Fourteeners (Highest Mountains) of the US

The United States has more mountains over 14,000 feet (“fourteeners”) than any other country. The 97 mountains shown here are located among four states: Alaska (25), Washington (2), California (12) and Colorado (58).

The term “fourteener” or “14er” is used primarily in mountaineering, especially Colorado. Many climbers aspire to ascend as many fourteeners as possible, known as peakbagging. Depending on what criteria you use, Colorado has anywhere between 53 and 58 fourteeners.

To some, a peak must have at least 300 feet of prominence, which is the amount of elevation it rises above the lowest saddle that connects to the nearest, higher peak. This guideline has been in use in Colorado for some time. With this criteria, some peaks are not ranked because they do not have enough prominence.

METHODOLOGY: I am including all 58 Colorado peaks above 14,000 feet in this visual as they are named and recognized by the USGS, also the list maintained by 14ers.com. For this data set I eliminated the unnamed (and mostly unclimbed) peaks of Alaska from the Wikipedia list.

According to the Mountaineering Club of Alaska, their standard uses a 500-foot (150 m) prominence rule rather than a 300-foot (91 m) rule. 

Moving Mountains

In May 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) completed a 15-year survey to re-measure mountains across the US based on a more accurate sea level. 

After carefully measuring the heights of the Colorado fourteeners using LIDAR equipment aboard surveying aircraft, several mountains were re-ranked in height. This is the first time the ranking had changed since 1898 when the mountains were originally mapped. The study’s focus on sea levels shows how it impacts our understanding of real elevation on land. Colorado also has more land above 10,000 feet than the rest of the country combined, making it perfect for testing the technology used in the study.

Much to the relief of the Colorado mountaineering community, none of the mountains lost their status as a fourteener, though the mountains at the bottom of the list just squeaked by. The shortest of the list, Mount Huron, barely qualified with an elevation of 14,004.1 feet.

NOAA scientist Derek van Westrum (who also happens to be my former college roommate) went on the record across several news media outlets to assure the public that all the fourteeners’ statuses are safe, though some did switch places in the ranking.

“Sea level isn't ever exactly level," van Westrum said. "So if you can map out what that surface is, that's the new 'zero' for all of the heights we're going to do for the entire nation.”

Denali’s Name

On January 20, 2025 president-elect Donald Trump announced he is going sign legislation to revert back to the mountain’s old name, Mount McKinley. The proposed name change plan has outraged Alaskan lawmakers, as it would undo years of work advocating for the native Athabaskan name of Denali. The Koyukon Athanbaskans, native Alaskans, refer to the peak as “Dinale” or “Denali” in their language (Koyukon), meaning “tall one.” The mountain has many similar names to Denali in other native languages of the area, some of which translate as “big mountain.” 

The Alaska Board of Geographic Names had changed the name of the mountain to Denali in 1975, but the name change was blocked at the federal level and the peak remained Mount McKinley. The peak was originally named in 1917 after President Wilson signed the Mount McKinley National Park Act of February 26, 1917. 

On August 30, 2015 the Obama administration officially restored the mountain’s name to Denali to honor the traditions of Alaskan Natives.