Blue Lake vs Clear Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Blue Lake and Clear Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of B (Good). Both are in Oneida County, Wisconsin.
Blue Lake and Clear Lake are both in Wisconsin — a same-state head-to-head where the comparison comes down to lake-specific differences in depth, watershed, and monitoring history rather than the broader state-level water-quality regime. The grades are close: Blue Lake (B) and Clear Lake (B) are within one letter of each other on the LakeGrade rubric. The per-parameter sub-grades below will show where the small differences actually live.
With grades this close, the choice between the two lakes turns on non-water-quality factors: depth, fish species, public access, distance from home. The per-lake pages below cover all of those.
Blue Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 23 ft down.
Clear Lake
No clarity data.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Blue Lake | Clear Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | B (Good) | B (Good) |
| Water Clarity | 23 ft | No data |
| Phosphorus | 10.7 µg/L Better | 10.8 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 49 ft | 95 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 441 acres | 873 acres |
| Public Access | Unknown | Yes |
| Fish Species | 4 | 6 Better |
| Trophic State | oligotrophic | oligotrophic |
A green ✓ marks the better value for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better). Surface area and trophic state carry no tick — a bigger lake is not a better lake.
Swap a lake
Compare Blue Lake or Clear Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade B. The tiebreakers come down to what you want from the lake. Blue Lake has fewer fish species than Clear Lake.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.