There are more than 102,500 lakes across the US. The largest lakes in the nation cover a combined surface area of 99,240 square miles – more than the United Kingdom’s total area!
Incredibly, the five Great Lakes alone account for a whopping 94,250 square miles of the total area they cover.
You’ll find the world’s biggest freshwater lake and a single saltwater lake among the country’s largest lakes. Reaching depths of up to 1,332 feet and holding incredible volumes of water, these lakes stretch further than the eye can see!
10. Lake Okeechobee (662 sq mi)
The tenth largest lake in the country is Lake Okeechobee in Florida. It spans over 662 square miles overall. It’s a staggering 36 miles in length and 29 miles wide.
The lake is fed by the Kissimmee River, and branches out into three primary outflow rivers. There are lots of little marinas along the lake’s shore you can go boating from, and popular hiking trails like the Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail.
Standing at the vast lake where you can’t make out the other side of the shore no matter how much you squint, you’d be surprised to learn the lake is actually quite shallow. The water is just 12 feet deep and its deepest point!
9. Lake Oahe (685 sq mi)
This manmade lake began to form when the Oahe Dam was built. The reservoir stretches across 685 square miles, from the shores of Pierre in South Dakota to Bismarck in North Dakota.
The lake is primarily fed by the Cheyenne, Moreau, and Grand Rivers and it pours into the Missouri River.
Along its 231 miles of length it can reach depths up to 205 feet! There are endless hiking trails along its whopping 2,250 miles of shoreline, like the 11-mile-long Oahe West Shore trail that is popular amongst hikers and mountain bikers.
8. Great Salt Lake (950 sq mi)
Not only is the Great Salt Lake the eight largest lake in the US, it’s also the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere! It’s a staggering 75 miles long and 28 miles wide, with a surface coverage of 950 square miles.
The lake is mainly fed by the Bear, Jordan, and Weber Rivers and is relatively shallow, reaching depths of up to just 33 feet.
What you see today is what’s left of the prehistoric Lake Bonneville that was once here. It’s a popular spot for birdwatching, but keep a look out for coyotes whilst you’re there!
7. Iliamna Lake (1,014 sq mi)
Stretching further than the eye can see, Iliamna Lake’s surface stretches across 1,014 square miles. It’s located in the southwest of Alaska and is the largest in the state, with a surface area similar to that of Rhode Island!
The lake is fed by numerous rivers, and drains into the Kvichak River that winds its way through the Alaskan landscape until the Bering Sea.
77 miles in length and 22 miles wide, the lake holds a staggering 27.7 cubic miles of water! This is thanks to the lake’s impressive depths, which reach up to 988 feet at points.
6. Lake of the Woods (1,679 sq mi)
This striking lake is so vast it stretches beyond the borders of the US into the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. It’s some 70 miles long and 60 miles wide, and covers a shocking 1,679 square miles. That means it’s just shy of being as big as Kangaroo Island!
Apart from its sheer size, another impressive thing about Lake of the Woods is that there are more than 14,000 islands poking out of its surface.
Fed by the Rainy River, the lake flows out into the Winnipeg River that eventually feeds into Lake Winnipeg.
5. Lake Ontario (7,340 sq mi)
The smallest of the nation’s five Great Lakes, the lake is 193 miles long and 53 miles wide. Incredibly, the lake stretches across 7,340 square miles, making it seven times bigger than Luxembourg!
Lake Ontario is fed by the Niagara River and flows out into the St. Lawrence River. Across its surface it reaches depths of up to 802 feet and holds three times more water than the fourth of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie.
A popular place to visit is the Southwick Beach State Park. The sandy shores are perfect for a relaxing beach day at Lake Ontario.
4. Lake Erie (9,910 sq mi)
Lake Erie is the fourth of the nation’s five Great Lakes. It is just 57 miles long, but a staggering 241 miles wide. Overall it has a surface area of 9,910 square miles, and borders Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Ontario, and Michigan!
It’s so large it’s just smaller than the state of Massachusetts.
Despite its staggering surface area, the lake is pretty shallow. At its maximum it reaches depths of 210 feet. Because of this, it holds just 119 cubic miles of water, and has the smallest volume of all five of the country’s Great Lakes.
3. Lake Michigan (22,300 sq mi)
The third of the Great Lakes is Lake Michigan. It covers a total surface area of 22,300 square miles. Stretching across 307 miles in length and 118 miles wide, it reaches depths of up to 925 feet.
It’s fed by numerous rivers, like the Fox River and Grand River. Did you know the lake is so large it borders four US states? The lake has stretches of shore in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Incredibly, it’s some 11 times larger than the state of Delaware and is the only one of the five Great Lakes that is completely in the US.
2. Lake Huron (23,000 sq mi)
This odds-defying lake stretches 206 miles across and is 183 miles long! With a surface area of 23,000 square miles, it is just a bit smaller than the state of West Virginia!
The lake reaches depths of up to 750 feet and holds an estimated 8844.8 cubic miles of water. It essentially acts as a drainage basin for the rivers in Ontario and Michigan, and is even fed by both Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.
It’s so large it stretches beyond Michigan and into the Canadian province of Ontario.
1. Lake Superior (31,700 sq mi)
Lake Superior is a surface area that is a whopping 8,700 square miles larger than that of the second Great Lake, Lake Huron, making it bigger than any of the other lakes in the US by a considerable margin. This isn’t surprising considering Lake Superior is 350 miles wide and 160 miles long!
Did you know that, as well as being the largest lake in the US, it’s also the largest freshwater lake in the world? It’s so big it’s approximately the size of Austria.
Fed by more than 200 rivers, the lake holds 10% of the world’s freshwater, a staggering 2,900 cubic miles in total, and reaches a maximum depth of 1,332 feet.
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