High-quality water resources provide a wide range of benefits, but the value of water quality is often not fully represented in environmental policy decisions, due in large part to an absence of water quality valuation estimates at large, policy-relevant scales. Using nationwide property values, we estimated the benefits of lake water quality through housing markets. We find compelling evidence that homeowners place a premium on improved water quality. This premium is largest for lakefront property and declines with distance from the waterbody. In aggregate, we estimated that a 10% improvement in water quality for the contiguous United States has a value of $6 to 9 billion to property owners. This presentation will share evidence for policymakers to incorporate lake water quality value estimates in environmental decision-making.