Water Safety in Minnesota

Minnesota's water safety year has two seasons: open water and ice. On open water, wear a life jacket, especially in spring and fall when the water is cold. On ice, check the thickness yourself as you go, because the DNR does not measure it and no ice is ever 100 percent safe.

Minnesota drowning and boating numbers

25 drownings

• State count: the DNR's preliminary summary for 2025 lists 7 boating fatalities and 25 non-boating drownings (opens in a new tab), down from 9 and 49 in 2024. Preliminary numbers can change.
• Coast Guard count: the U.S. Coast Guard counted 58 reportable recreational boating incidents in Minnesota in 2024, with 9 deaths and 39 injuries (opens in a new tab). Deaths by year: 16 in 2020, 18 in 2021, 15 in 2022, 9 in 2023 and 9 in 2024.
• Boats: 865,379 registered vessels in 2024, second only to Florida.
• Drowning rate: CDC puts Minnesota's average annual drowning death rate for 2018-2021 at 1.12 per 100,000 people (opens in a new tab), below the U.S. rate of 1.31.

Each source counts differently. See our Minnesota data page.

Cold water

The DNR says over 30 percent of boating fatalities in Minnesota happen in cold water with a victim not wearing a life jacket (opens in a new tab), and that falls overboard and capsizing are still the most common causes of boating deaths. Cold water kills in stages, and most people die long before they become hypothermic (opens in a new tab).

If you go in:

• Wear your life jacket so you can float through the first gasping minutes.
• Stay with the boat and try to climb back in or on top of it.
• Don't swim unless it's to a nearby boat or floating object.
• Keep your boots and clothes on. Most clothing floats for a long time.
• Pull your knees up into the heat escape lessening position (H.E.L.P.).

Read cold water shock and what to do if you fall overboard.

Ice safety

The DNR is direct: the DNR does not measure ice thickness on Minnesota lakes (opens in a new tab). Your safety is your responsibility, so check often as you go. Ice seldom freezes evenly. It can be a foot thick in one place and an inch or two a few feet away. Ice over moving water, near streams, bridges and culverts, and on the outside bends of rivers is weaker. Ice near shore can be weaker too.

DNR guidelines for new, clear ice:

White "snow ice" is only about half as strong as new, clear ice (opens in a new tab), so double these numbers on white ice.

Most through-the-ice deaths are drownings. Of the ice-related deaths the DNR has tracked since 1976, only 5 have been a result of hypothermia (opens in a new tab). If you fall in, the DNR says to keep your winter clothes on, turn back the way you came, use ice picks to pull yourself out, and roll away from the hole. More in ice thickness safety and falling through ice.

Rivers

On the St. Croix and Namekagon rivers, the National Park Service warns that water levels can change daily (opens in a new tab), and says children under 13, including infants, are required to wear life jackets there. Tubes count as vessels.

Minnesota boating law

Minnesota is phasing in a watercraft operator's permit. Since July 1, 2025, it has been required to operate a motorboat or personal watercraft for people 12 and older born after June 30, 2004. The DNR says the requirement extends to people born after June 30, 2000 (from July 1, 2026) (opens in a new tab), after June 30, 1996 (from July 1, 2027) and after June 30, 1987 (from July 1, 2028). People without a permit may operate with an accompanying operator on board, and motorboats of 25 horsepower or less that are not personal watercraft are exempt. Check the DNR boater education law page (opens in a new tab) each year as the rule expands.

Federal law requires children under 13 to wear a life jacket on a moving boat (opens in a new tab). This is a summary, not legal advice.

What you can do today

• Wear a life jacket on every spring and fall trip, when the water is coldest.
• Buy or make a pair of ice picks and wear them on the ice.
• Check ice thickness often as you move out from shore, as the DNR advises.
• Check whether your birth year now needs a watercraft operator's permit.
• Learn the rescue rule: reach or throw, don't go.