Coverage
What Lake Data LakeList Has, State by State
LakeList publishes what public agencies actually measured — no more. Today that is depth maps for 5,095 lakes across 6 states, plus shoreline shapes for 29,258. This page lists it state by state, names the agency behind every depth source, and says plainly where the gaps are.
Last updated 2026-07-28Totals
- 5,095 lakes have an interactive depth map. Where two sources cover the same lake, only the better one is counted and shown.
- 29,258 lakes have a shoreline shape drawn from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset, used for previews and map outlines.
- 5,047 depth maps also render a shaded relief of the lake bottom.
Depth coverage is uneven by design: we add a state only when an agency publishes data we can trace, and we leave a lake out rather than estimate it.
Coverage by state
- Depth maps: 1,937 lakes — 1,936 from Michigan DNR Institute for Fisheries Research (Historical survey map); 1 from C-MAP Genesis community sonar (derived) (Community sonar (derived))
- Shoreline shapes: 6,505 lakes
- Rankings: deepest lakes and biggest lakes
- Depth maps: 1,687 lakes — 1,687 from Minnesota DNR (Measured agency survey)
- Shoreline shapes: 8,752 lakes
- Rankings: deepest lakes and biggest lakes, 6 fish species
- Depth maps: 1,337 lakes — 6 from North Temperate Lakes LTER survey (Measured research survey); 1 from LakeList digitized from Wisconsin DNR lake survey map (Historical survey map); 559 from C-MAP Genesis community sonar (derived) (Community sonar (derived)); 771 from LakeList depth model (Modeled estimate)
- Shoreline shapes: 4,587 lakes
- Rankings: deepest lakes, biggest lakes, clearest lakes and lakes with the most public access, 6 fish species, swimming
- Depth maps: 106 lakes — 54 from Indiana DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife (Measured agency survey); 50 from Indiana DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife (Historical survey map); 2 from C-MAP Genesis community sonar (derived) (Community sonar (derived))
- Shoreline shapes: 1,156 lakes
- Rankings: biggest lakes
- Depth maps: 15 lakes — 9 from Texas Water Development Board (Measured agency survey); 6 from C-MAP Genesis community sonar (derived) (Community sonar (derived))
- Shoreline shapes: 4,944 lakes
- Rankings: biggest lakes
- Depth maps: 13 lakes — 13 from C-MAP Genesis community sonar (derived) (Community sonar (derived))
- Shoreline shapes: 3,314 lakes
- Rankings: biggest lakes
What each depth source means
Not every depth map is the same kind of claim. Each lake page states its source and tier, and none of them is a navigation chart.
- Historical survey map: Digitized from an agency's historical survey sheets; depths are not re-confirmed by modern survey.
- Community sonar (derived): Decoded from C-MAP Genesis Social Map community sonar recordings, used with permission, with gaps interpolated. More accurate than a model, still an estimate.
- Measured agency survey: Field-measured bathymetry published by a state or federal agency.
- Measured research survey: Field-measured bathymetry from a research program.
- Modeled estimate: Computed from shoreline shape and a documented maximum depth. Not a survey.
Known gaps
- Most lakes have no depth map at all. Depth maps exist only where an agency surveyed the lake or community sonar covers it.
- Verified public-access counts, water clarity, and fisheries survey evidence are currently Wisconsin and Minnesota only, which is why other states publish fewer rankings.
- A ranking stays unpublished when its source would mislead — Indiana and New York publish no deepest lakes list because the available depth records omit those states' deepest water.
- Lakes under 50 acres are hidden from browse and ranking surfaces, though their pages stay reachable.
Full provenance rules and source links live on the data sources and methodology page.