Lakes / California / Placer County / Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe, California
122,975 acres
Surface Area
Where It Sits, and How Deep It Goes
Locator - California
39.10 degrees N, 120.03 degrees W - Placer 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 Lake Tahoe Stacks Up
- Ranks #2 for surface area among the California lakes counted so far - 122,975 acres.
- The largest lake in Placer County among those counted.
- About 86 miles from Sacramento, as the crow flies.
Lakes Nearby
| Lake | County | Distance | Surface Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| McKinney Lake | Placer | 8.6 mi | 27 acres |
| Stony Ridge Lake | El Dorado | 9.9 mi | 52 acres |
| Miller Lake | Placer | 9.9 mi | 27 acres |
| Cascade Lake | El Dorado | 11 mi | 212 acres |
| Lower Velma Lake | El Dorado | 12 mi | 34 acres |
| Rubicon Reservoir | El Dorado | 13 mi | 79 acres |
Straight-line distance between lake centers.
Facts and Figures
Questions About Lake Tahoe
How Big Is Lake Tahoe?
Lake Tahoe covers 122,975 acres in Placer County, California.
What Is the Largest Lake in Placer County?
Lake Tahoe is the largest lake in Placer County, at 122,975 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 44560536). Verified October 30, 2026.