Minnesota's 10,000 Lakes: Facts And Myths

More than anything — even our cold winters and "Purple Rain" — Minnesota is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." It says so right on our license plates.

But does Minnesota really have 10,000 lakes? And is your Wisconsin relative right that the Badger state has more than Minnesota?

Let's start with what each state defines as a lake. Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources counts anything 10 acres or more as a lake. By that definition, Minnesota has 11,842 lakes. Our license plates, it turns out, are low-balling us.

Wisconsin's DNR says their state has 15,000 lakes. Here's the catch; the Wisconsin DNR has no size requirement for its lakes. Going by their looser standard, Minnesota has more than 20,000 lakes.

"Not counting the Great Lakes that comprise state borders, Minnesota has about 2.6 million acres of lakes," Minnesota DNR spokesperson Julie Forster told KARE 11. "Wisconsin has about 1 million acres of lakes."

More Minnesota Lake Trivia from the DNR

Minnesota's waters flow outward in three directions:

• North to Hudson Bay in Canada
• East to the Atlantic Ocean
• South to the Gulf of Mexico

Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota is the largest water-based park in the National Park System.

By the numbers

Number of lakes: 11,842 (10+ acres)

Number of natural rivers and streams: 6,564 (69,200 miles)

Wetlands acreage present in 1850: 18.6 million acres

Wetlands acreage present in 2008: 10.6 million acres

Names

Ten most common lake names: Mud, Long, Rice, Bass, Round, Horseshoe, Twin, Island, Johnson, Spring

Size and length

Ten largest lakes (entire lake within borders of Minnesota):

1. Red Lake (both "Upper" and "Lower") - 288,800 acres
2. Mille Lacs Lake - 132,516 acres
3. Leech Lake - 111,527 acres
4. Lake Winnibigoshish - 58,544 acres
5. Lake Vermilion - 40,557 acres
6. Lake Kabetogama - 25,760 acres
7. Mud Lake (Marshall County) - 23,700 acres
8. Cass Lake - 15,596
9. Lake Minnetonka - 14,004 acres
10. Otter Tail Lake - 13,725 acres

Largest border lakes: Lake Superior (20,364,800 acres total with 962,700 acres in Minnesota)

Lake of the Woods (950,400 acres total with 307,010 acres in Minnesota)

Longest shoreline: Lake Vermilion, St. Louis County (290 miles of shoreline)

Minnesota River length: 370 miles

Mississippi River length in Minnesota: 680 miles

State and national Wild and Scenic Rivers: 589 miles

Total Area Covered by Lakes and Rivers (deep water): 2,560,299 acres

Total surface water area including wetlands: 13,136,357 acres

Photo credit: AP Photo/Jim Mone