River
Niagara River
53 km from source to mouth · Canada and United States.
Canada and United StatesFlows into Lake Ontario
In numbers
Length
53km
Average flow
5.8m³/s
Basin
665,000km²
Drop
99m
from 172 m to 73 m
Countries
2
The journey
From source to mouth
53 km of river and 33 stops on the way: 11 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLake Erieat 172 m
- 2 kmFort Erie30,710 people
- 2 kmBuffalo258,071 people
- 3 kmLake Erie25,768 km²
- 3 kmPeace Bridge
- 6 kmInternational Railway Bridge
- 9 kmTonawanda Creektributary
- 13 kmSouth Grand Island Bridge
- 14 kmGrandyle Village4,629 people
- 15 kmGrand Island21,389 people
- 24 kmNavy Island
- 24 kmNorth Grand Island Bridge
- 26 kmNiagara Falls48,671 people
- 27 kmChippawa6,077 people
- 28 kmAdams Power Plant Transformer House
- 30 kmHorseshoe Falls51 m
- 30 kmWelland Rivertributary
- 31 kmBridal Veil Falls
- 31 kmAmerican Falls34 m
- 31 kmHoneymoon Bridge
- 31 kmNiagara Clifton Bridge
- 31 kmRainbow Bridge
- 33 kmMichigan Central Railway Bridge
- 33 kmWhirlpool Rapids Bridge
- 33 kmNiagara Falls Suspension Bridge
- 38 kmSir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations
- 39 kmLewiston–Queenston Bridge
- 40 kmQueenston Heights National Historic Site of Canada
- 41 kmLewiston15,944 people
- 49 kmYoungstown1,921 people
- 51 kmNiagara-on-the-Lake17,511 people
- 51 kmFort Mississauga
- 51 kmMississauga Point Lighthouse
- 51 kmMississauga Beach4,662 people
- 53 kmLake Ontarioat 73 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Watercourse on the boundary of Canada and the United States
At the mouth it carries 5.8 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 431 seconds. It drops from 172 m to 73 m, 1.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 665,000 km², about the size of MM. 27.9 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to June; lowest: from January to February. Its dams hold back little of its water (8.5% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- BuffaloLargest city on its banks · 258,071 people
- Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 13 km from the cityCar hire at BUF airport (Buffalo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water56 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe4 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Niagara River, month by month
Highest water: from April to June
Lowest water: from January to February. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): January. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 7,100 m³/s in the lowest month to 8,700 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Niagara River: the basin in numbers
682,355 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 27.9millionpeople live in the basin
- 43/km²people per km²
- 265maverage altitude of the basin
- 842mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 5.5°Caverage air temperature
- 8%protected areas
- 36.2%covered by lakes
- 21km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 38% Forest
- 20% Cropland
- 3% Pasture
- 3% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Niagara River: what you find on the way
- 10WeirsInternational Niagara Control Works and 9 more
- 3LocksBlack Rock Lock, Black Rock Channel
- 4WaterfallsHorseshoe Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, American Falls and 1 more
- 4RapidsHells Half Acre, Whirlpool Rapids, Devils Holes and 1 more
- 30Boat rampsErie Basin Marina boat launch, Austin St Boat Launch, Ontario Street Boat Launch and 27 more
- 4Ferry piersQueen City Bike Ferry - Bike Ferry Landing on Outer Harbor, Queen City Bike Ferry - Commercial Slip at Canalside, Niagara City Cruises and 1 more
- 19MarinasBuffalo Coast Guard Slip, Cazenovia Community Boating Center, Erie Basin Marina and 16 more
- 3River beachesEmerald Beach, Erie Beach, Beaver Island Beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Niagara River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
4waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
1lake on its wayLakeyas
1beach at the mouth or on the banksCoastya
Waterfalls (4)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Horseshoe Fallskm 3251m
- Niagara Fallskm 3257m
- Bridal Veil Fallskm 33
- American Fallskm 3334m
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Eriekm 3 · 65 m deep25,768km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Beaches (1)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Mississauga Beachkm 5521.5°C
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Niagara River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (3)
Also: Welland River, Tonawanda Creek, Scajaquada Creek
Nearby
Rivers nearby
United States65 km5,200 m³/s305 km awayAllegheny RiverUnited States523 km560 m³/s325 km awayCuyahoga RiverUnited States137 km29 m³/s293 km awayMonongahela RiverUnited States209 km360 m³/s325 km awayDetroit RiverUnited States45 km5.3 m³/s361 km awaySusquehanna RiverUnited States715 km1,100 m³/s482 km awayMohawk RiverUnited States240 km220 m³/s442 km awayDelaware RiverUnited States579 km220 m³/s497 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q182343) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Lakeyas, Coastya — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit