Lakes / North Carolina / Durham County / Falls Lake
Falls Lake, North Carolina
11,983.6 acres
Surface Area
Where It Sits, and How Deep It Goes
Locator - North Carolina
36.03 degrees N, 78.72 degrees W - Durham 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 Falls Lake Stacks Up
- Ranks #6 for surface area among the North Carolina lakes counted so far - 11,983.6 acres.
- The largest lake in Durham County among those counted.
- About 18 miles from Raleigh, as the crow flies.
Lakes Nearby
| Lake | County | Distance | Surface Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brier Creek Reservoir | Wake | 12 mi | 109.86 acres |
| Lake Crabtree | Wake | 14 mi | 454.47 acres |
| Parkwood Lake | Durham | 15 mi | 26.93 acres |
| Lake Johnson | Wake | 18 mi | 148.33 acres |
| Eastwood Lake | Orange | 19 mi | 47.44 acres |
| Lake Devin | Granville | 20 mi | 98.95 acres |
Straight-line distance between lake centers.
Facts and Figures
Largest Lakes in North Carolina
| # | Lake | County | Surface Area | Max Depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lake Norman | Iredell | 30,797.52 acres | - |
| 2 | Lake Mattamuskeet | Hyde | 26,110.39 acres | - |
| 3 | Lake Gaston | Warren | 18,986.78 acres | - |
| 4 | Phelps Lake | Washington | 15,941.02 acres | - |
| 5 | B Everett Jordan Lake | Chatham | 13,118.99 acres | - |
All 295 North Carolina lakes ranked by surface area
Sources: USGS National Hydrography Dataset (The National Map) lake data (ID 31426065). Verified October 30, 2026.