40 graded lakes within 4 hr of downtown
Driving from Kansas City to a lake worth swimming in
Washington Lake is the closest graded water to Kansas City, 4 min away, and it grades F. Waukomis Lake grades B and takes 21 min — 17 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 Kansas City. Letters in range: 2 A, 5 B, 6 C, 8 D, 19 F. Some of the best water is over a state line — this list crosses into Kansas. The furthest entry is Cameron Lake Deep Site at 1 hr 6 min.
| Drive | Lake | Grade | Road miles | County | Size | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 min | Washington Lake | F | 2.2 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 5 min | Troost Lake | F | 2.2 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 6 min | Kessler Lake | F | 2.4 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 6 min | Valley Lake | F | 2.5 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 9 min | Big Eleven Lake | F | 4 | Wyandotte County, KS | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 9 min | Blue Valley Lake | D | 4.5 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 11 min | Chaumiere Park Lake | F | 7.1 | Clay County, MO | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 12 min | Loose Park Lake | F | 5.6 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 15 min | Firehouse Park Lake | F | 9.9 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 16 min | Lake of the Woods-Kc | D | 9.7 | Jackson County, MO | 6 ac | Not recorded |
| 16 min | Antioch Park Lake | F | 10.7 | Johnson County, KS | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 17 min | Houston Lake | F | 8.8 | Platte County, MO | 19 ac | Not recorded |
| 20 min | Pierson Lake | F | 12.2 | Wyandotte County, KS | 12 ac | Not recorded |
| 21 min | Waukomis Lake | B | 12.1 | Platte County, MO | 82 ac | Not recorded |
| 21 min | South Lake | F | 12.7 | Johnson County, KS | 5 ac | Not recorded |
| 22 min | Blue River Parkway Lake | F | 13.7 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 24 min | Lake of the Woods | F | 11.1 | Jackson County, MO | 6 ac | Not recorded |
| 24 min | Sar Ko Park Lake | F | 15.9 | Johnson County, KS | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 25 min | Weatherby Lake | A | 13.8 | Platte County, MO | 186 ac | Not recorded |
| 26 min | Quivira Lake | D | 15.1 | Wyandotte County, KS | 207 ac | Not recorded |
| 26 min | Lake Tapawingo | D | 16.9 | Jackson County, MO | 78 ac | Not recorded |
| 26 min | Stoll Park Lake | D | 18.1 | Johnson County, KS | 6 ac | Not recorded |
| 27 min | Leawood Park Lake | F | 17.4 | Johnson County, KS | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 27 min | Tomahawk Creek Park Lake | F | 17.9 | Johnson County, KS | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 27 min | Jacomo Lake | B | 18.9 | Jackson County, MO | 1,221 ac | ✓ Public |
| 29 min | Prairie Lee Lake | C | 21.2 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 30 min | Blue Springs Lake | D | 17.8 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | ✓ Public |
| 33 min | Lenexa Lake | C | 22.8 | Johnson County, KS | 33 ac | Not recorded |
| 37 min | Olathe Lake | C | 25.4 | Johnson County, KS | 55 ac | Not recorded |
| 38 min | New Olathe Lake | B | 25.4 | Johnson County, KS | 165 ac | Not recorded |
| 40 min | Lotawana Lake | B | 26.3 | Jackson County, MO | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 45 min | Watkins Mill Lake | C | 31.3 | Clay County, MO | 100 ac | Not recorded |
| 49 min | North Lake | F | 37.5 | Cass County, MO | 28 ac | ✓ Public |
| 50 min | Leavenworth Co State Fishing Lake | C | 35.1 | Leavenworth County, KS | 175 ac | Not recorded |
| 52 min | Lake Arrowhead | D | 35.8 | Clinton County, MO | 87 ac | Not recorded |
| 52 min | Potter'S Lake | D | 40.8 | Douglas County, KS | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| 55 min | Rock Lake Village Lake | A | 38.2 | Johnson County, MO | 27 ac | Not recorded |
| 58 min | Louisburg State Fishing Lake | B | 50.5 | Miami County, KS | 6 ac | Not recorded |
| 59 min | Clinton Lake | C | 50.1 | Douglas County, KS | 7,000 ac | ✓ Public |
| 1 hr 6 min | Cameron Lake Deep Site | F | 54.7 | DeKalb County, MO | 21 ac | ✓ Public |
What the numbers are, and are not
Drive times and road miles are one-way road routing from downtown Kansas City 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 Kansas City
Nearby cities
Common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Waukomis Lake in Platte County, Missouri. It grades B and the drive is 21 min, or 12.1 road miles. The closest graded lake of any kind is Washington Lake at 4 min, and it grades F.
17 min each way. Washington Lake is 4 min out and grades F; Waukomis Lake is 21 min out and grades B.
7 of the 40 lakes here have a public access point on the record, and the closest is Kessler Lake, 6 min away, grading F. 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 Kansas City 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 Waukomis Lake in Platte County — the closest lake to Kansas City that grades B. 21 min from downtown.
Top-rated places to stay near Waukomis Lake
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