Lakes / North Carolina / Largest Lakes in North Carolina

Largest Lakes in North Carolina

Ranked by surface area, from USGS National Hydrography Dataset lake data. Flowages and reservoirs count here - size is size - and each is labeled in its own record.

#	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	-
6	Falls Lake	Durham	11,983.6 acres	-
7	Fontana Lake	Graham	9,478.42 acres	-
8	Lake Waccamaw	Columbus	8,839.95 acres	-
9	Chatuge Lake	Clay	6,364.45 acres	-
10	Lake James	Burke	5,965.05 acres	-
11	Persimmon Lake	Cherokee	5,914.47 acres	-
12	Badin Lake	Montgomery	5,566.13 acres	-
13	New Lake	Hyde	4,909.24 acres	-
14	Lake Tillery	Montgomery	4,846.72 acres	-
15	Roanoke Rapids Lake	Halifax	4,292.5 acres	-
16	Hyco Lake	Person	4,162.85 acres	-
17	Lake Hickory	Catawba	3,791.81 acres	-
18	Shearon Harris Reservoir	Wake	3,769.84 acres	-
19	Belews Lake	Stokes	3,678.9 acres	-
20	Pungo Lake	Washington	2,786.11 acres	-
21	Great Lake	Craven	2,785.12 acres	-
22	Santeetlah Lake	Graham	2,638.1 acres	-
23	Mayo Reservoir	Person	2,573.11 acres	-
24	Tuckertown Reservoir	Rowan	2,238.12 acres	-
25	Buckhorn Reservoir	Wilson	2,224.66 acres	-
26	Rhodhiss Lake	Caldwell	2,122.39 acres	-
27	Mountain Island Lake	Mecklenburg	1,961.52 acres	-
28	Bay Tree Lake	Bladen	1,454.46 acres	-
29	Lake Townsend	Guilford	1,404.55 acres	-
30	Lake Glenville	Jackson	1,389.72 acres	-
31	Nantahala Lake	Macon	1,380.58 acres	-
32	Kings Mountain Reservoir	Cleveland	1,283.68 acres	-
33	W Kerr Scott Reservoir	Wilkes	1,279.79 acres	-
34	Long Lake	Craven	1,146.57 acres	-
35	Apalachia Lake	Cherokee	1,064.28 acres	-
36	White Lake	Bladen	1,064.04 acres	-
37	Lake Surf	Moore	1,015.85 acres	-
38	Lake Sutton	New Hanover	966.39 acres	-
39	Catfish Lake	Craven	949.63 acres	-
40	Lake Lookout	Iredell	772.19 acres	-
41	Lake Brandt	Guilford	760.34 acres	-
42	Lake Burlington	Alamance	738.85 acres	-
43	Lake Lure	Rutherford	729.7 acres	-
44	Oak Hollow Lake	Guilford	705.49 acres	-
45	Tar River Reservoir	Nash	694.01 acres	-
46	Quaker Creek Reservoir	Alamance	693.33 acres	-
47	Orton Pond	Brunswick	688.19 acres	-
48	T G Slimes Pond Number One	Beaufort	666.44 acres	-
49	After Bay Reservoir	Person	646.43 acres	-
50	Little Singletary Lake	Bladen	626.41 acres	-
51	Lake Ellis Simon	Craven	587.26 acres	-
52	Lake Tom-A-Lex	Davidson	586.38 acres	-
53	Singletary Lake	Bladen	576 acres	-
54	Little Lake	Craven	491 acres	-
55	Lake Crabtree	Wake	454.47 acres	-
56	Bear Creek Lake	Jackson	437.87 acres	-
57	Swan Creek Lake	Hyde	421.81 acres	-
58	Lake Adger	Polk	370.91 acres	-
59	Lake Sagamore	Franklin	346.19 acres	-
60	North Fork Reservoir	Buncombe	336.71 acres	-
61	Merchants Millpond	Gates	335.32 acres	-
62	Salters Lake	Bladen	315.55 acres	-
63	Waterville Lake	Haywood	314.27 acres	-
64	Wiggins Mill Reservoir	Wilson	313.2 acres	-
65	Ledbetter Lake	Richmond	302.46 acres	-
66	Lake Julian	Buncombe	298.74 acres	-
67	Whipping Creek Lake	Dare	283.18 acres	-
68	Lake Trace	Lee	279.23 acres	-
69	Salem Lake	Forsyth	275.28 acres	-
70	Kannapolis Lake	Rowan	269.84 acres	-
71	High Point Lake	Guilford	263.41 acres	-
72	Richland Lake	Guilford	256.5 acres	-
73	Lake Fisher	Cabarrus	230.55 acres	-
74	Back Creek Lake	Randolph	228.35 acres	-
75	Lake Summit	Henderson	222.89 acres	-
76	Lake Higgins	Guilford	220.67 acres	-
77	Jones Lake	Bladen	213.99 acres	-
78	Goose Pond	Camden	203.12 acres	-
79	Lake Junaluska	Haywood	200.66 acres	-
80	Horseshoe Lake	Bladen	200.4 acres	-
81	Thagards Lake	Moore	199.41 acres	-
82	Plant Cooling Lake	Robeson	194.24 acres	-
83	Roxboro Lake	Person	189.43 acres	-
84	Upchurches Pond	Cumberland	186.56 acres	-
85	Lake Hunt	Rockingham	176.43 acres	-
86	T G Clay Pond Number Three	Beaufort	174.21 acres	-
87	Lake Twitty	Union	170.01 acres	-
88	Lake Tahoma	McDowell	166.45 acres	-
89	Wolf Creek Lake	Jackson	164.54 acres	-
90	Lake Pinehurst	Moore	164.17 acres	-
91	University Lake	Orange	163.34 acres	-
92	Seven Lakes Lake Number Two	Moore	160.12 acres	-
93	T G Clay Pond	Beaufort	155.68 acres	-
94	Lake Johnson	Wake	148.33 acres	-
95	Siler City Water Supply Lake Number One	Chatham	145.21 acres	-
96	Mott Lake	Hoke	142.58 acres	-
97	Richmond Mill Lake	Scotland	142.09 acres	-
98	Greenes Pond	Bladen	139.86 acres	-
99	Siler City Water Supply Lake Number Three	Chatham	137.05 acres	-
100	Richardson Pond	Columbus	125.04 acres	-

Showing the top 100 of 295 counted lakes. Search above, or browse by county on the North Carolina page, for the full inventory.

Source: USGS National Hydrography Dataset lake data. Verified October 30, 2026. New lakes are added as their records are verified - rankings update with every addition.