The steepest municipalities in canton Neuchâtel
National ranking →Les Planchettes is the steepest municipality in canton Neuchâtel: its terrain averages 16.8° of slope. Next come Boudry (16.5°) and Rochefort (16.2°). This is the mean gradient across the whole municipal area, measured on a 40 m elevation grid — a figure for ordering, not an absolute gradient. Source: swisstopo swissALTIRegio 2026.
Ranking
swisstopo · swissALTIRegio 2026| Rank | Municipality | Mean slope | Residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Les Planchettes | 16.8° | 187 |
| 2 | Boudry | 16.5° | 6'341 |
| 3 | Rochefort | 16.2° | 1'383 |
| 4 | Val-de-Travers | 13.3° | 10'710 |
| 5 | La Grande Béroche | 13° | 9'363 |
| 6 | Le Locle | 12.4° | 10'912 |
| 7 | Cressier | 11.8° | 2'072 |
| 8 | Val-de-Ruz | 11.5° | 17'543 |
| 9 | Neuchâtel | 10.8° | 45'466 |
| 10 | La Sagne | 10.5° | 1'090 |
| 11 | Laténa | 10.2° | 11'752 |
| 12 | La Chaux-de-Fonds | 10.1° | 37'858 |
| 13 | La Côte-aux-Fées | 9.5° | 467 |
| 14 | Le Landeron | 8.9° | 4'685 |
| 15 | Les Verrières | 8.9° | 660 |
| 16 | Les Ponts-de-Martel | 8.2° | 1'234 |
| 17 | Le Cerneux-Péquignot | 8° | 313 |
| 18 | Cornaux | 7.8° | 1'684 |
| 19 | Lignières | 7.6° | 1'101 |
| 20 | Brot-Plamboz | 6.7° | 300 |
| 21 | La Brévine | 6.5° | 614 |
| 22 | La Chaux-du-Milieu | 6.4° | 494 |
| 23 | Milvignes | 6.3° | 9'367 |
| 24 | Cortaillod | 4.5° | 4'769 |
How we measure this
swisstopoThe mean slope of the terrain in degrees, averaged over the whole municipal area from the swisstopo swissALTIRegio digital elevation model at 40 m resolution (swissALTIRegio 2026). Two caveats matter. First, it describes the entire territory, not the inhabited settlement — a municipality can be steep overall while its village sits on flat ground. Second, slope depends on the grid it is measured at: at 40 m the figures run a few percent gentler than a 10 m grid, so use them to order municipalities, not as an absolute gradient. Steep terrain and large vertical range tend to coincide; see the greatest-vertical-range ranking.
Frequently asked questions
- Which municipality in canton Neuchâtel has the steepest terrain?
- Les Planchettes, whose terrain averages 16.8° of slope (swissALTIRegio 2026) — the steepest of any municipality in canton Neuchâtel, measured on the swisstopo 40 m elevation grid.
- Why is the slope measured at 40 m?
- Slope depends on the resolution of the elevation grid it is computed from. These figures use the swisstopo 40 m grid, which is stable and comparable across all municipalities; a finer 10 m grid would read a few percent steeper. The ranking order is reliable, but the degree value is not an absolute gradient.