The steepest municipalities in canton Schaffhausen
National ranking →Merishausen is the steepest municipality in canton Schaffhausen: its terrain averages 16.8° of slope. Next come Löhningen (14.7°) and Siblingen (14.5°). 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 2025.
Ranking
swisstopo · swissALTIRegio 2025| Rank | Municipality | Mean slope | Residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merishausen | 16.8° | 899 |
| 2 | Löhningen | 14.7° | 1'624 |
| 3 | Siblingen | 14.5° | 895 |
| 4 | Stein am Rhein | 11.8° | 3'548 |
| 5 | Bargen | 11.1° | 331 |
| 6 | Beggingen | 11.1° | 486 |
| 7 | Schaffhausen | 10.9° | 38'666 |
| 8 | Lohn | 9.8° | 768 |
| 9 | Schleitheim | 9.8° | 1'807 |
| 10 | Beringen | 9.6° | 5'203 |
| 11 | Büttenhardt | 8.5° | 419 |
| 12 | Hallau | 8° | 2'389 |
| 13 | Neuhausen am Rheinfall | 7.9° | 11'213 |
| 14 | Wilchingen | 7.7° | 1'743 |
| 15 | Oberhallau | 7.4° | 438 |
| 16 | Thayngen | 7.2° | 5'770 |
| 17 | Hemishofen | 7° | 502 |
| 18 | Gächlingen | 6.7° | 1'018 |
| 19 | Trasadingen | 6.7° | 626 |
| 20 | Stetten | 6.6° | 1'487 |
| 21 | Dörflingen | 5.6° | 1'059 |
| 22 | Neunkirch | 5.2° | 2'591 |
| 23 | Rüdlingen | 5.1° | 799 |
| 24 | Buchberg | 4.7° | 890 |
| 25 | Ramsen | 3.6° | 1'617 |
| 26 | Buch | 1.7° | 323 |
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 2025). 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 Schaffhausen has the steepest terrain?
- Merishausen, whose terrain averages 16.8° of slope (swissALTIRegio 2025) — the steepest of any municipality in canton Schaffhausen, 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.