Lakes / California / Nevada County / Donner Lake
Donner Lake, California
834 acres
Surface Area
Where It Sits, and How Deep It Goes
Locator - California
39.32 degrees N, 120.27 degrees W - Nevada County. State and county outlines drawn from Census boundary data; the lake marker is placed by its USGS National Hydrography Dataset coordinates, not by eye. Schematic - not a survey map.
How Donner Lake Stacks Up
- Larger than 87% of the 1,147 lakes counted in California.
- About 84 miles from Sacramento, as the crow flies.
Lakes Nearby
| Lake | County | Distance | Surface Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frog Lake | Nevada | 4.4 mi | 35 acres |
| Lake Van Norden | Nevada | 5.8 mi | 46 acres |
| Ice Lakes | Placer | 6.6 mi | 76 acres |
| Warren Lake | Nevada | 6.9 mi | 34 acres |
| Prosser Creek Reservoir | Nevada | 7.1 mi | 704 acres |
| Martis Creek Lake | Nevada | 8.1 mi | 62 acres |
Straight-line distance between lake centers.
Facts and Figures
Questions About Donner Lake
How Big Is Donner Lake?
Donner Lake covers 834 acres in Nevada County, California.
What Is the Largest Lake in Nevada County?
Boca Reservoir is the largest lake in Nevada County, at 964 acres.
Largest Lakes in California
| # | Lake | County | Surface Area | Max Depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salton Sea | Imperial | 233,096 acres | - |
| 2 | Lake Tahoe | Placer | 122,975 acres | - |
| 3 | Goose Lake | Modoc | 93,048 acres | - |
| 4 | Honey Lake | Lassen | 59,917 acres | - |
| 5 | Mono Lake | Mono | 45,124 acres | - |
All 1,147 California lakes ranked by surface area
Sources: USGS NHD (The National Map NHD MapServer layer 12) named waterbodies FTYPE 390/436; counties via Census point-in-polygon lake data (ID 65204629). Verified October 30, 2026.