Wisconsin Making Crazy Claims of Having More Lakes Than Minnesota

Pffft. The nerve.

The StarTribune is reporting that Sara Meaney, secretary-designate of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, said that the state of Wisconsin has 15,000 lakes which is more than Minnesota.

Now Minnesota is called the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but we all know that there are really 11,842 documented lakes that are larger than 10 acres. Wisconsin on the other hand, doesn't set a minimum size for their lakes. So they could very well be counting puddles in this "15,000" number.

The US Geological Survey considers any body of water over a quarter acre a lake/pond feature, and if we look at the numbers there, Minnesota wins again. Minnesota has 124,400 lakes and ponds, and Wisconsin has 81,046. Boom.

Heck us modest Minnesotans might even be shorting ourselves on our real lake count. USGS Geographer Stephen Aichele found that Minnesota 43,041 lakes that are larger than one acre, compared to 22,973 in our neighboring state.

So there you have it, Minnesota has more lakes than Wisconsin. So WI no shade, but kindly take a seat, and let us do our thing. You stick to your cheese curds. We don't come at you for those, we're too nice.