Iron is most common at Y 16 (and in mountains). Enter your seed and this Iron Finder maps iron ore at 94% accuracy on Java 26.3 and 85% on Bedrock 1.26.51 — best Y level, spawn range and where to find iron, on a visual map.
Also called: iron ore finder · iron ore tracker · iron locator
Quick answer: Iron is most common at Y 16 (and again near mountain peaks); it spawns from Y 320 down to Y −64. This Iron Finder marks iron ore from your seed on a visual map at 94% accuracy on Java 26.3 and 85% on Bedrock 1.26.51.
| Edition | Version | Best Y level | Spawn range | Finder accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedrock | 1.18 – 26.51 (current) | Y 16 | Y 320 to −64 | 85% |
| Java | 1.20.2 – 26.3 (current) | Y 16 | Y 320 to −64 | 94% |
Accuracy is the share of marked hotspots that really contain the ore in your world, shown as a plain number.
| Vein | Edition | How often | Vein size | Where | Blocks touching air |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-depth veins | Java 26.3 | 10 per chunk | 9 | Y 56 to −24, most near Y 16 | Placed anyway |
| Mid-depth veins | Bedrock 1.26.51 | 10 per chunk | 10 | Y 56 to −24, most near Y 16 | Placed anyway |
| Small veins | Java and Bedrock | 10 per chunk | 4 | Y 72 to −64, evenly spread | Placed anyway |
The game's own ore settings on Java 26.3 and Bedrock 1.26.51.
Iron generates almost everywhere from Y 320 down to Y −64, in two ways: small ore blobs at every level, plus large iron veins inside mountain and badlands biomes. Density is highest around Y 16 and again high up in the mountains. Enter your seed and the finder marks the chunks where iron is most likely exposed.
The best Y level for iron is Y 16 for underground branch mining — the low-altitude peak of its spawn curve. In mountain biomes the upper slopes (around Y 128–232) hold huge iron veins, so mining an exposed mountainside there can be even faster.
Y 16 on Bedrock too: the mid-depth iron veins peak there on both editions. The table above compares the two kinds of underground iron vein on Java and Bedrock side by side. Both editions also grow a third kind high inside mountains, from Y 80 up, which the table leaves out. The finder supports Bedrock 1.26.51 at 85% accuracy — the badge by the page title shows both editions' figures.
Giant iron veins generate at Y −8 to −60 — tuff-and-ore formations far larger than the ordinary iron blobs that peak at Y 16, with blocks of raw iron scattered through them. Both Java and Bedrock generate them, from the same seed, and the full seed map draws them as their own layer. One vein can run for dozens of blocks, so reaching one beats a long branch mine.
Y-levels, drop rates, smelting and recipes for Iron — straight from our Minecraft catalog, in both editions.
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