Cedar Lake vs Clear Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Clear Lake has a higher water quality grade (A, Excellent) than Cedar Lake (A, Excellent). Both are in Aitkin County, Minnesota.
Cedar Lake and Clear Lake are both in Minnesota — 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: Cedar Lake (A) and Clear Lake (A) 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.
Cedar Lake
Good clarity, visible to about 11.1 ft.
Clear Lake
Crystal clear, you can see 15 ft down.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Cedar Lake | Clear Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | A (Excellent) | A (Excellent) |
| Water Clarity | 11.1 ft | 15 ft |
| Phosphorus | 13 µg/L | 15 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 105 ft | 24 ft |
| Surface Area | 1.7K acres | 573.5 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 22 | 14 |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | mesotrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Clear Lake wins on overall water quality with a Grade A versus Cedar Lake's Grade A. Water clarity: 15 ft vs 11.1 ft. For more fish-species variety, Cedar Lake edges ahead with 22 documented species.