Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 at the 2020 census. The Erie metropolitan area, equivalent to all of
Erie County, had a population of 270,876 in 2020. Erie is located about 80 miles (130 km) from Buffalo, 90 miles (140 km) from Cleveland, and 120 miles (190 km) from Pittsburgh.
Image: Boston Store Erie, PA Sept 2013
Image: Perrymon 1
Image: Brig Niagara full sail
Image: Lilley Library, Penn State Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest average water residence time. At its deepest point Lake Erie is 210 feet (64 m) deep, making it the only Great Lake whose deepest point is above sea level.
NOAA satellite image of Lake Erie from July 7, 2023. Light green swirls are algae bloom on the western edge of the lake.
Lake Erie on May 28, 2022, taken from the International Space Station
North shore in mid-December 2014
Walk in Water, built in Buffalo, was the first steamship on Lake Erie. Picture c. 1816.