This is a listing of the longest rivers in Minnesota. The river lengths shown here are the lengths of each river within the borders of Minnesota. For example, the Mississippi River is actually 2,350 miles long (from Lake Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico) yet only 681.3 miles of it flows within the borders of Minnesota.
Rank | River | Length (miles) |
1 | Mississippi River | 681.3 |
2 | Red River | 457.1 |
3 | Minnesota River | 370.6 |
4 | Rainy River | 292.1 |
5 | Red Lake River | 252.8 |
6 | Bigfork River | 220.7 |
7 | St. Louis River | 197.1 |
8 | Otter Tail River | 195.7 |
9 | North Fork Crow River | 178.3 |
10 | Wild Rice River | 173.5 |
11 | Rum River | 168.7 |
12 | Littlefork River | 162.8 |
13 | Chippewa River | 159.0 |
14 | Clearwater River | 149.1 |
15 | Cottonwood River | 145.1 |
16 | Root River | 142.8 |
17 | Buffalo River | 133.4 |
18 | Pomme de Terre River | 129.4 |
19 | St. Croix River | 129.2 |
20 | Des Moines River | 127.4 |
21 | Redwood River | 125.8 |
22 | Long Prairie River | 121.7 |
23 | Cannon River | 120.6 |
24 | Sauk River | 119.3 |
25 | Crow Wing River | 118.7 |
26 | Roseau River | 116.6 |
27 | Lac qui Parle River | 113.9 |
28 | Zumbro River | 112.6 |
29 | Blue Earth River | 112.3 |
30 | South Fork Crow River | 111.6 |
31 | Watonwan River | 110.4 |
32 | Le Sueur River | 101.9 |
33 | Snake River (St. Croix Basin) | 101.4 |
34 | Cloquet River | 99.8 |
35 | Sand Hill River | 98.6 |
36 | Rock River | 88.9 |
37 | Snake River (Red River Basin) | 83.6 |
38 | Kettle River | 81.9 |
39 | Two Rivers River | 74.7 |
40 | Pine River | 73.8 |
41 | Mustinka River | 71.5 |
42 | Thief River | 71.0 |
43 | Rapid River | 70.1 |
44 | Redeye River | 62.7 |
45 | Tamarac River | 57.6 |
46 | Cedar River | 52.4 |
47 | Leech Lake River | 51.0 |
48 | Upper Iowa River | 50.4 |
49 | Vermilion River | 48.8 |
50 | Marsh River | 48.6 |
51 | Grand Marais River | 43.9 |
52 | Nemadji River | 32.8 |
Source: MN Department of Natural Resources.