A living cross-section of the world, drawn from the game's real worldgen odds. Drag to set your mining depth, click an ore column to inspect it.
Dig at Y -59: the lower batch peaks at the world floor, so redstone gets denser the deeper you go.
87%Y -59. Every figure on this page is read from the 26.3 worldgen files the game itself ships, so it reflects what actually generates rather than a community estimate.
Redstone uses two batches. The first is uniform from Y -64 to Y 15 at 4 veins per chunk. The second is a triangle centred below the world floor, which means the part of it that exists inside the world rises steadily all the way down to bedrock, at 8 veins per chunk.
The combined effect is that redstone gets denser the deeper you go and never tails off, exactly like diamonds. Y -59 is the deepest workable level above bedrock and is the peak for both.
This is the one genuinely useful piece of scheduling in ore mining: a single branch mine at Y -59 is simultaneously the optimal diamond trip and the optimal redstone trip. There is no reason to make separate runs for them.
Minecraft places ore in separate batches, each with its own count, height range and vein size. A discard value above zero means the game throws away veins that would touch open air, which is what decides whether caving or tunnelling is the better approach.
| Batch | Veins/chunk | Range | Vein size | Air discard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ore_redstone | 4 | uniform Y -64 to 15 | 8 | none |
| ore_redstone_lower | 8 | triangle peaking at Y -64 | 8 | none |
Redstone and diamond both peak at the bottom of the world and both are mined at Y -59. One branch mine at that level is the optimal run for both ores at once.
The peak level differs for each ore, and a few of them share a band closely enough to mine on one trip. The full interactive chart is on the ore distribution hub.
| Ore | Best Y level |
|---|---|
| diamonds | Y -59 |
| netherite | Y 15 |
| iron | Y 16 underground, Y 232 in mountains |
| coal | Y 96, or anything above Y 136 |
| gold | Y -16, or anywhere in a badlands |
| redstone | Y -59 |
| lapis lazuli | Y 0 |
| copper | Y 48 |
| emeralds | Y 232, mountain biomes only |
| nether quartz | Any level from Y 10 to 117 |
| nether gold | Any level from Y 10 to 117 |
Y -59, the same as diamonds. Both distributions rise continuously towards the world floor, and Y -59 is the lowest level clear of bedrock.
Yes, and you should. They peak at the same level, so a single branch mine at Y -59 is optimal for both.
The uniform batch reaches Y 15, so a little exists just above zero. The bulk of it is far below.
Iron or better. Redstone ore also needs to be broken with the right tool to drop anything, and Fortune increases the dust yield.
Related ore levels:
