What is the cleanest lake in Minnesota?

East Fox Lake in Crow Wing County is the highest-rated lake in Minnesota with an EPA water quality grade of A and 16.4 feet of water clarity.

How are these rankings calculated?

Lakes are graded A through F using the Metropolitan Council methodology, which combines Secchi depth (water clarity), total phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a (algae) into a single score. Source data comes from the EPA Water Quality Portal.

Cleanest Lakes in Minnesota

East Fox Lake in Crow Wing County leads the rankings with a water quality grade of A and 16.4 ft of clarity. Below are the top 50 cleanest monitored lakes in Minnesota, ranked by EPA water quality score.

Ranked List

#	Lake	County	Grade	Clarity	Phosphorus	Algae
1	East Fox Lake	Crow Wing	A	16.4 ft	10 µg/L	-
2	North Long Lake	Crow Wing	A	15.1 ft	14 µg/L	-
3	Bad Medicine Lake	Becker	A	25 ft	6 µg/L	-
4	Big Sugar Bush Lake	Becker	A	16.5 ft	10 µg/L	-
5	Round Lake	Cook	A	16.5 ft	8.5 µg/L	-
6	Round Lake	Beltrami	A	18 ft	7 µg/L	-
7	Long Lake	Cass	A	21.5 ft	9 µg/L	-
8	Long Lake	Clearwater	A	20.5 ft	7 µg/L	-
9	Long Lake	Beltrami	A	20 ft	7 µg/L	-
10	Long Lake	Becker	A	19.3 ft	8 µg/L	-
11	Long Lake	Itasca	A	16.7 ft	8 µg/L	-
12	Long Lake	Itasca	A	16.9 ft	10 µg/L	-
13	Dead Lake	Hubbard	A	16 ft	10 µg/L	-
14	Ossawinnamakee Lake	Crow Wing	A	20 ft	9 µg/L	-
15	Clear Lake	Crow Wing	A	18 ft	8 µg/L	-
16	Clear Lake	Aitkin	A	15 ft	15 µg/L	-
17	Clear Lake	Itasca	A	14.9 ft	9 µg/L	-
18	Eagle Lake	Otter Tail	A	22.6 ft	5 µg/L	-
19	West Fox Lake	Crow Wing	A	15 ft	12 µg/L	-
20	Ida Lake	Douglas	A	16.4 ft	14 µg/L	-
21	Star Lake	Crow Wing	A	19 ft	11 µg/L	-
22	Star Lake	Otter Tail	A	17 ft	13 µg/L	-
23	Upper Maple Lake	Wright	A	17.2 ft	17 µg/L	-
24	Fish Lake	Otter Tail	A	18 ft	12 µg/L	-
25	Birch Lake	Wright	A	15 ft	17 µg/L	-
26	Birch Lake	Cook	A	18 ft	8 µg/L	-
27	Woman Lake	Cass	A	15 ft	11 µg/L	-
28	Girl Lake	Cass	A	17.6 ft	12 µg/L	-
29	Little Toad Lake	Becker	A	15 ft	18 µg/L	-
30	Charlotte Lake	Wright	A	17.1 ft	13 µg/L	-
31	Bass Lake	Otter Tail	A	17.4 ft	14 µg/L	-
32	Bass Lake	Crow Wing	A	16.1 ft	10 µg/L	-
33	Bass Lake	Itasca	A	18.2 ft	8 µg/L	-
34	Crooked Lake	Stearns	A	15.5 ft	14 µg/L	-
35	Crooked Lake	Hubbard	A	19 ft	8 µg/L	-
36	Crooked Lake	Crow Wing	A	15 ft	10 µg/L	-
37	Cedar Lake	Morrison	A	16.2 ft	10.5 µg/L	-
38	Pelican Lake	Otter Tail	A	16.4 ft	15 µg/L	-
39	Square Lake	Washington	A	17 ft	9 µg/L	2.6 µg/L
40	Lower Bottle Lake	Hubbard	A	15 ft	10 µg/L	-
41	Big Pine Lake	Aitkin	A	17 ft	15 µg/L	-
42	Strawberry Lake	Becker	A	17.5 ft	7.5 µg/L	-
43	Alexander Lake	Morrison	A	16.5 ft	16 µg/L	-
44	Gull Lake	Cass	A	15 ft	14 µg/L	-
45	Gull Lake	Cook	A	15.5 ft	8.5 µg/L	-
46	Deep Portage Lake	Cass	A	15.4 ft	9 µg/L	-
47	Little Wabana Lake	Itasca	A	24 ft	6.5 µg/L	-
48	Clearwater Lake	Cook	A	29 ft	4 µg/L	-
49	Lower Hay Lake	Crow Wing	A	18.5 ft	13 µg/L	-
50	Latoka Lake	Douglas	A	19 ft	11 µg/L	-

Cleanest Lakes in Minnesota

Ranked List

More Answers for Minnesota