1
AMargaret Lake
Polk County, Wisconsin · mi from Largon Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (D → A)
- ++13 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (10.8 vs 55.8 µg/L)
Cleaner Lakes Than Largon Lake
5 higher-graded lakes within 30 miles, ranked by grade improvement and proximity.
Largon Lake carries a Grade D (Poor) water quality score. Within 30 miles, 5 lakes hold a higher grade. Margaret Lake (Polk County, Grade A, null mi away) is the closest meaningful upgrade.
Reviewed by LakeQuality Editorial Team · Updated
2
BSand Lake
Barron County, Wisconsin · mi from Largon Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (D → B)
- ++10.5 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (20 vs 55.8 µg/L)
3
BHorseshoe Lake
Barron County, Wisconsin · mi from Largon Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (D → B)
- ++4.8 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (19.2 vs 55.8 µg/L)
4
BEmber Lake
Polk County, Wisconsin · mi from Largon Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (D → B)
- ++5.7 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (20.2 vs 55.8 µg/L)
5
BMckenzie Lake
Polk County, Wisconsin · mi from Largon Lake
- +Two grade letters higher (D → B)
- ++4.5 ft water clarity
- +Lower phosphorus (26 vs 55.8 µg/L)
Reading the cohort
5 cleaner lakes sit within 30 miles of Largon Lake in the EPA water-quality dataset. With that many higher-grade neighbors close by, Largon Lake's Grade D reflects something specific to the lake itself — not a regional water-quality ceiling. The neighbor list below isn't a small set of marginal upgrades; it's a real cohort of meaningfully cleaner choices for the same Wisconsin weekend.
The closest cleaner alternative — Margaret Lake in Polk County, Grade A — sits miles from Largon Lake. At that distance, the substitution cost is essentially zero: same drive time, same regional access, demonstrably cleaner water on the EPA indicators. For repeat visitors who care about clarity or phosphorus levels, swapping the routine to Margaret Lake is mostly a habit change rather than a logistics change.
The EPA water-quality grading combines clarity (Secchi depth), phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a measurements from state environmental sampling. A higher letter grade reflects measurably cleaner water on those indicators, not subjective beauty or access quality — a Grade A lake might have worse boat-launch facilities or shoreline access than a Grade C neighbor, so the ranking is one input alongside the rest of trip planning. See the methodology page for the full grading formula.
How this list is built
Every lake on LakeQuality has a calculated grade from EPA Water Quality Portal samples — secchi depth, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll-a measured against Metropolitan Council thresholds. To suggest cleaner alternatives, we filter lakes within 30 miles to those with a strictly higher numeric score, then rank by grade improvement with a small proximity tiebreak. Cross-state and limited-data lakes are excluded so the list stays locally relevant.