If Central America is below the US, how is New Orleans below sea level, but Costa Rica has high altitude?

Central America is below as in south of the US, not below as in lower elevation.

altitude and direction are two different things.
Central America is below the US as in south of.

New Orleans sits in a depression and Costa Rica sits on a hill
so to speak

Costa Rica is further south. There are moutins in the southern hemmisphere (think peru). New Orelans is a depression in the land


the two are totaly un related

Think of the earth as a big ball of clay. Stick some Hersheys kisses on it in some places, press your thumb into it in other places. Costa Rica is on a kiss, New Orleans is down in a thumbprint. Altitude is the measurement of how far something is above (sticks out from) the level parts of the ball. (Sea level.)

New Orleans is in a previous flood plane of the Misissippi River. Most land was near or at sea level before the levies were built. Costa Rica was never below sea level

The other answers are correct that Costa Rica is simply farther south than New Orleans, not truly "below" New Orleans.

However, New Orleans is NOT "in a depression" and most of the city is above sea level, though not by very much. The parts of Costa Rica that are on the coast are also above sea level, but not by very much.

it's below new orleans in location but not in altitude, the world has many different levels in land, some regions are very mountainous, some flat, and some dips. new orleans just happens to be very low lying land.

I can see why you would have that question. But look at it this way. Think of a globe of the earth. They just make it smooth to make it look pretty. If it was really accurate the entire earth would be all bumpy. There would be places that stick up from the globe; like mountainous areas. Colorado would stick up higher on the globe than Louisiana because it is higher. Costa Rica would stick up more than Louisiana. I have seen depictations of the earth done like this and it looks like a different planet to me because it is all bumpy and have craters. You can look (on a much smaller scale of course) and actually see what is above or below or at sea level. It is really neat to look at that way.

And because we call it the north pole and have it at the top; we look at the globe upright so Costa Rica is south of New Orleans but those are directions we use to know where things are placed. Since the earth is round, when it is turned on its axis, Costa Rica is above New Orleans. It is hard to think of that way but it is true - think about taking a big beach ball and writing 1, 2, 3 down the side. When the ball is being turned around the 1 is below the 3 instead of above.

Hope this helps and you ask the MOST interesting questions.

If an ant starts eating your sandwich is the ant at a higher elevation than the sandwich?