Is Geneva Lake the Same as Lake Geneva?
Yes — they are the same place, described two ways. The water is officially Geneva Lake: 5,401 acres, 135 feet deep, in Walworth County, Wisconsin. Lake Geneva is the Wisconsin town on its shore. The USGS names its gauge on the water "Geneva Lake at Lake Geneva, WI" (site 423525088260400) — the lake in one name, the town in the other.
Geneva Lake, the water
| Official name | Geneva Lake |
| Location | Walworth County, Wisconsin |
| Surface area | 5,401 acres |
| Maximum depth | 135 ft |
| Water-quality grade | — — Measured |
| Water clarity (Secchi) | 21 ft |
| Total phosphorus | 13 µg/L |
| County rank | 3 of 19 graded lakes in Walworth County |
| Last sampled | 2026-06-18 |
Lake Geneva, the place
Lake Geneva 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 “Geneva Lake at Lake Geneva, WI” (site number 423525088260400), naming the water first and the town second. That gauge last reported a surface elevation of 864.13 ft on 2026-07-06T00:00:00.000-05:00.
This site covers lakes rather than towns, so everything here about the name Lake Geneva refers to the water itself.
Other lakes actually named Geneva 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geneva Lake (this page) | Walworth, WI | 5,401 | 135 ft | — | 21 ft |
| Geneva Lake | Freeborn, MN | 1,597 | — | — | — |
| Geneva Lake | Douglas, MN | 640 | 63 ft | — | 14.1 ft |
| Lake Geneva | Kidder, ND | 340 | — | — | — |
| Lake Geneva | Clay, FL | 153 | — | — | — |
| Lake Geneva | Montmorency, MI | 92 | 36 ft | — | — |
| Lake Geneva | Clinton, MI | 58 | 35 ft | — | — |
| Lake Geneva | Hernando, FL | 57 | — | — | — |
| Geneva Reservoir | Apache, AZ | 50 | — | — | — |
How to tell which one someone means
In practice: "Lake Geneva" almost always means the town — an address, a hotel, a restaurant — and "Geneva Lake" means the water. Anything about depth, clarity, boat launches, or fishing is about the lake. Where it genuinely matters is the other lakes of the same name in Freeborn County, Minnesota and Douglas County, Minnesota and Kidder County, North Dakota and Clay County, Florida and Montmorency County, Michigan and Clinton County, Michigan and Hernando County, Florida and Apache County, Arizona — different lakes with different grades, so a county name is the thing to check.
That distinction has a concrete consequence here. Geneva Lake in Walworth County carries no EPA impairment listing, while Geneva Lake in Douglas County, Minnesota is on the EPA's 303(d) impaired-waters list for Mercury. Reading one lake's record as the other's reverses the answer.
Watch Geneva Lake water quality
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