What is the best boating lake near Rockford?

Rock River Lake in Rock County is the top-ranked boating lake near Rockford, with a water quality grade of A (29.1 miles away).

How many lakes are near Rockford for boating?

30 lakes within driving distance of Rockford match the boating filters used on this page.

Best Lakes for Boating Near Rockford

Illinois

30 boating lakes within driving distance of Rockford, Illinois, ranked by water quality and boating-specific filters. Filtered for at least 100 acres and public access. The largest lakes with boat-worthy water are listed first.

Within reasonable driving distance of Rockford sit 30 graded lakes — a lake-dense area that gives residents real choice on any given weekend. The average grade across the nearby set is C.

Filtered for boating, the nearby-lake list narrows further. boating-specific signals — fish species, public access, depth profile, motor-boat congestion — interact with the LakeGrade rubric in different ways depending on the use case.

#	Lake	County	Grade	Distance	Clarity	Depth
1	Rock River Lake	Rock	A	29.1 mi	21 ft	-
2	Geneva Lake	Walworth	A	34.4 mi	20.2 ft	135 ft
3	Geneva Lake	Walworth	A	34.5 mi	20.7 ft	135 ft
4	Geneva Lake Site B	Walworth	A	38.6 mi	24.1 ft	135 ft
5	Turtle Lake	Walworth	A	37.9 mi	11 ft	30 ft
6	Middle Lake	Walworth	A	43.8 mi	10 ft	40 ft
7	Green Lake	Walworth	A	44.2 mi	11 ft	57 ft
8	Powers Lake	Kenosha	A	44.8 mi	10 ft	33 ft
9	Powers Lake	Kenosha	A	44.9 mi	10.2 ft	33 ft
10	Pleasant Lake	Walworth	A	45.1 mi	12 ft	29 ft
11	Delavan Lake	Walworth	B	34.9 mi	-	52 ft
12	Mill Lake	Walworth	B	43.4 mi	7.5 ft	40 ft
13	Booth Lake	Walworth	B	49.8 mi	8 ft	24 ft
14	Delavan Lake	Walworth	B	32.2 mi	9.1 ft	52 ft
15	Delavan Lake	Walworth	B	34.9 mi	9.3 ft	52 ft
16	Lake Mary	Kenosha	B	46.1 mi	6.4 ft	33 ft
17	Delavan Lake	Walworth	C	33.3 mi	10 ft	52 ft
18	Delavan Lake	Walworth	C	33.6 mi	8 ft	52 ft
19	Lake Lorraine	Walworth	C	36.9 mi	-	8 ft
20	Whitewater Lake	Walworth	C	39.3 mi	4 ft	35 ft
21	Blue Spring Lake	Jefferson	C	47.9 mi	6.2 ft	27 ft
22	Red Cedar Lake	Jefferson	C	48.9 mi	4.3 ft	6 ft
23	Lake Kegonsa	Dane	C	48.5 mi	3.7 ft	32 ft
24	Rice Lake	Walworth	D	40.2 mi	1.7 ft	10 ft
25	North Lake	Walworth	D	40.4 mi	3.5 ft	11 ft
26	Lake Wandawega	Walworth	D	42.3 mi	6 ft	8 ft
27	Comus Lake	Walworth	F	34.5 mi	1.5 ft	6 ft
28	Outlet To Lake Geneva	Walworth	F	39.2 mi	-	135 ft
29	Lake Koshkonong	Jefferson	F	40.4 mi	1.7 ft	7 ft
30	Rice Lake	Dane	F	43.2 mi	1.5 ft	8 ft

Other activities near Rockford

Swimming near Rockford →Fishing near Rockford →Kayaking near Rockford →All lakes near Rockford →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.