US Counties With the Highest Water Area

3,062 US counties ranked by water area, from highest to lowest. First are Dukes County, MA (75), Nantucket County, MA (75) and Alger County, MI (75). The middle one of the 3,062 has 0.93.

What this measures

The percentage of the county's total area that is water: lakes, rivers, bays and coastal sea. A county with a big lake or a long coast scores high. About two in three counties are under 2%. Source: USDA ERS Natural Amenities Scale.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

The 100 highest counties

More on water area

• US Counties With the Lowest Water Area
• Water area by US county: map by year and what it goes with

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.