The steepest municipalities in canton Schaffhausen
National ranking →Merishausen is the steepest municipality in canton Schaffhausen: its terrain averages 16.2° of slope. Next come Bargen (15.5°) and Siblingen (12.4°). 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 | Merishausen | 16.2° | 907 |
| 2 | Bargen | 15.5° | 339 |
| 3 | Siblingen | 12.4° | 906 |
| 4 | Beggingen | 11.9° | 459 |
| 5 | Schaffhausen | 9.6° | 39'228 |
| 6 | Schleitheim | 9.6° | 1'928 |
| 7 | Wilchingen | 9.5° | 1'747 |
| 8 | Buchberg | 9.3° | 864 |
| 9 | Beringen | 9.2° | 5'396 |
| 10 | Stein am Rhein | 9° | 3'956 |
| 11 | Büttenhardt | 8.5° | 472 |
| 12 | Löhningen | 8.1° | 1'658 |
| 13 | Thayngen | 8.1° | 5'925 |
| 14 | Stetten | 7.7° | 1'485 |
| 15 | Hemishofen | 7.6° | 492 |
| 16 | Neuhausen am Rheinfall | 7.1° | 12'198 |
| 17 | Neunkirch | 7° | 2'704 |
| 18 | Lohn | 6.9° | 763 |
| 19 | Gächlingen | 6.8° | 1'043 |
| 20 | Hallau | 6.8° | 2'600 |
| 21 | Rüdlingen | 6.6° | 825 |
| 22 | Oberhallau | 6.6° | 455 |
| 23 | Trasadingen | 5.6° | 626 |
| 24 | Ramsen | 5° | 1'697 |
| 25 | Buch | 4.9° | 340 |
| 26 | Dörflingen | 4.6° | 1'074 |
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 Schaffhausen has the steepest terrain?
- Merishausen, whose terrain averages 16.2° of slope (swissALTIRegio 2026) — 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.