This page lists the counties with the greatest elevation range within each state, i.e. the counties, one per state, with the greatest difference between their respective highest and lowest elevations.

The listed total reliefs are to be distinguished from a simple list of the elevation ranges for each state, regardless of the counties containing their respective highpoints and lowpoints.

These maximum-relief counties have come to be called Helman counties to both recognize the originator of the concept, and to greatly abbreviate their name. This H-system nomenclature results in some useful definitions -

• H-value of region A: Difference between the highest and lowest elevations of region A. Region A may be a county, state, country, or continent. The H-value of North America is 20,602 feet as the elevation difference between Denali and Badwater in Death Valley.

• H-subregion of region A: The sub-region within region A with the greatest H-value for all such subregions. For example, the H-county of California is Inyo County. The H-country of North America is the United States.

• Least H-subregion of region A: The subregion within region A with the least H-value for all such subregions. Louisiana has several counties competing to be the least H-county for that state. Clearly, least H-values quantify the concept of "flatness".

Using the H-system, this page lists the H-counties for each state. Note how much simpler this is than to write out explicitly, "The counties with the greatest elevation range within each state.".

Jerry Brekhus was the main contributor to this list. Other participants include Bob Bolton, Dan Case, Dave Covill, Robert Greene, Jon Mann, Andy Martin, Darryl Montgomery, David Olson, and Mike Schwartz.

H-counties are listed in descending order of H-values given in feet. Note the high, positive correlation between the rank order of states on this list, with a rank-ordered list of state highpoint elevations. A similar correlation exists with the greatest prominence values for each state.

State	County	H-value	Highpoint	Elevation	Lowpoint	Elevation
****	******	*******	*********	********	********	********
Alaska	Denali Borough	19935	Mount McKinley	20320	Kantishna River	385
California	Inyo	14776	Mount Whitney	14494	Badwater Basin	-282
Washington	Pierce	14410	Mount Rainier	14410	Puget Sound	0
Hawaii	Hawaii	13796	Mauna Kea	13796	Pacific Ocean	0
Nevada	Clark	11436	Charleston Peak	11915	Colorado River	479
Arizona	Coconino	11253	Humphreys Peak	12633	Colorado River	1380
Oregon	Clackamas	11229	Mount Hood	11239	Willamette River	10
Wyoming	Big Horn	9527	Cloud Peak	13167	Yellowtail Reservoir	3640
Montana	Carbon	9332	Castle Mountain	12612	Yellowstone River	3280
Montana	Stillwater	9329	Mount Wood	12649	Yellowstone River	3320
Colorado	Boulder	9320	Longs Peak	14255	Boulder Creek	4935
	Las Animas	9306	West Spanish Peak	13626	Purgatoire River	4320
Utah	San Juan	9021	Mount Peale	12721	Lake Powell	3700
Idaho	Lemhi	8737	Bell Mountain	11612	Salmon River	2875
New Mexico	Mora	8442	Truchas Peak	13102	Canadian River	4660
Texas	Brewster	6465	Emory Peak	7825	Rio Grande	1360
Tennessee	Sevier	5793	Clingmans Dome	6643	French Broad River	850
New Hampshire	Coos	5592	Mount Washington	6288	Androscoggin River	696
North Carolina	Swain	5557	Clingmans Dome	6643	Little Tennessee River	1086
South Dakota	Pennington	5342	Harney Peak	7242	Cheyenne River	1900
New York	Essex	5249	Mount Marcy	5344	Lake Champlain	95
Maine	Piscataquis	5087	Mount Katahdin	5267	Piscataquis River	180
Vermont	Chittenden	4298	Mount Mansfield	4393	Lake Champlain	95
Virginia	Washington	4200	Whitetop Mountain	5520	North Fork Holston River	1320
Georgia	Rabun	3789	Rabun Bald	4680	Tugaloo Lake	891
West Virginia	Pendleton	3701	Spruce Knob	4861	North Mill Creek	1160
Kentucky	Harlan	3059	Black Mountain	4139	Cumberland River	1080
South Carolina	Pickens	2940	Sassafras Mountain	3560	Clemson	620
Massachusetts	Berkshire	2916	Mount Greylock	3487	Hoosic River	571
Maryland	Allegany	2475	Dans Rock	2895	Potomac River	420
Arkansas	Logan	2415	Magazine Mountain	2753	Lake Dardanelle	338
Pennsylvania	Bedford	2400	Blue Knob	3120	Wills Creek	720
Oklahoma	Le Flore	2266	spot elevation	2666	Arkansas River	400
Connecticut	Litchfield	2180	Mount Frissell slope	2380	Lake Lillinonah	200
Nebraska	Cherry	2004	Hazel BM	4206	Niobrara River	2202
Alabama	Clay	1804	Hernandez Peak	2344	Bills Creek	540
Minnesota	Cook	1699	Eagle Mountain	2301	Lake Superior	602
New Jersey	Sussex	1483	High Point	1803	Delaware River	320
North Dakota	Dunn	1442	Killdeer Mountains	3280	Lake Sakakawea	1838
Michigan	Baraga	1377	Mount Arvon	1979	Lake Superior	602
Missouri	Iron	1312	Taum Sauk Mountain	1772	Big Creek	460
Wisconsin	Ashland	1270	Mount Whittlesey	1872	Lake Superior	602
	Iron	1268	Pleasant Lake tower	1870	Lake Superior	602
Kansas	Wallace	889	Mount Sunflower	4039	Smoky Hill River	3150
Ohio	Scioto	855	near Mt Joy	1340	Ohio River	485
Rhode Island	Providence	812	Jerimoth Hill	812	Providence River	0
Illinois	Pope	749	Williams Hill	1064	Ohio River	315
Iowa	Allamakee	725	one area	1340	Mississippi River	615
Indiana	Clark	654	benchmark	1037	Ohio River	383
Mississippi	Attala	510	McCool Lookout	720	Big Black River	210
Delaware	New Castle	448	Ebright Azimuth	448	Delaware Bay	0
Louisiana	Vernon Parish	419	spot elevation	484	Sabine River	65
	Bienville Parish	415	Driskill Mountain	535	Dugdemona River	120
	Claiborne Parish	410	at radio tower	500	Corney Bayou	90
Florida	Walton	345	Britton Hill	345	Gulf of Mexico	0