Cedar Lake vs French Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Cedar Lake and French Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of F (Algae-prone). Both are in Rice County, Minnesota.
Cedar Lake and French 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 (F) and French Lake (F) 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
Very murky, less than 2 ft of visibility.
French Lake
Very murky, less than 1.7 ft of visibility.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Cedar Lake | French Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | F (Algae-prone) | F (Algae-prone) |
| Water Clarity | 2 ft Better | 1.7 ft |
| Phosphorus | 91 µg/L Better | 134 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | 72.6 µg/L | 46.3 µg/L Better |
| Maximum Depth | 42 ft | 56 ft Better |
| Surface Area | 902 acres | 876 acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 18 Better | 16 |
| Trophic State | eutrophic | hypereutrophic |
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 Cedar Lake or French Lake against a different lake.
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade F. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Cedar Lake: 2 ft, French Lake: 1.7 ft) and what you want from the lake. Cedar Lake supports more documented fish species.
Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.