Lake Erie by the numbers
Short answer
Lake Erie covers 9,910 sq mi[1] (25,700 km²), averages 62 ft[1] (19 m) deep, reaches 210 ft[1] (64 m) at its deepest and holds 116 mi³[1] (484 km³) of water, according to the U.S. EPA. Twenty cited figures follow.
Twenty numbers
The table gathers the figures people ask about most. Each comes from the source named in its footnote: the U.S. EPA for the lake's physical size, NOAA for its depths, surface temperature and ice, Wikipedia for the island count, and this gazetteer's own records for the lighthouse count.[1,2,3,4,5,6,7] Length and breadth come from the EPA's 1995 Great Lakes Atlas, which is also the source for the elevation.[8]
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Water area | 9,910 sq mi[1] (25,700 km²) |
| Length | 241 mi[8] (388 km) |
| Greatest breadth | 57 mi[8] (92 km) |
| Average depth | 62 ft[1] (19 m) |
| Maximum depth (EPA) | 210 ft[1] (64 m) |
| Maximum depth (NOAA bathymetry) | 63 m[3] (about 207 ft) |
| Volume | 116 mi³[1] (484 km³) |
| Shoreline, including islands | 871 mi[1] (1,402 km) |
| Land drainage area | 30,140 sq mi[1] (78,000 km²) |
| Elevation (1995 atlas) | 569 ft[8] (173 m) |
| Retention time | 2.6 years[1] |
| Inflow from the Detroit River | 80%[2] |
| People living in the watershed | approximately 12 million people[2] |
| People drinking Lake Erie water | about 11 million people[2] |
| Islands | 31[6] |
| Warmest month, August (1995–2025 lake-wide mean) | 74.8 °F[4] (23.8 °C[9]) |
| Coldest month, February (1995–2025 lake-wide mean) | 33.1 °F[4] (0.6 °C[9]) |
| Average annual maximum ice cover, 1973–2026 | 80.5%[5] |
| Lowest annual maximum ice cover (1998) | 5.4%[5] |
| Lighthouses in this gazetteer | 45[7] |
One number, one source
Every figure on this site is stored once, in a single registry, with its source and the date it was published or computed. The pages draw their numbers from that registry, so the depth quoted on the home page, on a fact page and in the Fact Book can never disagree. Where two good sources differ, we show both and say why: the EPA's maximum depth is 64 m and NOAA's bathymetry gives 63 m, a difference of method and datum rather than a contradiction. Temperature figures are averages of NOAA's daily lake-wide satellite analysis from 1995 through 2025, and ice figures cover the 54 winters from 1973 through 2026. Physical measurements like volume and depth are taken at low water, as the EPA notes, so the lake can hold slightly more than these figures when levels are high.
Use these figures
You are welcome to quote this table. The EPA and NOAA values are public domain, and our compilation is free to reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution licence: please credit Lake Erie Gazetteer and link to this page. The same figures are available as a spreadsheet, lake-erie-facts.csv, on the free data page, along with the monthly water-temperature and annual ice-cover tables. If you spot an error or a better source, send it through the corrections form.
Questions people ask
What are the key facts about Lake Erie?
It covers 9,910 sq mi, averages 62 ft deep, reaches 210 ft at its deepest and holds 116 mi³ of water, per the EPA.
Can I reuse these Lake Erie figures?
Yes. The EPA and NOAA values are public domain and our compilation is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit Lake Erie Gazetteer and link to the page.
Related questions
Sources
- Physical Features of the Great Lakes, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed .
- Lake Erie | US EPA, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed .
- Bathymetry of Lake Erie and Lake Saint Clair: Lake Erie and Lake Saint Clair Geomorphology, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NGDC). Accessed . Values computed by us from this data.
- GLSEA lake-average daily surface water temperature, Lake Erie, 1995-present (degrees F, all_year_glsea_avg_e_F.csv), NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Accessed . Values computed by us from this data.
- Great Lakes Ice Cover: annual maximum ice cover and dates (dates_AMIC.txt), NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Accessed . Values computed by us from this data.
- Lake Erie, Wikipedia. Accessed .
- Lake Erie Gazetteer data: this site's own compiled records (lighthouses, shipwrecks, storms), Lake Erie Gazetteer (WeldonPC). Accessed . Values computed by us from this data.
- The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book, 3rd edition (1995), Factsheet No. 1, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Government of Canada. Accessed .
- GLSEA lake-average daily surface water temperature, Lake Erie, 1995-present (degrees C, all_year_glsea_avg_e_C.csv), NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Accessed . Values computed by us from this data.
Facts as of · page checked · Markdown version
How to cite
Lake Erie Gazetteer, Lake Erie by the numbers, lakeerie.info/facts/lake-erie-by-the-numbers, accessed October 19, 2026.