Is Devils Lake, North Dakota a Lake or a City?
Both. Devils Lake is the lake — 140,000 acres, 58 feet deep, in Ramsey County, North Dakota, and Devils Lake is also the name of the community on it. The USGS gauge is titled "Devils Lake Near Devils Lake, ND" (site 05056500), which is the agency writing the water and the place in a single line.
Devils Lake, the water
| Official name | Devils Lake |
| Location | Ramsey County, North Dakota |
| Surface area | 140,000 acres |
| Maximum depth | 58 ft |
| Water-quality grade | C — Fair |
| Water clarity (Secchi) | 5.2 ft |
| County rank | 1 of 8 graded lakes in Ramsey County |
| Last sampled | 2025-10-09 |
Devils Lake, the place
Devils Lake is a community, not a body of water — which is the whole source of the mix-up. The clearest evidence is how the federal government writes it: the US Geological Survey gauge on this lake is named “Devils Lake Near Devils Lake, ND” (site number 05056500), naming the water first and the town second. That gauge last reported a surface elevation of 1451.62 ft on 2026-07-06T00:00:00.000-05:00.
We grade lakes, not towns, so there is no Devils Lake town page here — everything on this site about the name refers to the water.
Other lakes actually named Devils Lake
These are different bodies of water that happen to share the name. Each has its own report card.
| Lake | County, State | Acres | Max depth | Grade | Clarity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devils Lake (this page) | Ramsey, ND | 140,000 | 58 ft | C | 5.2 ft |
| Devils Lake | Benson, ND | 110,763 | 58 ft | C | 3.7 ft |
| Devils Lake | Sauk, WI | 374 | 47 ft | C | 7.3 ft |
| Devil'S Lake | Otter Tail, MN | 355 | 67 ft | A | 14.5 ft |
| Devil'S Lake | Kanabec, MN | 59 | 19 ft | C | 7.3 ft |
| Devils Lake | Burnett, WI | — | — | B | 11 ft |
| Devil'S Lake | Forest, WI | — | — | B | — |
| Devils Lake | Lenawee, MI | — | — | B | 10.8 ft |
| Devil'S Lake | Lincoln, OR | — | — | C | — |
How to tell which one someone means
In practice: context decides. Directions, lodging and addresses mean the community; depth, clarity, boat launches and fishing mean the water. Where it genuinely matters is the other lakes of the same name in Benson County, North Dakota and Sauk County, Wisconsin and Otter Tail County, Minnesota and Kanabec County, Minnesota and Burnett County, Wisconsin and Forest County, Wisconsin and Lenawee County, Michigan and Lincoln County, Oregon — different lakes with different grades, so a county name is the thing to check.