Lakes / California / San Diego County / El Capitan Lake
El Capitan Lake, California
965 acres
Surface Area
Where It Sits, and How Deep It Goes
Locator - California
32.89 degrees N, 116.79 degrees W - San Diego 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 El Capitan Lake Stacks Up
- Larger than 89% of the 1,147 lakes counted in California.
- About 25 miles from San Diego, as the crow flies.
Lakes Nearby
| Lake | County | Distance | Surface Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Jennings | San Diego | 6.3 mi | 158 acres |
| Palo Verde Lake | San Diego | 6.8 mi | 37 acres |
| Loveland Reservoir | San Diego | 7.5 mi | 368 acres |
| San Vicente Reservoir | San Diego | 7.9 mi | 1,518 acres |
| Lake Cuyamaca | San Diego | 14 mi | 102 acres |
| Lake Cuyamaca | San Diego | 14 mi | 223 acres |
Straight-line distance between lake centers.
Facts and Figures
Questions About El Capitan Lake
How Big Is El Capitan Lake?
El Capitan Lake covers 965 acres in San Diego County, California.
What Is the Largest Lake in San Diego County?
Lake Henshaw is the largest lake in San Diego County, at 1,754 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 120025174). Verified October 30, 2026.