Two canoes crossing open water between forested points in the Boundary Waters

Updated August 2026

Biggest Lake in Tennessee: Watts Bar Reservoir (39,090 acres)

Watts Bar Reservoir is Tennessee's largest inland lake per the Tennessee Valley Authority. Below: 50 Tennessee lakes ranked by surface area.

The largest lake in Tennessee is Watts Bar Reservoir at 39,090 acres , in Meigs, Rhea, Roane, Loudon County, according to the Tennessee Valley Authority. Kentucky Lake (Kentucky Reservoir) is larger at 160,300 acres. TVA's Kentucky Reservoir is more than four times larger - TVA states "about 160,300 acres of water surface" and 2,064 miles of shoreline, and USACE NID independently lists 160,300 acres - but it straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky line and Kentucky Dam is in Livingston County, Kentucky. Only part of the 184-mile pool is in Tennessee, and the widest water (around Land Between the Lakes and the dam) is on the Kentucky side, so no agency publishes a Tennessee-only acreage. Excluded for the same reason Lake Superior is excluded from Minnesota.

Watts Bar Reservoir isn't in our water-quality index — we grade lakes with enough EPA Water Quality Portal samples to score, which leaves out many large reservoirs and border waters. The ranking below covers the 50 Tennessee lakes with nutrient and algae readings, led by Kentucky Lake.

Source: Tennessee Valley Authority (2012 (archived TVA reservoir fact page; live equivalent https://www.tva.com/environment/lake-levels/watts-bar)). The table below ranks the Tennessee lakes in our own index by surface area.

Lakes with area data

22,907

Largest (acres)

321

Median of top 50

4/50

Reservoirs (vs natural)

Reading Tennessee's size profile

Tennessee's largest lake by surface area is Kentucky Lake in Decatur County, spanning 22,907 acres. Most of Tennessee's biggest waters are natural basins left by glaciers, with stable shorelines and deep main basins.

Surface area is a poor proxy for water quality on its own — a large lake can hold a clean, deep core and a nutrient-loaded bay at the same time. Each lake below links to its full page with nutrient readings, clarity, depth, and EPA impairment status. Area figures come from state DNR surveys and the USACE National Inventory of Dams; water-quality readings come from EPA and state monitoring data.

The 50 biggest lakes in Tennessee by surface area

#	Lake	County	Surface area	Max depth
1	Kentucky Lake	Decatur	22,907 acres	-
2	Caney Fork River Lake	DeKalb	18,220 acres	-
3	Stones River Lake	Davidson	14,200 acres	-
4	Tims Ford Lake	Franklin	7,745 acres	-
5	Watauga Lake	Carter	6,353 acres	265 ft
6	Woods Reservoir	Franklin	3,628 acres	-
7	Normandy Lake	Coffee	3,124 acres	65.6 ft
8	Kentucky Lake	Humphreys	3,011 acres	-
9	Whiteoak Lake	Roane	2,271 acres	-
10	Boone Lake	Sullivan	2,224 acres	129 ft
11	Chilhowee Lake	Blount	1,680 acres	-
12	Open Lake	Lauderdale	1,101 acres	-
13	Beech River Lake	Henderson	877 acres	-
14	Fort Patrick Henry Lake	Sullivan	849 acres	-
15	Pinoak Lake	Henderson	663 acres	-
16	Calderwood Lake	Blount	570 acres	-
17	Whites Lake	Dyer	563 acres	-
18	Everett Lake	Dyer	560 acres	-
19	Ocoee Number Three Lake	Polk	545 acres	-
20	Raccoon Mountain Pumped Storage Dam and Reservoir	Marion	526 acres	-
21	Pine Lake	Henderson	446 acres	-
22	Douglas Lake	Hamblen	437 acres	-
23	Dogwood Lake	Henderson	398 acres	-
24	Lake Tansi	Cumberland	396 acres	-
25	Pool Five	Stewart	333 acres	-
26	Lake Barkley	Stewart	321 acres	-
27	Norris Lake	Campbell	310 acres	-
28	Fall Creek Falls Lake	Van Buren	302 acres	-
29	Laurel Hill Lake	Lawrence	292 acres	-
30	Chisholm Lake	Lauderdale	274 acres	-
31	Meadow Park Lake	Cumberland	266 acres	-
32	Bards Lake	Stewart	255 acres	-
33	Lakeland Lake	Shelby	236 acres	-
34	Lake Holiday	Cumberland	224 acres	-
35	Sycamore Lake	Henderson	213 acres	-
36	Lost Lake	Lauderdale	208 acres	-
37	Davy Crockett Lake	Greene	204 acres	-
38	Garrett Lake	Weakley	201 acres	-
39	Redbud Lake	Henderson	194 acres	-
40	Robco Lake	Shelby	193 acres	-
41	Reelfoot Indian Creek Number Ten Lake	Obion	186 acres	-
42	Herb Parsons Lake	Fayette	181 acres	-
43	Browns Creek Lake	Henderson	175 acres	-
44	Big Hill Pond Lake	McNairy	169 acres	-
45	Cove Lake	Campbell	167 acres	-
46	Middle Fork Obion Lake Five	Henry	156 acres	-
47	Wolf River Lagoon	Shelby	153 acres	-
48	Willow Lake	Tipton	147 acres	-
49	Fox Creek Lake	Cumberland	146 acres	-
50	Cedar Lake	Henderson	143 acres	-

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the largest lake in Tennessee?

Watts Bar Reservoir, at 39,090 acres, in Meigs, Rhea, Roane, Loudon County. Kentucky Lake (Kentucky Reservoir) is larger at 160,300 acres. TVA's Kentucky Reservoir is more than four times larger - TVA states "about 160,300 acres of water surface" and 2,064 miles of shoreline, and USACE NID independently lists 160,300 acres - but it straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky line and Kentucky Dam is in Livingston County, Kentucky. Only part of the 184-mile pool is in Tennessee, and the widest water (around Land Between the Lakes and the dam) is on the Kentucky side, so no agency publishes a Tennessee-only acreage. Excluded for the same reason Lake Superior is excluded from Minnesota. Source: Tennessee Valley Authority, 2012 (archived TVA reservoir fact page; live equivalent https://www.tva.com/environment/lake-levels/watts-bar).

How is lake surface area measured?

Surface area comes from state DNR lake surveys and, for reservoirs, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) National Inventory of Dams records. Area is reported in acres at normal pool level. Reservoirs rise and fall with management and drought, so their listed area is the long-term normal rather than a single-day reading.

Are Tennessee's largest lakes natural or reservoirs?

Of the top 50 Tennessee lakes by area, 4 sit on a dammed river (reservoirs) and 46 are natural basins. Glacial states (MN, WI, MI, NY) skew natural; plains and southern states (MO, IA, ND, OH) skew toward reservoirs built for water supply, flood control, and recreation.

Do larger lakes have better water quality?

Not reliably. Quality varies more within a big lake than between lakes — a large lake can have a clean, deep main basin and a murky, algae-prone bay fed by a tributary, so one reading can mask wide swings. Depth, watershed land use, and how fast the lake flushes matter far more than raw surface area.

How big is the typical Tennessee lake in this ranking?

Across the top 50 Tennessee lakes by surface area, the median is 321 acres (Lake Barkley). This list is biased toward the biggest waters; the typical Tennessee lake is far smaller.

Where to stay near Tennessee's largest lakes

Planning a trip? Jump to live cabin, resort, and hotel availability near Tennessee's biggest lakes.

Deepest lakes in Tennessee →Cleanest lakes in Tennessee →Largest lakes (all states) →All Tennessee lakes →