Deepest lakes & reservoirs in Illinois by maximum depth (ft)
The estimated greatest depth of the water in a lake can be measured at the lake’s normal elevation. If the water volume and surface area of a lake are known, an estimate of the lake’s average depth can be calculated:Water volume ÷ Surface Area = Average Depth
Example: 1,000,000 acre-feet ÷ 20,000 acres = 50 feet average depth.
You can find many of the the world’s deepest lakes on LakeLubbers. If you sort the list, you will find the (maximum depth of) the shallowest lakes in our database. Note: For some lakes, lake depth data is unknown, so this table may display fewer lakes than the total 64 articles we have published for Illinois lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US Midwest Region > Illinois > Compared by maximum depth in feet. This list does not represent all lakes in Illinois, only the 64 Illinois lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Max depth in feet |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Michigan (Chicagoland Region, IL, Great Lakes of North America, Illinois, Indiana, Lake Michigan Region, WI, Michigan, North Indiana, Northwest Michigan, Southwest Michigan, US Midwest Region, USA, Upper Peninsula Region, MI, West Central Michigan, Wisconsin) |
923 ft | As the only Great Lake nestled completely within the boundaries of the United States, Lake Michigan is the pride and joy of Wisconsin, Illinois, India… |
| Lake Michigan-Huron (Canada, Chicagoland Region, IL, Great Lakes of North America, Illinois, Indiana, Lake Michigan Region, WI, Michigan, North Indiana, Northeast Michigan, Northwest Michigan, Ontario, Canada, Southwest Michigan, US Midwest Region, USA, Upper Peninsula Region, MI, West Central Michigan, Wisconsin) |
923 ft | Lake Michigan and Lake Huron – two of North America’s Great Lakes – are contiguous and they share the same elevation of 577 feet above sea level. They… |
| Devils Kitchen Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
90 ft | Also known as Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge Devils Kitchen Lake is one of three lakes (the other two are Crab Orchard Lake and Little Grassy Lake) that are part of the Crab Orchard National Wild… |
| Kinkaid Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
80 ft | Kinkaid Lake is a scenic 2,350-acre reservoir surrounded by sandstone bluffs and rolling hills of oaks and hickories on the edge of the Shawnee Nation… |
| Little Grassy Lake, IL (Illinois, Southern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
77 ft | Surrounded by watchful forest trees and open grasslands, the Little Grassy Lake is a quiet body of water sitting in the middle of a Southern Illinois… |
| Apple Canyon Lake, IL (Illinois, Northern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
70 ft | Set among the rolling hills and fertile farmland of far northwestern Illinois, life at Apple Canyon Lake is an eternal vacation. Located in scenic Jo… |
| Lake Shelbyville, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
67 ft | Also known as Shelbyville Lake, Shelbyville Reservoir Seventeen miles and thousands of acres of water stretch out in front of power boaters leaving the dam at Lake Shelbyville. In addition to its wide exp… |
| Lake Thunderbird, IL (Illinois, Northern Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA, Western Illinois) |
66 ft | Nestled in the rural Illinois woods, Lake Thunderbird is set in Putnam County, the smallest county in Illinois. The lake, located on the border of the… |
| Lake Petersburg, IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
65 ft | Also known as Petersburg Lake, Petersburg Reservoir Something in human nature seems to require a water body to feel complete: Lake Petersburg fills that need. The people of Petersburg on the border betw… |
| Third Lake and Druce Lake, IL (Chicagoland Region, IL, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
65 ft | Also known as Chittenden Lake and Second Lake The Village of Third Lake, located north of Chicago, is one of those secret locations that blends life in the big city with outdoor amenities. Small D… |
| Lake Wildwood IL (Central Illinois, Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
62 ft | Build it and they will come’ is the true story behind Lake Wildwood in Central Illinois. As the population grew in the 1960s and 1970s, developers fou… |
| Horseshoe Lake, IL (Illinois, Southwest Illinois, US Midwest Region, USA) |
55 ft | Horseshoe Lake is an “oxbow” lake in west-central Illinois, created more than 3,000 years ago when a section of the mighty Mississippi River was cut o… |