Lakes / California / Mariposa County / May Lake
May Lake, California
53 acres
Surface Area
Where It Sits, and How Deep It Goes
Locator - California
37.85 degrees N, 119.49 degrees W - Mariposa 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 May Lake Stacks Up
- Larger than 34% of the 1,147 lakes counted in California.
- About 78 miles from Fresno, as the crow flies.
Lakes Nearby
| Lake | County | Distance | Surface Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenaya Lake | Mariposa | 2.1 mi | 182 acres |
| Cathedral Lakes | Tuolumne | 3.8 mi | 26 acres |
| Elizabeth Lake | Tuolumne | 6.7 mi | 26 acres |
| Emeric Lake | Mariposa | 7.6 mi | 29 acres |
| Virginia Lake | Tuolumne | 8.7 mi | 31 acres |
| Merced Lake | Mariposa | 8.7 mi | 61 acres |
Straight-line distance between lake centers.
Facts and Figures
Questions About May Lake
How Big Is May Lake?
May Lake covers 53 acres in Mariposa County, California.
What Is the Largest Lake in Mariposa County?
Lake McClure is the largest lake in Mariposa County, at 4,827 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 66490789). Verified October 30, 2026.