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Minnesota Physical Map

Minnesota has 11,842 lakes (more than its "10,000 lakes" nickname) — nearly all of them visible on the physical map.

Rendered from SRTM 30m elevation data + Natural Earth rivers/lakes + US Census state boundary. Four versions below, all free.

Highest Point

Eagle Mountain

2,301 ft

Lowest Point

Lake Superior

602 ft

Minnesota physical map showing the Boundary Waters, the Mesabi Iron Range, the Driftless Area, and the headwaters of the Mississippi, with major peaks and cities labeled. Topographic relief from NASA SRTM elevation data.

Choose your version

Two maps, two versions of each.

The same Minnesota terrain as a classroom map and as wall art. All four are free PDFs.

Minnesota physical map, labeled: the Boundary Waters, the Mesabi Iron Range, the Driftless Area, and the headwaters of the Mississippi, with the capital, cities and highest point marked
Labeled
Minnesota blank physical map: the same terrain with no labels, for labeling practice
Blank
Physical map

Minnesota physical map for the classroom

Elevation in color with shaded relief, plus the surrounding states and water for context. The labeled version marks the capital, major cities and the highest point. The blank version leaves them off so students can label the map themselves.

downloadLabeled PDFdownloadBlank PDF
Minnesota relief wall art on a dark background
Dark
Minnesota relief wall art on a light background
Light
Wall art

Minnesota relief wall art

Minnesota on its own, with strong shaded relief and no labels. The dark version has the most contrast. The light version uses far less ink on a home printer.

downloadDark PDFdownloadLight PDF

The physical geography of Minnesota

Glaciers shaped nearly all of Minnesota and left more than 10,000 lakes. The northeast, called the Arrowhead, is rocky and rugged, with Eagle Mountain, the highest point, and the steep north shore of Lake Superior. The northwest is the Red River Valley, the flat bed of a vanished glacial lake. The center is rolling country of moraines and lakes. A high prairie ridge crosses the southwest, and the southeast corner has deep river valleys and bluffs along the Mississippi. The Mississippi begins at Lake Itasca.

Major rivers

  • Mississippi
  • Minnesota
  • Red River of the North
  • St. Croix
  • Rainy
  • St. Louis

Find it on the map

  • Lakes scattered across the northern half
  • The flat Red River Valley along the northwest edge
  • The Minnesota River’s sharp bend in the south
verified

Built from real data, not stock images.

Every Minnesota physical map on this page was rendered from NASA SRTM 30-meter elevation data, with hydrography from Natural Earth and the shoreline-clipped state outline from the US Census Bureau. Each map is colored over that state’s own elevation range, and the relief shading is exaggerated so gentle terrain still shows.

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Pair with

map

Minnesota political map

The blank outline version of Minnesota (state borders, no terrain). Useful for political-geography exercises.

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All physical maps

Browse physical maps for every state, plus continents and the world.

More State Maps

States that border Minnesota

Physical maps of the 4 states that share a border with Minnesota.

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The region and the whole country

Map of the Midwest US Regions Map US Physical Map

Physical maps for every state