USDA processing-time and pressure adjustments for your elevation
Updated October 2026
Enter your elevation in feet: your city or county website, a topographic map or a phone’s map app will give it, and Utah State University Extension publishes a table by town. Choose the canner you are using: a boiling-water canner for high-acid foods such as most fruits, jams and pickles, or a dial-gauge or weighted-gauge pressure canner for low-acid foods. For a boiling-water bath, enter the recipe’s processing time as written for 0 to 1,000 feet. The result is the adjusted time or the pressure to use.
| Elevation (feet) | Boiling-water canner | Dial gauge | Weighted gauge |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–1,000 | Recipe time | 11 psi | 10 psi |
| 1,001–2,000 | +5 minutes | 11 psi | 15 psi |
| 2,001–3,000 | +5 minutes | 12 psi | 15 psi |
| 3,001–4,000 | +10 minutes | 12 psi | 15 psi |
| 4,001–6,000 | +10 minutes | 13 psi | 15 psi |
| 6,001–8,000 | +15 minutes | 14 psi | 15 psi |
| 8,001–10,000 | +20 minutes | 15 psi | 15 psi |
These are the general adjustments from the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning as published by Utah State University Extension (2026). Some tested recipes include their own altitude tables, and a few Extension charts group the elevations slightly differently; when a recipe gives its own table, follow it. Never shorten processing times or lower pressure.
Provo, Utah sits at about 4,551 feet, in the 3,001-to-6,000-foot band for boiling-water canning. A jam recipe that calls for 20 minutes at sea level gets 10 more: 30 minutes. For green beans in a pressure canner, the 4,001-to-6,000-foot row gives 13 psi on a dial gauge; a weighted gauge has no 13 setting, so it goes to 15 psi. The pressure-canning time stays exactly as the recipe states.
| Elevation | 10-minute recipe | 20-minute recipe | 35-minute recipe | Dial-gauge pressure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 ft | 10 min | 20 min | 35 min | 11 psi |
| 1,500 ft | 15 min | 25 min | 40 min | 11 psi |
| 2,500 ft | 15 min | 25 min | 40 min | 12 psi |
| 4,551 ft | 20 min | 30 min | 45 min | 13 psi |
| 7,000 ft | 25 min | 35 min | 50 min | 14 psi |
| 9,000 ft | 30 min | 40 min | 55 min | 15 psi |
Water boils at lower temperatures as elevation rises, and lower boiling temperatures are less effective at killing microorganisms, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation. A boiling-water bath can never get hotter than boiling, so the fix is more time. Low-acid foods such as vegetables, meats and beans must be sterilized at 240°F to 250°F to destroy Clostridium botulinum spores, and only a pressure canner at 10 to 15 psi reaches that range; at altitude it takes more pressure to get there, so the fix is more pressure. A weighted gauge cannot be set between 10 and 15 psi, so above 1,000 feet it is always 15.
Using sea-level times above 1,000 feet, which NCHFP warns can lead to spoilage. Adding time to a pressure-canning recipe instead of pressure; at altitude it is the pressure that changes. Water-bath canning low-acid foods such as green beans, corn or meat at any altitude. Trusting an untested dial gauge: have it checked before the season; many county Extension offices test them. Starting the timer too early, before a full rolling boil in a water bath or before the canner has vented and reached pressure. Using recipes that are not from a tested source, since the altitude tables assume tested processing times.
This calculator applies the published tables; it cannot judge a recipe’s safety. Ask your county Extension office about elevations above 10,000 feet, where the USDA tables stop, about recipes without a tested process, and about gauge testing. Do not taste food from a jar with a bulging lid, leaks, spurting liquid or an off smell; botulism toxin can be present without obvious signs, so discard questionable low-acid food safely.