40 graded lakes within 4 hr of downtown
Driving from Charlotte to a lake worth swimming in
Mountain Island Lake is the closest graded water to Charlotte, 27 min away, and it grades C. Rockingham City Lake grades A and takes 1 hr 45 min — 1 hr 18 min more in the car, each way, for water that clears the bar.
Every lake below is ranked by how long the drive is, and labelled with the water-quality letter it earned. Closest is not the same as cleanest, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
Closer, or cleaner — the whole ladder
40 lakes, sorted by drive time from downtown Charlotte. Letters in range: 2 A, 2 B, 11 C, 15 D, 10 F. Some of the best water is over a state line — this list crosses into South Carolina. The furthest entry is Lake Lure at 2 hr 15 min.
| Drive | Lake | Grade | Road miles | County | Size | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 min | Mountain Island Lake | C | 14.7 | Gaston County, NC | 3,235 ac | ✓ Public |
| 31 min | Lake Wylie | C | 17.3 | Gaston County, NC | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 34 min | Lake Wylie | D | 18 | York County, SC | 12,177 ac | ✓ Public |
| 35 min | Catawba Creek Lake | D | 19.9 | Gaston County, NC | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 36 min | Coddle Creek Reservoir | F | 23.7 | Cabarrus County, NC | 1,300 ac | Not recorded |
| 37 min | Lake Concord | D | 25.6 | Cabarrus County, NC | 84 ac | Not recorded |
| 37 min | Lake Fisher | D | 27 | Cabarrus County, NC | 169 ac | Not recorded |
| 41 min | Lake Twitty | F | 27.5 | Union County, NC | 327 ac | Not recorded |
| 42 min | Lake Lee | F | 27.7 | Union County, NC | 122 ac | Not recorded |
| 42 min | Lake Monroe | F | 28.8 | Union County, NC | 118 ac | Not recorded |
| 45 min | Kannapolis Lake | D | 27.7 | Rowan County, NC | 267 ac | Not recorded |
| 45 min | Bessemer City Lake | C | 29.8 | Gaston County, NC | 25 ac | Not recorded |
| 59 min | Kings Mountain Reservoir | D | 43 | Cleveland County, NC | 0 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr | Lake Norman | C | 44.5 | Iredell County, NC | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 4 min | Newton City Lake | C | 42.9 | Catawba County, NC | 15 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 6 min | Town Creek Lake | F | 47.4 | Rowan County, NC | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 13 min | Tuckertown Reservoir | D | 45.3 | Rowan County, NC | 2,560 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 17 min | Lookout Shoals Lake | C | 49.4 | Catawba County, NC | 835 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 17 min | City Pond | D | 55.2 | Anson County, NC | 80 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 18 min | Lake Tillery | D | 51 | Montgomery County, NC | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 21 min | Lake Hickory | D | 53.9 | Catawba County, NC | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 23 min | Lake Thom-A-Lex | F | 64.3 | Davidson County, NC | 650 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 24 min | Lake Hampton | F | 69 | Yadkin County, NC | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 26 min | Badin Lake | D | 52.6 | Montgomery County, NC | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 28 min | High Rock Lake | F | 63.6 | Davidson County, NC | 15,180 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 31 min | Lake Rhodhiss | C | 68.8 | Caldwell County, NC | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 39 min | Blewett Falls Lake | D | 63.9 | Anson County, NC | 2,560 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 42 min | Bunch Lake | D | 80.3 | Randolph County, NC | 25 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 44 min | Roberdel Lake | C | 73.8 | Richmond County, NC | 80 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 45 min | Rockingham City Lake | A | 73.4 | Richmond County, NC | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 45 min | Lake Reese | F | 75.1 | Randolph County, NC | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 45 min | Back Creek Lake | D | 80.8 | Randolph County, NC | 236 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 46 min | Hamlet City Lake | B | 78.5 | Richmond County, NC | 45 ac | Not recorded |
| 1 hr 50 min | Kerr Scott Reservoir | D | 81 | Wilkes County, NC | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 55 min | Water Lake | A | 80.9 | Richmond County, NC | 56 ac | Not recorded |
| 2 hr | Lake James | C | 90.6 | Burke County, NC | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 2 min | Sandy Creek Reservoir | F | 81.6 | Randolph County, NC | 90 ac | Not recorded |
| 2 hr 9 min | Pages Lake | B | 97 | Moore County, NC | 34 ac | Not recorded |
| 2 hr 11 min | Belews Lake | C | 96.2 | Stokes County, NC | 3,863 ac | ✓ Public |
| 2 hr 15 min | Lake Lure | C | 96.2 | Rutherford County, NC | 740 ac | ✓ Public |
What the numbers are, and are not
Drive times and road miles are one-way road routing from downtown Charlotte to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap network via OSRM (router.project-osrm.org) over OpenStreetMap, driving profile, free-flow. Free-flow means no traffic model and no time of day, so a weekend morning will beat these numbers and a Friday afternoon will not.
The letter is the lake’s A–F water-quality grade: clarity, total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a measured over years, not a rating of the beach, the boat ramp or the view. An A describes the lake’s record; it does not clear the water for a particular afternoon. Lakes with no letter are not listed here, because the letter is the only axis this page ranks on.
Size and access come from the lake record where the agency published them. “Not recorded” means nobody documented it — it is a gap in the paperwork, not a statement about the lake.
More lakes near Charlotte
Nearby cities
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Rockingham City Lake in Richmond County, North Carolina. It grades A and the drive is 1 hr 45 min, or 73.4 road miles. The closest graded lake of any kind is Mountain Island Lake at 27 min, and it grades C.
1 hr 18 min each way. Mountain Island Lake is 27 min out and grades C; Rockingham City Lake is 1 hr 45 min out and grades A.
18 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is Mountain Island Lake, 27 min away, grading C. The rest of the table shows "Not recorded" where no access point was documented, which is not the same as no access — check with the managing agency before you trailer a boat.
By road, from downtown Charlotte to the nearest public road at each lake, over the OpenStreetMap road network. They are free-flow times: no traffic, no time of day, no stops. Treat them as the floor, and add for rush hour and for the last stretch to the water.
No. The letter summarises years of phosphorus, nitrogen, algae and turbidity measurements — it describes the lake, not this afternoon. A beach closure, a bloom, or a heavy rain can change conditions on an A lake overnight. Check the lake's own page for its measurement record, and check the managing agency for current advisories before you get in.
Stay by the water, not by the highway
Cabins, hotels and rentals around Rockingham City Lake in Richmond County — the closest lake to Charlotte that grades A. 1 hr 45 min from downtown.
Top-rated places to stay near Rockingham City Lake
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