Largest lakes & reservoirs in US West Region by acres
There is no widely-accepted minimum surface area that defines a lake. What LakeLubbers describes as a lake, you might call a pond. Acreage of a lake (or sometimes square kilometers) is most often measured at the top surface area when the lake is at normal elevation. The surface area can be considerably smaller or larger when lake levels are lower or higher than normal. North America’s Lake Superior is the world’s largest freshwater lake by this measure.The other measure of a lake’s size is the lake’s water volume. By that measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is Lake Baikal in Siberia.
You can find many of the world’s largest lakes (acres) on LakeLubbers in the comparison table below. Note: For some lakes, "Largest Lakes - Acres" data is unknown or does not apply, so you may see fewer lakes than the total 329 articles we have published for US West Region lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US West Region > Compared by surface area in acres. This list does not represent all lakes in US West Region, only the 329 US West Region lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Surface area in acres |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Great Salt Lake, UT (Great Salt Lake Country, UT, Ogden & Northwest Region, UT, US West Region, USA, Utah) |
1,088,000 ac | Also known as America's Dead Sea Sometimes called “America’s Dead Sea,” the Great Salt Lake occupies approximately 1,700 square miles of Utah’s real estate. It is the second largest l… |
| Iliamna Lake, AK (Alaska, Southwest Region, AK, US West Region, USA) |
653,552 ac | Also known as Lake Iliamna Iliamna Lake, also known as Lake Iliamna, is the largest lake in Alaska and the second largest freshwater lake contained wholly within the United Stat… |
| Becharof Lake, AK (Alaska, Southwest Region, AK, US West Region, USA) |
289,705 ac | Becharof Lake, the second* largest lake in Alaska, is located on the Alaskan Peninsula. Stretching an incredible 290,000 acres, the lake measures 35 m… |
| Selawik Lake, AK (Alaska, Far North Region, AK, US West Region, USA) |
262,809 ac | Selawik Lake is located on the Arctic Circle in the the northwestern part of Alaska. Covering an impressive 263,000 acres*, the lake is the third larg… |
| Fort Peck Lake, MT (Missouri River Country, MT, Montana, US West Region, USA) |
245,000 ac | Fort Peck Lake, located 20 miles southeast of Glasgow, Montana on Montana Highway 24, is the 5th-largest man-made reservoir by volume in the United St… |
| Salton Sea, CA (California, Desert Region, CA, US West Region, USA) |
240,640 ac | Also known as Salton Lake Salton Sea, sometimes called Salton Lake, is an inland saline lake located in southern California along the Mexican border. Though hard to believe, th… |
| Lake Powell, AZ/UT (Arizona, Canyonlands Region, UT, Color Country, UT, North Central Arizona, US Southwest Region, US West Region, USA, Utah) |
160,800 ac | Lake Powell is located in one of Southern Utah’s most picturesque red-rock desert areas and in Arizona’s Navajo Indian Reservation. It is one of the U… |
| Lake Mead, AZ/NV (Arizona, Las Vegas Territory, NV, Nevada, US Southwest Region, US West Region, USA, West Coast Region, AZ) |
157,900 ac | Lake Mead is the USA’s largest man-made reservoir in amount of water it can hold. Although Lake Powell is marginally larger in acreage at full-pond, L… |
| Naknek Lake, AK (Alaska, Southwest Region, AK, US West Region, USA) |
154,880 ac | Naknek Lake is located southwest of Anchorage on the Alaskan Peninsula. The lake is the fifth largest in Alaska, covering 144,315 acres* in the heart… |
| Flathead Lake, MT (Glacier Country, MT, Montana, US West Region, USA) |
122,560 ac | Carved out by the historic glaciers of the last ice age approximately 11,000 years ago, Flathead Lake is one of the largest natural freshwater lakes i… |
| Lake Tahoe, CA/NV (California, High Sierra Region, CA, Nevada, Renoe-Tahoe Territory, NV, US West Region, USA) |
122,000 ac | Tucked into the Sierra Nevada Mountains and straddling the California-Nevada state line, Lake Tahoe is one of the most famous lakes in the United Stat… |
| Pyramid Lake, NV (Nevada, Renoe-Tahoe Territory, NV, US West Region, USA) |
117,400 ac | Pyramid Lake is a true natural wonder located in the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Reservation in western Nevada. Covering 117,400 acres, it is the third… |