General
Minnesota's waters flow outward in three directions:
North to Hudson Bay in Canada
East to the Atlantic Ocean
South to the Gulf of Mexico
Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota is the largest water-based park in the National Park System.
By the numbers
Counties with no natural lakes:
Mower, Olmsted, Pipestone, Rock
Number of lakes:
11,842 (10+ acres)
Number of natural rivers and streams:
6,564 (69,200 miles)
Wetlands acreage present in 1850:
18.6 million acres
Wetlands acreage present in 2008:
10.6 million acres
Names
Ten most common lake names:
Mud, Long, Rice, Bass, Round, Horseshoe, Twin, Island, Johnson, Spring
In-Depth
Deepest inland lake:
Portsmouth Mine Pit near Crosby (450 feet and rising)
Deepest natural lake:
Lake Saganaga, Cook County (240 feet deep)
Depths of other lakes:
| Name | County | Maximum Depth |
| Lake Superior | -- | 1,290 feet |
| Ten Mile | Cass | 209 feet |
| Lower LaSalle | Hubbard | 204 feet |
| Loon Lake | Cook | 202 feet |
| Rainy | St. Louis | 161 feet |
| Leech | Cass | 150 feet |
| Cass | Beltrami / Cass | 120 feet |
| Otter Tail | Otter Tail | 120 feet |
| Minnetonka | Hennepin | 113 feet |
| Vermillion | St. Louis | 76 feet |
| Winnibigoshish | Cass | 70 feet |
| Mille Lacs | Mille Lacs | 42 feet |
| Upper Red | Beltrami | 18 feet |
Size and length
Ten largest lakes (entire lake within borders of Minnesota):
- Red Lake (both "Upper" and "Lower") - 288,800 acres
- Mille Lacs Lake - 132,516 acres
- Leech Lake - 111,527 acres
- Lake Winnibigoshish - 58,544 acres
- Lake Vermilion - 40,557 acres
- Lake Kabetogama - 25,760 acres
- Mud Lake (Marshall County) - 23,700 acres
- Cass Lake - 15,596
- Lake Minnetonka - 14,004 acres
- Otter Tail Lake - 13,725 acres
Largest border lakes:
Lake Superior (20,364,800 acres total with 962,700 acres in Minnesota)
Lake of the Woods (950,400 acres total with 307,010 acres in Minnesota)
Longest shoreline:
Lake Vermilion, St. Louis County (290 miles of shoreline)
Minnesota River length:
370 miles
Mississippi River length in Minnesota:
680 miles
State and national Wild and Scenic Rivers:
589 miles
Total Area Covered by Lakes and Rivers (deep water):
2,560,299 acres
Total surface water area including wetlands:
13,136,357 acres
(Reviewed 2013)