The highest-lying municipalities in canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden
National ranking →Urnäsch is the highest-lying municipality in canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden: its terrain averages 953 m above sea level. Next come Gais (944 m) and Schönengrund (943 m). This is the mean elevation of the whole municipal area — how high the territory sits overall, not the altitude of the village nor its highest summit. Source: swisstopo swissALTIRegio 2025.
Ranking
swisstopo · swissALTIRegio 2025| Rank | Municipality | Mean elevation | Residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Urnäsch | 953 m | 2'346 |
| 2 | Gais | 944 m | 3'147 |
| 3 | Schönengrund | 943 m | 556 |
| 4 | Hundwil | 928 m | 944 |
| 5 | Bühler | 905 m | 1'954 |
| 6 | Trogen | 875 m | 1'862 |
| 7 | Wald | 829 m | 909 |
| 8 | Schwellbrunn | 802 m | 1'557 |
| 9 | Waldstatt | 773 m | 1'874 |
| 10 | Teufen | 720 m | 6'514 |
| 11 | Stein | 681 m | 1'498 |
| 12 | Herisau | 678 m | 15'893 |
| 13 | Reute | 650 m | 700 |
| 14 | Speicher | 633 m | 4'453 |
| 15 | Rehetobel | 558 m | 1'773 |
| 16 | Heiden | 482 m | 4'316 |
| 17 | Grub | 431 m | 971 |
| 18 | Wolfhalden | 401 m | 1'867 |
| 19 | Walzenhausen | 398 m | 2'029 |
| 20 | Lutzenberg | 396 m | 1'332 |
How we measure this
swisstopoThe mean elevation of the entire municipal area, in metres above sea level, averaged over the swisstopo swissALTIRegio digital elevation model (swissALTIRegio 2025). It describes how high-lying the whole territory is, not where people live. This is a different question from the single highest point: Zermatt reaches the highest summit (4,627 m) yet Fieschertal ranks first here (about 3,024 m) because its terrain sits higher overall. See the highest-terrain-point ranking for the peak each territory reaches, and the highest-villages ranking for the settlement altitude.
Frequently asked questions
- Which municipality in canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden lies highest overall?
- Urnäsch, whose terrain averages 953 m above sea level (swissALTIRegio 2025) — the highest mean elevation of any municipality in canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden.
- Why does this differ from the highest-peak ranking?
- Because they answer different questions. Mean elevation measures how high the whole territory sits on average; the highest terrain point measures the single loftiest spot. A municipality with one very high summit can still average lower than one that is uniformly high, so the two lists have different leaders.