Lakes / Iowa / Clay County / Elk Lake
Elk Lake, Iowa
256 acres
Surface Area
Where It Sits, and How Deep It Goes
Locator - Iowa
43.08 degrees N, 94.92 degrees W - Clay 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 Elk Lake Stacks Up
- Larger than 75% of the 220 lakes counted in Iowa.
- About 24 miles from Okoboji, as the crow flies.
Lakes Nearby
| Lake | County | Distance | Surface Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virgin Lake | Palo Alto | 1.9 mi | 208 acres |
| Silver Lake | Palo Alto | 3.9 mi | 642 acres |
| Blue Wing Marsh | Palo Alto | 6.1 mi | 76 acres |
| Lost Island Lake | Palo Alto | 6.2 mi | 1,152 acres |
| Round Lake | Clay | 6.3 mi | 26 acres |
| Mud Lake | Clay | 7.3 mi | 283 acres |
Straight-line distance between lake centers.
Facts and Figures
Questions About Elk Lake
How Big Is Elk Lake?
Elk Lake covers 256 acres in Clay County, Iowa.
What Is the Largest Lake in Clay County?
Trumbull Lake is the largest lake in Clay County, at 1,061 acres.
Largest Lakes in Iowa
| # | Lake | County | Surface Area | Max Depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rathbun Lake | Appanoose | 13,869 acres | - |
| 2 | Lake Red Rock | Marion | 8,619 acres | - |
| 3 | Spirit Lake | Dickinson | 5,463 acres | - |
| 4 | Saylorville Lake | Polk | 5,428 acres | - |
| 5 | Clear Lake | Cerro Gordo | 3,632 acres | - |
All 220 Iowa 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 132545695). Verified October 30, 2026.