How Many Lakes Are in Texas? Full List and surprising2025

How Many Lakes Are in Texas? Full List and Surprising Facts

Table of Contents:

Intro
What Counts as a Lake in Texas, Anyway?
Natural vs Man-Made Lakes (Yeah, There’s a Plot Twist)
So, How Many Lakes Are We Actually Talking About?
The Big Boys: Texas’ Largest Lakes
Teeny Tiny Lakes Texas Still Likes to Brag About
Top 20 Most Popular Splash Zones (Aka Lakes)
Lakes by Region—Because Texas is Huge
Secret, Hidden, or Just Weird Lakes
Texas History… But Make it Wet
Lakes & Money: The Economic Scoop
Green Stuff: Environmental Impact
The Critters: Lakes & Wildlife in Texas
Fishing (AKA, The Real Texas National Pastime)
Boating, Swimming, Water Shenanigans
Camping & Lakeside Resorts
Drought Drama & Water Levels
Reservoirs vs. OG Lakes
Freshwater vs. “Wait, Is This Salty?” Lakes
Lakes Near the Big Cities
Instagrammable Lakes (Photographers, Assemble)
Texas State Parks With Lakes
Where’s All This Water Coming From? (Major Rivers)
Are Texans Still Building New Lakes?
The Future: Water Storage & Lake Projects
Fun Facts to Annoy Your Friends With
Wild, Wacky Lake Names
Ghost Lakes (Cue Spooky Music)
Texas Lakes in Pop Culture
Wrap-Up: Why Texans Love Their Lakes

Intro
Everything’s bigger in Texas. Even the lakes. You drive across this state and you basically trip over a new body of water every few miles—some are so huge they look like inland seas, others are so tiny you could skip a stone clear across. Whether you’re into fishing, wakeboarding, snapping photos, or just floating around with a cold drink, Texas is loaded with watery playgrounds. But, seriously—how many lakes are there in Texas? Let’s go down the rabbit hole.
What Counts as a Lake in Texas, Anyway?
So, what’s a “lake” around here? Honestly, it depends who you ask. Most folks picture a big, blue, splashy thing you can drive a boat across. Officially, a lake is a chunk of water bigger than your average pond, made by nature or humans, usually fed by rivers, springs, or just Texas-size rain dumps. Here’s the kicker though—Texas counts man-made reservoirs as lakes. So our numbers? Way higher than states that only count the natural ones.

Real Talk:

Natural Lake: Mother Nature did all the heavy lifting.
Reservoir: Texans put up a dam and—boom—new lake.
Stock Tanks/Ponds: Small-time stuff for cows and crops. Not really “lakes” in the state’s eyes.

Natural vs Man-Made Lakes in Texas (Prepare to Be Shocked)
Ready for a plot twist? Texas has ONE natural lake. Yep. Just one. Meet Caddo Lake—kinda mysterious, honestly.

https://www.twdb.texas.gov/surfacewater/rivers/reservoirs/index.asp

Caddo Lake:

Sits on the Texas-Louisiana border (so, kinda shared custody)
Over 25,000 acres of cypress swampy goodness
Looks like a set from “True Detective”
Formed by a giant logjam way back in the 1800s

Man-Made Lakes:
The rest? All man-made. As in, over 7,000 of ‘em. Built for everything from drinking water to fishing tournaments, and, obviously, giving Texans more places to park their jet skis.

So, How Many Lakes Are We Actually Talking About?
Let’s cut to the chase. According to the Texas Water Development Board and the Texas Parks and Wildlife folks, there are over 7,000 named lakes and reservoirs here. That adds up to more than 3.5 million acres of watery real estate.

Breakdown:

200+ “Major” Lakes: 5,000 acres or more. Big stuff.
1,000+ Medium: 500–5,000 acres. Decent for a weekend.
Thousands of Small Ones: Under 500 acres. Still fun if you like peace and quiet.

Wild Fact: Over 98% of Texas’ lakes? Man-made. Take that, Mother Nature.

The Big Boys: Texas’ Largest Lakes
In case you wanna know which lakes are flexing the most acreage, here’s the current top 10:
Toledo Bend Reservoir – 181,600 acres (yowza)
Sam Rayburn Reservoir – 114,500 acres
Falcon Lake – 83,654 acres
Lake Livingston – 83,000 acres
Lake Texoma – 78,420 acres
Lake Amistad – 66,465 acres
Lake Whitney – 23,560 acres
Lake Buchanan – 22,333 acres
Lake Travis – 18,622 acres
Possum Kingdom Lake – 17,700 acres

Notice a trend? All man-made. Man, Texans love their dams.

Teeny Tiny Lakes Texas Still Likes to Brag About
Sure, we’ve got some monster lakes, but Texas also officially recognizes some small fries—especially if they’re cool for wildlife or have a great fishing hole.