how big is lake erie
Lake Erie is one of the Great Lakes, and it’s large but actually the smallest of the five by volume.
Quick Scoop: How Big Is Lake Erie?
- Surface area: About 9,900–9,910 square miles (around 25,600–25,800 square kilometers).
- Length (east–west): About 210–241 miles (roughly 338–388 kilometers).
- Width (north–south): About 57 miles (around 92 kilometers) at its widest.
- Average depth: About 62 feet (around 19 meters).
- Maximum depth: About 210 feet (around 64 meters).
- Water volume: Roughly 116–119 cubic miles (about 458 cubic kilometers).
- Shoreline length: Around 870–880 miles (about 1,370–1,400 kilometers), including islands.
In everyday terms, Lake Erie’s surface area is just a bit larger than the U.S. state of Vermont, so you can imagine an entire small state made of water.
Size Snapshot (HTML Table)
| Measure | Imperial | Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Surface area | ≈ 9,900–9,910 sq mi | [9][1][3]≈ 25,600–25,800 km² | [7][1][9][3]
| Length | ≈ 210–241 mi | [1][9][3]≈ 338–388 km | [9][1][3]
| Width | ≈ 57 mi | [1][3][9]≈ 92 km | [3][9][1]
| Average depth | ≈ 62 ft | [5][9][1]≈ 19 m | [7][5][9][1]
| Maximum depth | ≈ 210 ft | [5][7][9][1]≈ 64 m | [7][9][1][5]
| Volume | ≈ 116–119 cubic mi | [9][1][5][7]≈ 458 km³ | [1][7][9]
| Shoreline length | ≈ 870–880 mi | [3][7][9][1]≈ 1,370–1,400 km | [7][9][1][3]
Little Story Angle
If you stood on one shore of Lake Erie and somehow managed to walk straight across its length, you’d be walking farther than the drive from Cleveland to Buffalo, and you’d still be surrounded by water almost as far as you could see in every direction. Despite that impressive size, Erie is shallow enough that it warms quickly in summer and often freezes over in winter, which is part of why coastal communities pay such close attention to its changing conditions year by year.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.