The Mississippi River starts at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and ends in the Gulf of Mexico, south of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Quick Scoop: Mississippi River Start and End

Where does the Mississippi River start?

  • The Mississippi River begins as a small stream flowing out of Lake Itasca in Itasca State Park, northern Minnesota.
  • At its source, the river is shallow and narrow enough that visitors can often walk across on stepping stones.
  • From Lake Itasca, it starts at an elevation of about 1,475 feet and begins its long journey southward across the United States.

Where does the Mississippi River end?

  • The river ends as it empties into the Gulf of Mexico , roughly 100 miles south of New Orleans, Louisiana.
  • It finishes in a branching “Bird’s Foot Delta,” where it splits into several channels before meeting the Gulf’s saltwater.
  • This lower stretch includes the broad Mississippi Delta region, known for rich soils, wetlands, and heavy shipping traffic near the Port of New Orleans.

How long is the Mississippi River?

  • The Mississippi River is about 2,340–2,350 miles long from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico.
  • It drains a huge watershed that covers all or part of 31–33 U.S. states and parts of Canada, making it one of the world’s great river systems.

A tiny story of a huge river

If you stand at Lake Itasca, the “mighty Mississippi” looks surprisingly modest—a narrow stream trickling over rocks, surrounded by quiet Minnesota forest.

Follow that same water in your imagination, and it grows into a broad working river passing cities like St. Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans before finally spreading into multiple channels and disappearing into the hazy horizon of the Gulf of Mexico.

TL;DR:
The Mississippi River starts at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and ends in the Gulf of Mexico south of New Orleans, traveling about 2,340–2,350 miles in between.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.