Lake of the Woods County is a county in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,763,^[1] making it the second-least populous county in Minnesota. Its county seat is Baudette.^[2]

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Lake of the Woods County
County
US–Canada border monument no. 919
Location within the U.S. state of Minnesota
Minnesota's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 48°46′N 94°54′W
Country	United States
State	Minnesota
Founded	November 28, 1922 (created by vote) January 1, 1923 (organized)
Named for	Lake of the Woods (lake)
Seat	Baudette
Largest city	Baudette
Area
• Total	1,775 sq mi (4,600 km2)
• Land	1,298 sq mi (3,360 km2)
• Water	477 sq mi (1,240 km2)  27%
Population  (2020)
• Total	3,763
• Estimate  (2023)	3,778
• Density	2.9/sq mi (1.1/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	7th
Website	co.lake-of-the-woods.mn.us

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The county contains the Northwest Angle, the northernmost point of the Lower 48 States, and the U.S. portion of Lake of the Woods, shared with Canada. The county also includes the exclave of Elm Point. Since Alaska has no counties, Lake of the Woods is the northernmost county in the United States. It is also the only county in the United States with four words in its name, although there is a parish in Louisiana called St. John the Baptist Parish, and the United States Census Bureau treats parishes as county equivalents for census purposes.

Lake of the Woods County was named for the lake that covers a large portion of it. Jacques de Noyon, a Frenchman who came from Trois Rivières, Quebec, explored the area in 1688 and was the first European to see the lake. He named it Lac aux Îles, "Lake of the Islands".

In 1885 the region got its first settler, Wilhelm Zippel, a German immigrant and fisherman. He settled on the lake's south shore in a place now called Zippel Bay. Shortly after, Alonzo Wheeler settled on the lake's southwest side at a place now called Wheeler's Point.

A wildfire, known as the Baudette fire of 1910, broke out in October of that year, burning 300,000 acres (1,200 km²) and destroying the towns of Spooner, Baudette, Graceton, Pitt, Williams, and Cedar Spur.^[3][4]

Lake of the Woods County's government was organized on January 1, 1923, with Baudette as the county seat. It is Minnesota's newest county; county voters approved separating the northern townships of Beltrami County into a separate unit on November 28, 1922.^[5][6]

Lake of the Woods County lies on Minnesota's border with Canada across the Rainy River, which flows northwest along the border to discharge into Lake of the Woods; its northwest border abuts Manitoba. The northern part of the county (the Northwest Angle) is separated from the rest of the county by the lake and thus has no land contact with the rest of the United States, making the Northwest Angle an exclave. Land access to that part of the county is through Manitoba. Access by water or ice routes is possible. The Rapid River flows northeast through the southeastern part of the county to its discharge point into the Rainy River, near the county's northeast corner.

Lake of the Woods County's terrain consists of low rolling hills, partly wooded, devoted to agriculture.^[7] The terrain slopes to the east and north.^[8] Its highest point is a small protuberance one mile (1.6 km) west of Norris Camp,^[7] at 1,316 ft (401 m) ASL.^[9] The county has an area of 1,775 square miles (4,600 km²), of which 1,298 square miles (3,360 km²) is land and 477 square miles (1,240 km²) (27%) is water.^[10]

Lake of the Woods County favored Democrats in every election from 1932 to 1976, typically by large margins, with the exception of the 1972 landslide victory of Richard Nixon. Beginning in 1980, the county has voted Republican in every election except for 1992 and 1996, both wins by Bill Clinton, who won by less than 4% in the county and failed to obtain a majority of the vote both times thanks in part due to the strong third-party performance of Ross Perot. With the exception of the landslide wins of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936 and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, no candidate of any party has won over 65% of the vote in Lake of the Woods County from its founding through 2012. That changed in 2016, when Donald Trump received over 68% of the county's vote, and he increased his vote share to over 70% in 2020, by far the two best performances by a Republican in the county's history.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota.

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota