Largest: Lake Superior · deepest: Crater Lake, 1,949 ft · largest reservoir: Lake Mead
Largest US lakes map
The biggest lakes in the United States by surface area, from Lake Superior down to the great reservoirs of the West, with depth, elevation and the state each one is in.
Largest natural lakes by area
Areas are total surface, including any Canadian portion for the border lakes; all figures are rounded. Great Salt Lake has no fixed size: it has ranged from more than 2,000 square miles in the 1980s to under 1,000 in recent dry years.
| # | Lake | State(s) | Area (sq mi) | Max depth (ft) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Superior | MN, WI, MI (and Ontario) | about 31,700 | 1,333 | Largest freshwater lake on earth by area |
| 2 | Huron | MI (and Ontario) | about 23,000 | 750 | Manitoulin, the largest island in a freshwater lake |
| 3 | Michigan | MI, WI, IL, IN | about 22,300 | 925 | Largest lake entirely in the US |
| 4 | Erie | MI, OH, PA, NY (and Ontario) | about 9,900 | 210 | Shallowest Great Lake |
| 5 | Ontario | NY (and Ontario) | about 7,300 | 802 | Lowest Great Lake, 243 ft above sea level |
| 6 | Great Salt Lake | UT | about 1,000–1,700 (varies) | about 35 | Saltier than the ocean; no outlet |
| 7 | Lake of the Woods | MN (and Ontario, Manitoba) | about 1,680 | about 210 | Contains the Northwest Angle, the northernmost point of the lower 48 |
| 8 | Iliamna | AK | about 1,010 | about 980 | Largest lake in Alaska |
| 9 | Okeechobee | FL | about 730 | about 12 | Largest lake in the Southeast; feeds the Everglades |
| 10 | Pontchartrain | LA | about 630 | about 65 | Brackish estuary north of New Orleans; 24-mile causeway |
| 11 | Champlain | VT, NY (and Quebec) | about 490 | 400 | Forms most of the Vermont–New York border |
| 12 | Red Lake | MN | about 440 | about 35 | Largest natural lake entirely in Minnesota |
| 13 | Salton Sea | CA | about 320 (shrinking) | about 40 | Formed by a 1905 canal break; 227 ft below sea level |
| 14 | Flathead | MT | about 200 | about 370 | Largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower 48 |
| 15 | Tahoe | CA, NV | 191 | 1,645 | Second deepest in the US; 6,225 ft elevation |
Largest reservoirs
Most big lakes in the West are man-made. Lake Mead (NV/AZ, behind Hoover Dam) and Lake Powell (UT/AZ, behind Glen Canyon Dam) on the Colorado are the two largest by capacity; each covers about 250 square miles when full, but both have been far below full for most years since 2000. The Missouri reservoirs are bigger by area: Lake Sakakawea (ND), Lake Oahe (SD) and Fort Peck Lake (MT) each cover roughly 300–500 square miles and stretch 130 to 230 miles. Toledo Bend on the TX–LA line is the largest in the South; Lake of the Ozarks in MO has more shoreline than most.
Deepest lakes
- Crater Lake, Oregon — 1,949 ft, in the caldera of Mount Mazama in the Cascades; the deepest in the US and among the clearest anywhere.
- Lake Tahoe, California/Nevada — 1,645 ft, in the Sierra Nevada.
- Lake Chelan, Washington — 1,486 ft, a 50-mile fjord-like lake in the North Cascades.
- Lake Superior — 1,333 ft.
- Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho — about 1,150 ft, deep enough for the Navy's submarine research station.
How lakes shaped the map
The Great Lakes carry the Canadian border and set the northern edge of the Midwest. Lake Champlain carries most of the Vermont–New York line. Lake Tahoe is where California's two straight border lines meet. Lake of the Woods gave Minnesota the Northwest Angle, a piece of the US reachable by land only through Canada, because the 1783 treaty-makers used an inaccurate map. Great Salt Lake and the Salton Sea are the remains of far larger ice-age lakes whose flat beds now hold Salt Lake City and the Imperial Valley.
Related maps
- Great Lakes — the five in detail.
- Longest US rivers · Colorado River · US deserts (Great Salt Lake and the Salton Sea).
- All geography maps.