Which Great Lake is the only one located entirely within the United States?

Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake located entirely within the United States.

Its shoreline belongs to four states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. The lake is unusual among the Great Lakes because it does not form an international boundary with Canada. Chicago, Milwaukee, and Green Bay are among the important cities and urban areas connected to its shoreline.

Lake Michigan covers roughly 58,000 square kilometres and is the third-largest Great Lake by surface area. The Straits of Mackinac connect it to Lake Huron, and the two lakes have nearly the same water level, so they are sometimes described hydrologically as one lake. Geographically, however, they remain separate named lakes.

The lake’s name comes from an Ojibwe term commonly translated as “great lake.” A frequent error is to identify Lake Superior as the entirely U.S. lake; Superior instead has Canadian shoreline along its northern and eastern sides.