ZIP → elevation → your adjustments
Your canning altitude adjustments, straight from your ZIP code
Every tested recipe says "adjust for altitude" and then leaves you to work out what that means — so type your ZIP or pick your town, and this page finds your elevation, reads the published USDA band tables for you, and hands back your numbers on a label sized for a regular-mouth lid.
Fastest — the first three digits name your state.
Pick whichever sits nearest you — the bands are thousands of feet wide, so a neighbor town almost always shares your numbers. Town missing? Switch to "I know my elevation."
Your city's website states it, your county extension office knows it, and most phones show it in the compass or GPS app.
Welcome back — last time: .
A worked example — Denver, Colorado. Look up your own town above and the label becomes yours.
Denver, Colorado
- ELEVATION
- ≈5,410 FT
- WATER BATH
- +10 MIN
- DIAL GAUGE
- 13 LB
- WEIGHTED
- 15 LB
Adjustments use the 3,001–6,000 ft band, so small elevation differences nearby rarely change your numbers.
canningdates.com
See the full Denver, Colorado altitude page
canningdates.com — every number is from the published USDA altitude tables. Low-acid foods must be pressure canned.
How the lookup works
- ZIP → state. The first three digits of a U.S. ZIP code name the state — a plain fact of the postal system, read right here in your browser. No account, no location permission.
- State → town → elevation. Each of the 188 featured towns across all 50 states carries the elevation of its nearest NOAA weather station, cross-checked against the U.S. Geological Survey's elevation service.
- Elevation → your numbers. Your elevation lands in one published USDA band per method — minutes added to a boiling-water bath, pounds on a weighted or dial gauge — and the label reads them straight off the tables below.
An honest word on precision: the card says "about 5,410 ft" for Denver because that's the station's elevation, not your doorstep — and that's plenty. Adjustments use the 3,001–6,000 ft band, so small elevation differences nearby rarely change your numbers.
The published tables the label reads from
| Elevation | What to do |
|---|---|
| 0–1,000 ft | use the recipe's time as written |
| 1,001–3,000 ft | add 5 minutes |
| 3,001–6,000 ft | add 10 minutes |
| 6,001–8,000 ft | add 15 minutes |
| 8,001–10,000 ft | add 20 minutes |
| above 10,000 ft | no published time — use a tested pressure option or ask your county extension office |
| Elevation | Gauge pressure |
|---|---|
| 0–1,000 ft | 10 lb |
| above 1,000 ft | 15 lb |
| Elevation | Dial setting |
|---|---|
| 0–2,000 ft | 11 lb |
| 2,001–4,000 ft | 12 lb |
| 4,001–6,000 ft | 13 lb |
| 6,001–8,000 ft | 14 lb |
| above 8,000 ft | no published dial setting — use a weighted gauge at 15 lb |
Prefer to browse? Adjustments by state and city lists every featured town's full card as a plain page — nothing to type, easy to share with the canning group.
Frequently asked questions
Does altitude change pressure-canning time?
No — it changes the pressure, never the minutes. A pressure canner controls temperature directly: raising the pounds pushes the boiling point inside the canner back up to the temperature the recipe was tested at, so the tested minutes stay exactly as printed. A weighted gauge runs 10 lb up to 1,000 ft and 15 lb above that — and the clock never moves. It's the boiling-water bath that pays for altitude in minutes, because boiling water simply can't get any hotter.
What if my elevation sits right on a band edge?
Each band includes its top number — a kitchen at exactly 3,000 ft uses the 1,001–3,000 ft row. If your reading is rough and could land either side of an edge, use the higher band: a few extra minutes or one more pound over-processes slightly, which costs a little texture. The lower band risks under-processing, which costs safety.
Why does a weighted gauge jump straight to 15 lb above 1,000 ft?
Because a weighted gauge has fixed stops with nothing to set between 10 and 15 lb. A dial gauge reads in single pounds, so its published table can climb 11 → 12 → 13 → 14 lb band by band; a weighted gauge's next stop is 15 lb, so that's the published setting for every elevation above 1,000 ft. The slight extra pressure at moderate elevations is the tested, published answer — mild over-pressure is safe, under-pressure is not.
My grandmother never adjusted for altitude. Why should I?
Maybe she canned near sea level, where the tables agree with her — the first band runs to 1,000 ft and changes nothing. Higher up, water genuinely boils cooler, so her jars sat in cooler water than the recipe was tested in. The adjustment isn't modern fussiness; it's the published fix for physics that never took a generation off. And "we always did it that way" isn't evidence of safety — botulism is rare but unforgiving, so the tables don't gamble, and neither should the jars.
How does this site know my elevation from a ZIP code?
The first three digits of a U.S. ZIP code identify the state — a plain fact of the postal system, so nothing about you is looked up or sent anywhere. From there you pick the nearest of your state's featured towns, and each town carries the elevation of its nearest NOAA weather station, cross-checked against the U.S. Geological Survey's elevation service. That's honest station precision rather than your doorstep — which is plenty, because the adjustment bands are thousands of feet wide.
My town isn't on the list — where do I find my elevation?
Your city or county website usually states it, your county extension office will know it (and canning questions are their bread and butter), and most phones show elevation in the compass or GPS app. Type the feet into the lookup above and the card fills in the same way. A rough number is fine: the bands are wide, so a hundred feet rarely changes anything unless you sit near a band edge — and near an edge, take the higher band. The state pages also show every featured town's elevation for comparison.
What happens above 10,000 ft — or above 8,000 ft on a dial gauge?
The published tables stop there, so this site stops too — the card says so plainly instead of stretching the pattern another row. The weighted-gauge table is the one that keeps answering: 15 lb at any elevation above 1,000 ft. For anything the tables leave off, your county extension office is the right call.