Great Plains Map
The Great Plains are a plain across the United States and Canada. This map shows its extent on shaded relief, with the surrounding relief, rivers, borders and cities.
How to read this map
It extends across the United States and Canada.
The dashed outline marks the Great Plains as mapped by Natural Earth. Towns and cities on the map include Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Monterrey, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle. Labeled countries: Canada, United States and Mexico.
Greens show lower elevations; tan and brown show higher land, with pale tones toward the highest terrain. Shadows emphasize the slopes, and vertical relief is exaggerated so landforms are easier to read. Dashed lines show country borders.
The relief uses Terrain Tiles (SRTM, GMTED2010 and ETOPO1 elevation data). Rivers, lakes, borders and the outline of the Great Plains come from Natural Earth, and the figures on this page from Wikidata. Natural Earth draws features at a small scale, so the outline is a guide to where the Great Plains are, not a surveyed boundary.
Blank physical map
The blank version keeps the mapped features and removes the place labels. Download it for a geography worksheet or practice identifying the features.
Great Plains facts
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Countries | the United States and Canada |
| US states | Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming |
Data sources and license
- Natural Earth (public-domain geography): Public domain.
- Terrain Tiles / Mapzen (SRTM, GMTED2010, ETOPO1): Open elevation data; source attribution retained.
- Wikidata (lengths, areas, countries and other facts): CC0 1.0.
Map design and rendered images: Atlas of Maps, CC BY 4.0. Source databases retain their own licenses; the map license does not replace them.
Maps of the countries: United States, Canada. Compare with the world mountain ranges map.
Frequently asked questions
Where are the Great Plains?
The Great Plains are in the United States and Canada.
Can I download a blank map of the Great Plains?
Yes. The blank version keeps the relief, rivers and borders and the highlighted landform but removes the place names. Both versions are free to download as PNG and as an A4 PDF.
Use this map
You can download, print and share this map for free, in class, in school projects, in presentations and on websites, as long as you credit the source: Great Plains Map · Atlas of Maps (atlasofmaps.com), license CC BY 4.0.
More maps of peninsulas, plateaus and plains
- Canadian Shield Map
- Great Basin Map
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Map
- Mississippi River Delta Map
- Alaska Peninsula Map
- Colorado Plateau Map
- Columbia Plateau Map
- Allegheny Plateau Map
- Cumberland Plateau Map
- Yukon Plateau Map
- Barren Grounds Map
- Alaska North Slope Map
- Cumberland Peninsula Map
- Melville Peninsula Map
- Ungava Peninsula Map
- Gaspé Peninsula Map
- Yukon Flats Map
- Ozarks Map
- Edwards Plateau Map
- Fraser Plateau Map
- Laurentian Upland Map
- Grand Canyon Map
- Central Valley Map
- Boothia Peninsula Map