Rankings · Geography

Lowest nearest ocean / great lake by state

Miles to the nearest ocean or Great Lake.

Straight-line miles from the county’s population-weighted center to the nearest mapped ocean or Great Lake shoreline. A zero means that center falls inside the source’s water polygon. This is not driving distance, public-beach access, water quality, or distance to an ordinary lake or river; road access, private shoreline and terrain can make an actual trip longer. The five Great Lakes are Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. State figures are population-weighted county distances.

  1. 1Hawaii4.5 mi
  2. 2Rhode Island7.3 mi
  3. 3Florida13 mi
  4. 4Delaware14 mi
  5. 5New Jersey15 mi
  6. 6Connecticut17 mi
  7. 7Massachusetts17 mi
  8. 8New York20 mi
  9. 9Maine21 mi
  10. 10Maryland23 mi
  11. 11District of Columbia26 mi
  12. 12California26 mi
  13. 13Michigan29 mi
  14. 14New Hampshire34 mi
  15. 15Illinois39 mi
  16. 16Alaska39 mi
  17. 17Washington46 mi
  18. 18Wisconsin48 mi
  19. 19Louisiana49 mi
  20. 20Mississippi69 mi
  21. 21Oregon70 mi
  22. 22Pennsylvania70 mi
  23. 23Virginia71 mi
  24. 24Ohio79 mi
  25. 25South Carolina101 mi
  26. 26Indiana103 mi
  27. 27North Carolina122 mi
  28. 28Vermont122 mi
  29. 29Minnesota136 mi
  30. 30Texas155 mi
  31. 31Alabama157 mi
  32. 32West Virginia178 mi
  33. 33Missouri186 mi
  34. 34Georgia190 mi
  35. 35Arizona193 mi
  36. 36Kentucky194 mi
  37. 37Nevada215 mi
  38. 38Tennessee224 mi
  39. 39Arkansas235 mi
  40. 40Iowa261 mi
  41. 41North Dakota343 mi
  42. 42South Dakota391 mi
  43. 43Oklahoma401 mi
  44. 44Kansas404 mi
  45. 45Idaho420 mi
  46. 46Nebraska457 mi
  47. 47New Mexico492 mi
  48. 48Montana512 mi
  49. 49Utah534 mi
  50. 50Wyoming730 mi
  51. 51Colorado732 mi
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Source: USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHD; coastline supplied by NOAA). · How this is built