Minecraft Ore Distribution

How deep to dig for every ore. Each one only shows up between certain heights, and there is one level where you will find the most of it - those are the numbers below.

What the numbers mean

Best Y: The height to dig at. Y is how high up you are - press F3 in game and it is the middle number. Sea level is Y=63, and the bottom of the world is Y=-64. This column is the single height where that ore turns up most often.
Range: The lowest and highest you will find it at all. Outside this range there is none, no matter how long you dig.
Veins per chunk: Ore does not appear one block at a time - it comes in small clumps called veins. A chunk is a 16x16 block column of the world, about the size of a small house. This is how many clumps the game tries to place in each one, so a bigger number means you run into it more often.
Max vein size: The most blocks a single clump can hold. Diamond veins are small, coal veins are large - which is why you find coal in handfuls and diamond in ones and twos.
Y distribution: The bar draws the whole range, with a gold line on the best height. Some ores have two separate bands (iron and copper do), and the bar shows both instead of averaging them into a number that fits neither. Hover a band for its exact figures.

Ores

Ore	Best Y	Range	Veins per chunk	Max vein size
Ancient Debris	Y 16	8 to 120	2	3
Coal	Y 96	0 to 320	50	17
Copper	Y 48	-16 to 112	32	20
Diamond	Y -64	-64 to 16	13.11	12
Emerald	Y 232	-16 to 320	100	3
Gold	Y -16	-64 to 256	54.5	9
Iron	Y 232	-64 to 320	110	9
Lapis	Y 0	-64 to 64	6	7
Nether Gold	Y 10	10 to 118	30	10
Nether Quartz	Y 10	10 to 118	48	14
Redstone	Y -64	-64 to 15	12	8

Stone types and soft blocks

Granite, dirt, gravel and the rest are placed by the same system as ore, in veins at set heights, so the same columns apply to them.

Ore	Best Y	Range	Veins per chunk	Max vein size
Andesite	Y 0	0 to 128	2.17	64
Blackstone	Y 5	5 to 31	2	33
Clay	Y -64	-64 to 256	46	33
Diorite	Y 0	0 to 128	2.17	64
Dirt	Y 0	0 to 160	7	33
Granite	Y 0	0 to 128	2.17	64
Gravel	Y 5	-64 to 320	16	33
Infested Stone	Y -64	-64 to 63	14	9
Magma Block	Y 27	27 to 36	4	33
Soul Sand	Y 0	0 to 31	12	12
Tuff	Y -64	-64 to 0	2	64

How to use the ore distribution chart

Each bar shows the full range of Y levels an ore generates at, with the brightest marker on the richest level. Segments inside the bar are the individual generation bands, so where an ore has two separate peaks, like iron and copper, you can see both rather than an average that describes neither.

Hover a segment for its exact range, shape and vein count. A trapezoid band is densest in the middle and tapers to nothing at the edges; a uniform band generates evenly across its whole range.

Why an ore map is not possible

Biomes and structures are computed from your world seed, which is why the seed map can show them before you ever load the world. Ore is different: the game rolls placement per chunk during generation, so there is no seed-level pattern to read out. Any site offering to show diamonds at specific coordinates for your seed is not doing what it claims.

The height distribution below is exact, comes straight from the game's own worldgen data, and is genuinely what makes mining efficient.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Y level for diamonds?

The diamond distribution peaks at Y=-64, but bedrock occupies Y=-64 to -60, so in practice Y=-59 is the level to mine at. It gives you the highest diamond density on a layer you can actually tunnel through. Diamonds generate from Y=16 all the way down, but the lower you go the more there is.

Can this tell me where diamonds are in my seed?

No, and neither can any other tool, whatever it claims. Ore veins are placed from per-chunk random rolls at the moment a chunk generates, not from a seed-wide pattern that can be computed in advance the way biomes and structures can. What is exact and useful is the height distribution on this page: mine at the right Y and you find ore far faster than wandering.

What is the best Y level for ancient debris?

Around Y=15 in the Nether. Debris generates from Y=8 to Y=120 but the distribution is heavily weighted low. Bed mining or TNT at Y=15 is the standard technique, since debris is blast resistant and everything around it is not.

Why does iron peak at Y=232?

Because iron has two separate generation bands. A large one is centred high in the mountains around Y=232, and a smaller one sits around Y=16 underground. If you are not in a mountain biome, the Y=16 band is the one that matters to you. The coloured segments in each bar show the individual bands.

What does "veins per chunk" mean?

How many attempts the game makes to place a vein of that ore in each chunk. It is not the number of ore blocks: multiply roughly by the vein size, and note that many attempts fail because the spot is already air or the wrong block. Use it to compare ores against each other rather than as an absolute count.

Does deepslate change anything?

Only the block texture and hardness. Below Y=0 ore generates as the deepslate variant, but the distribution numbers on this page already cover both forms together, so a "diamond" row means diamond ore and deepslate diamond ore combined.