rivers, shape valleys, and record climate history in their ice layers. The USGS notes that Alaska has warmed at more than twice the rate of the rest of the United States, and Denali’s glaciers are part of that story. A list of elevations is therefore also a baseline for future change.
The mountains also matter culturally. Denali’s Koyukon name predates its prospector given name by centuries, and the debate over its federal name reflects a larger conversation about whose names belong on the map. Mauna Kea in Hawaii is a sacred place in Native Hawaiian tradition as well as an astronomical site. Finally, the mountains matter as a corrective to a common mental map. Many Americans picture the Rockies as the country’s high country, but the truth is more northern: the country’s high country is in Alaska, and the Rockies, for all their beauty and breadth, are a second tier in elevation terms.
FAQ
What is the tallest mountain in the United States?
Denali in Alaska, at 20,310 feet (6,190 meters) above sea level. It is also the highest peak in North America.
What are the ten tallest mountains in the United States?
In order: Denali (20,310 feet), Mount Saint Elias (18,008 feet), Mount Foraker (17,400 feet), Mount Bona (16,550 feet), Mount Blackburn (16,390 feet), Mount Sanford (16,237 feet), Mount Fairweather (15,325 feet), Mount Hubbard (14,951 feet), Mount Bear (14,831 feet), and Mount Hunter (14,573 feet). All ten are in Alaska.
What is the tallest mountain in the United States outside Alaska?
Mount Whitney in California, at 14,505 feet (4,421 meters). It is the highest peak in the contiguous United States.
Is Denali the same mountain as Mount McKinley?
Yes. Denali is the long standing Alaska Native name, from the Koyukon word Deenaalee, meaning the high one. Mount McKinley was the federal name from 1917 to 2015, was replaced by Denali in 2015, and was restored as the federal designation in January 2025. The national park remains Denali National Park and Preserve.
Why do some sources give different heights for the same mountain?
Mainly for three reasons: different vertical datums (the reference model for sea level), snow or ice on the summit, and different surveying technology. Older figures, rounding between feet and meters, and older datums can shift a published height by a few feet, or in Denali’s historical case by tens of feet, without the mountain itself changing.
What is the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains?
Mount Elbert in Colorado, at 14,440 feet (4,401 meters). Some older sources print 14,433 feet, reflecting an older survey and datum.
What is the difference between the tallest mountains list and the state high points list?
The tallest mountains list ranks peaks by elevation, wherever they stand, so one state can hold all ten places, as Alaska does. The state high points list takes only the single highest point in each state, so it includes low peaks such as Britton Hill in Florida at 345 feet, because that is the highest ground in Florida.
Is Mauna Kea taller than Mount Everest?
It depends on the measure. Above sea level, Everest is far higher, and Mauna Kea stands at 13,803 feet. Measured from its base on the ocean floor to its summit, Mauna Kea rises about 33,500 feet, which is taller than Everest’s rise from its base. Above sea level, Everest wins. From base to summit, Mauna Kea wins.
Is Denali taller than Mount Everest?
In the same base to summit sense, Denali rises about 18,000 feet from its lowland base to its summit, which is a greater vertical rise than Everest’s rise above its high plateau base. Above sea level, Everest is much higher, at about 29,032 feet, against Denali’s 20,310 feet. The two claims use different starting lines.
Can a beginner climb Mount Whitney?
Many fit beginners do climb Whitney by the Mount Whitney Trail in summer, but it is a long, high, and strenuous hike of about 22 miles round trip with more than 6,000 feet of elevation gain, and permits are required. Most first timers benefit from an overnight trip and an acclimatization day rather than a single day push.
Why is Alaska home to all ten tallest mountains?
Because southern Alaska is still being pushed upward by tectonic collision between the Pacific Plate, the Yakutat microplate, and the North American Plate. That collision builds the Alaska Range, the Saint Elias Mountains, and the Wrangell Mountains, and no other part of the United States is being squeezed upward as hard today.
Sources & references
- U.S. Geological Survey, "Geology of Denali National Park and Preserve," opened October 24, 2026. Denali elevation 20,310 feet, base to summit rise about 18,000 feet, Koyukon name meaning, 2015 name change history, plate tectonic uplift, Denali Fault, and Alaska warming context.
- U.S. Geological Survey, "New Elevation for Nation's Highest Peak," September 2, 2015, via search result October 24, 2026. Denali GPS summit survey in June 2015, official figure 20,310 feet, previous 1952 figure 20,320 feet.
- National Park Service, Denali National Park and Preserve materials, via search results October 24, 2026. Denali 20,310 feet as the tallest peak in North America, park size and single road, and Whitney 14,505 feet in NPS education materials.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica Kids, "Mount McKinley," via search result October 24, 2026. Denali as the highest mountain in North America at 20,310 feet (6,190 meters), two peaks with the south peak higher, first verified south peak ascent June 7, 1913, by Hudson Stuck and Harry Karstens.
- World Atlas and peak list summaries of the ten highest mountains in the United States, via search results October 24, 2026. Cross check for the top ten order and elevations, including Saint Elias, Foraker, Bona, Blackburn, Sanford, Fairweather, Hubbard, Bear, and Hunter.
- Peak list records for the 100 highest summits in the United States, via search results October 24, 2026. Cross check for Mount Alverstone, University Peak, Mount Whitney, Mount Elbert, Mount Massive, Mount Harvard, and Mount Rainier elevations, and for the prominence filtered ordering below the top ten.
- State high point lists, via search results October 24, 2026. Cross check for the state high point order, including Gannett Peak, Mauna Kea, Kings Peak, Wheeler Peak, Boundary Peak, Granite Peak, Mount Mitchell, Mount Washington, and Britton Hill.
- Mauna Kea references, via search results October 24, 2026. Mauna Kea 13,803 feet above sea level, about 33,500 feet from ocean floor base to summit, and the USGS framing of Mauna Loa under a broader base definition.
- Everest height reporting, via search results October 24, 2026. Joint Nepal and China 2020 official height 8,848.86 meters, about 29,032 feet.
