Which city is the Mile High City?
Quick answer
Denver, Colorado is known as the “Mile High City” because its official elevation is 5,280 feet, exactly one mile (1,609 m) above sea level. The exact spot is marked on the 15th step of the Colorado State Capitol building.
Where is the mile mark?
Visitors can stand on the “one mile above sea level” step at the State Capitol. There are actually three markers: in 2003, surveyors with more accurate GPS found that the true mile-high point is on the 13th step, so a newer marker was added there. Coors Field, the home of the Colorado Rockies baseball team, has a row of purple seats marking 5,280 feet in its upper deck.
What the altitude means
| Effect | Why |
|---|---|
| Baseballs fly farther | Thinner air means less drag; Coors Field is famous for home runs |
| Water boils at a lower temperature | About 95°C (203°F) instead of 100°C, so recipes need adjusting |
| You may feel short of breath | There’s about 17% less oxygen per breath than at sea level |
| Stronger sun | Less atmosphere to filter UV rays |
| Alcohol hits harder | Visitors are often warned to drink more water |
Denver facts
- State: Colorado (its capital)
- Founded: 1858, during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush
- Sports teams: the NFL’s Denver Broncos play at a stadium named “Empower Field at Mile High”
- Climate: famous for about 300 days of sunshine a year, though this figure is debated
Other high cities
Denver isn’t the world’s highest city by far. La Paz, Bolivia, sits at about 3,600 m (11,900 ft), and La Rinconada, Peru, at about 5,100 m, is often called the highest permanent settlement.
Boiling points change with altitude; here’s the temperature water freezes at, with boiling points too. For another US geography fact, see the geographic center of the contiguous US.
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