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States that border the Gulf of Mexico are shown in red.

Night time astronaut image of the northern Gulf coast.

The Gulf Coast of the United States, sometimes referred to as the Gulf South,^{[citation needed]} South Coast, or 3rd Coast, comprises the coasts of American states that are on the Gulf of Mexico, which includes Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and are known as the Gulf States. All Gulf States are located in the Southern region of the United States.

The economy of the Gulf Coast region is dominated by industries related to fishing, aerospace, agriculture, and tourism. The region is anchored^{[citation needed]} by the cities of Corpus Christi, Houston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, Tampa, and increasingly, Sarasota, all the centers of their respective metropolitan areas and containing large ports.

Geography[link]

The Gulf Coast is made of many inlets, bays, and lagoons. The coast is also intersected by numerous rivers, the largest of which is the Mississippi River. Much of the land along the Gulf Coast is, or was, marshland. Ringing the Gulf Coast is the Gulf Coastal Plain which reaches from Southern Texas to the western Florida Panhandle.while the western portions of the Gulf Coast are made up of many barrier islands and peninsulas, including the 130 miles (210 km) Padre Island and Galveston Island located in the U.S. State of Texas. These landforms protect numerous bays and inlets providing as a barrier to oncoming waves. The central part of the Gulf Coast, from eastern Texas through Louisiana, consists primarily of marshland. The eastern part of the Gulf Coast, predominantly Florida, is dotted with many bays and inlets.

Climate[link]

The Gulf Coast area is vulnerable to hurricanes as well as floods and severe thunderstorms. Tornadoes are infrequent at the coast but do occur, however the frequency at which they occur in inland portions of Gulf Coast states is much greater. Earthquakes are extremely rare to the area, but a surprising 6.0 earthquake in the Gulf of Mexico on September 10, 2006, could be felt from the cities of New Orleans to Tampa.

Economic activities[link]

NOAA map of the 3,856 oil and gas platforms extant off the Gulf Coast in 2006.

The Gulf Coast is a major center of economic activity. The marshlands along the Louisiana and Texas coasts provide breeding grounds and nurseries for ocean life that drive the fishing and shrimping industries. The Port of South Louisiana (Metropolitan New Orleans in Laplace) and the Port of Houston are two of the ten busiest ports in the world by cargo volume.^[1] As of 2004, seven of the top ten busiest ports in the U.S. are on the Gulf Coast.^[2]

The discovery of oil and gas deposits along the coast and offshore, combined with easy access to shipping, have made the Gulf Coast the heart of the U.S. petrochemical industry. The coast contains nearly 4,000 oil platforms.

Besides the above, the region features other important industries including aerospace and biomedical research, as well as older industries such as agriculture and — especially since the development of the Gulf Coast beginning in the 1920s and the increase in wealth throughout the United States — tourism.

Additionally, The Gulf Coast offers a wide range of tourist and vacation activities geared towards families, couples, singles, sportsman and business professionals alike. With more than 300 annual festivals, events, fairs and mixed marketplaces and boasting a sub-tropical climate, activities include but aren't limited to: Top Rated Golf Courses, Casinos and Gaming, Chartered Fishing Boats, Water Front Seafood Fine Dining, Paddleboat Tours, Museums, John C. Stennis Space Center, and much more. Premium Golf Courses have been designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Jerry Pate, Tom Fazio and Davis Love III.^[3]

Thanks to a lower tax rate for casinos, the Mississippi gaming market is in the top 10 largest grossing gaming sectors in the United States after Las Vegas and Atlantic City and Indiana, etc., with over 30 state licensed casinos that work hand in hand with convention centers and visitors bureaus.^[4]

History[link]

The history of the Gulf Coast is an important part of United States history; as economically important as the Gulf Coast is to the United States today, it arguably once held an even greater position of prominence in the U.S.

Map of the Louisiana Purchase

The first Europeans to settle the Gulf Coast were primarily the French and the Spanish. The Louisiana Purchase and the Texas Revolution made the Gulf Coast a part of the United States during the first half of the 19th century. As the U.S. population continued to expand its frontiers westward, the Gulf Coast was a natural magnet in the South providing access to shipping lanes and both national and international commerce. The development of sugar and cotton production (enabled by slavery) allowed the South to prosper. By the mid 19th century, the South, The city of New Orleans in particular, being situated as a key to commerce on the Mississippi River and in the Gulf, had become the largest U.S. city not on the Atlantic seaboard and the fourth largest in the U.S. overall.

Two major events were turning points in the earlier history of the Gulf Coast region. The first was the American Civil War, which caused severe damage to some economic sectors in the South, including the Gulf Coast. The second event was the Galveston Hurricane of 1900. At the end of the 19th century Galveston was, with New Orleans, one of the most developed cities in the region. The city had the third busiest port in the U.S.^[5] and its financial district was known as the "Wall Street of the South." ^[6] The storm mostly destroyed the city (which has never regained its former glory) and set back development in the region.

Hurricane Katrina

Since these darker times the Gulf Coast has been hit with numerous other hurricanes. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane. It was the most damaging storm in the history of the United States, causing upwards of $80 billion in damages, and leaving over 1,800 dead. Again in 2008 the Gulf Coast was struck by a catastrophic hurricane. Due to its immense size, Hurricane Ike caused devastation from the Louisiana coastline all the way to the Kenedy County, Texas region near Corpus Christi.^[7] In addition, Ike caused flooding and significant damage along the Mississippi coastline and the Florida Panhandle^[8] Ike killed 112 people and left upwards of 300 people missing, never to be found.^[9] Hurricane Ike was the third most damaging storm in the history of the United States, causing more than $25 billion^[10] in damage along the coast, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless, and sparking the largest search-and-rescue operation in U.S. history.^[11]

Other than the hurricanes, the Gulf Coast has redeveloped dramatically over the course of the 20th century. The gulf coast is highly populated. The petrochemical industry, launched with the major discoveries of oil in Texas and spurred on by further discoveries in the Gulf waters, has been a vehicle for development in the central and western Gulf which has spawned development on a variety of fronts in these regions. Texas in particular has benefited tremendously from this industry over the course of the 20th century and economic diversification has made the state a magnet for population and home to more Fortune 500 companies than any other U.S. state. Florida has grown as well, driven to a great extent by its long established tourism industry but also by its position as a gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America. As of 2006, these two states are the second and fourth most populous states in the nation, respectively (see this article). Other areas of the Gulf Coast have benefited less, though economic development fueled by tourism has greatly increased property values along the coast, and is now a severe danger to the valuable but fragile ecosystems of the Gulf Coast.

Metropolitan areas[link]

The following table lists the 15 largest MSAs along the Gulf Coast.

Transportation[link]

Road[link]

Major Interstates[link]

I-45 and I-10 near Downtown Houston

Highway	Significant Cities Served
Interstate 10	Beaumont, Biloxi, Gulfport, Houston, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge Mobile, New Orleans, Pensacola
Interstate 37	Corpus Christi
Interstate 45	Galveston, Houston
Interstate 65	Mobile
Interstate 75	Bradenton, Fort Myers, Naples, St. Petersburg, Tampa

Major U.S. routes[link]

Highway	Significant Cities Served
U.S. 29	Pensacola
U.S. 41	Bradenton, Fort Myers, Naples, St. Petersburg, Tampa
U.S. 49	Biloxi, Gulfport
U.S. 59	Houston, Victoria
U.S. 90	Beaumont, Biloxi, Crestview, Houma, Lake Charles, Mobile, New Orleans, Pascagoula, Pensacola, Thibodaux
U.S. 98	Fort Walton Beach, Mobile, Pensacola, Panama City

Other significant routes[link]

Highway	Significant Cities Served
LA 1	Grand Isle, Port Fourchon, Thibodaux
S.R. 85	Crestview, Fort Walton Beach
S.H. 288	Houston, Lake Jackson

Air[link]

International service[link]

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

International Destinations

George Bush Intercontinental Airport	Angola, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Bonaire, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Cayman Islands, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Japan, Liberia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Spain, Singapore, UAE, United Kingdom, Venezuela
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport	Canada, Cuba[12]
Southwest Florida International Airport	Canada, Denmark, Germany
Tampa International Airport	Canada, Cayman Islands, United Kingdom, Cuba[13]

Rail[link]

Amtrak Service[link]

Sunset Limited in Houston.

See also[link]

Notes[link]

v t e  State of Alabama Montgomery (capital) Topics Index History Geography People Delegations Government Governors Lieutenant Governors Metropolitan Areas Visitor Attractions National Historic Landmarks Regions Atlantic Coastal Plain Birmingham District Black Belt Central Alabama Cumberland Plateau Greater Birmingham Gulf Coastal Plain Lower Alabama Mobile Bay North Alabama Northeast Alabama Northwest Alabama Piedmont Ridge and Valley River Region South Alabama Tennessee Valley Wiregrass Region Metros Greater Birmingham Montgomery Metro Area Mobile Metro Area Huntsville Metro Area Larger cities Anniston Auburn Birmingham Decatur Dothan Florence Gadsden Hoover Huntsville Madison Mobile Montgomery Tuscaloosa Counties Autauga Baldwin Barbour Bibb Blount Bullock Butler Calhoun Chambers Cherokee Chilton Choctaw Clarke Clay Cleburne Coffee Colbert Conecuh Coosa Covington Crenshaw Cullman Dale Dallas DeKalb Elmore Escambia Etowah Fayette Franklin Geneva Greene Hale Henry Houston Jackson Jefferson Lamar Lauderdale Lawrence Lee Limestone Lowndes Macon Madison Marengo Marion Marshall Mobile Monroe Montgomery Morgan Perry Pickens Pike Randolph Russell Shelby St. Clair Sumter Talladega Tallapoosa Tuscaloosa Walker Washington Wilcox Winston

v t e  State of Florida Tallahassee (capital) Topics Delegations Environment Floridians Geography Government History State Parks Transportation Visitor Attractions Society Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics Regions Big Bend Central Florida Emerald Coast First Coast Florida Heartland Florida Keys Florida Panhandle Forgotten Coast Fun Coast Glades Gold Coast Nature Coast North Central Florida North Florida Northeast Florida South Florida Southwest Florida Space Coast Suncoast Tampa Bay Area Treasure Coast Metro areas Cape Coral–Fort Myers Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach Fort Walton Beach–Crestview–Destin Gainesville Jacksonville Lakeland–Winter Haven Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach Naples–Marco Island North Port–Bradenton–Sarasota Ocala Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Palm Bay–Melbourne–Titusville Palm Coast Panama City–Lynn Haven–Panama City Beach Pensacola–Ferry Pass–Brent Port St. Lucie Punta Gorda Sebastian–Vero Beach Tallahassee Tampa-St. Petersburg–Clearwater Largest cities Jacksonville Miami Tampa St. Petersburg Orlando Hialeah Tallahassee Fort Lauderdale Port St. Lucie Pembroke Pines Cape Coral Hollywood Gainesville Miramar Coral Springs Clearwater Miami Gardens Brandon Palm Bay West Palm Beach Pompano Beach Spring Hill Lakeland Davie Miami Beach Counties Alachua Baker Bay Bradford Brevard Broward Calhoun Charlotte Citrus Clay Collier Columbia DeSoto Dixie Duval Escambia Flagler Franklin Gadsden Gilchrist Glades Gulf Hamilton Hardee Hendry Hernando Highlands Hillsborough Holmes Indian River Jackson Jefferson Lafayette Lake Lee Leon Levy Liberty Madison Manatee Marion Martin Miami‑Dade Monroe Nassau Okaloosa Okeechobee Orange Osceola Palm Beach Pasco Pinellas Polk Putnam Santa Rosa Sarasota Seminole St. Johns St. Lucie Sumter Suwannee Taylor Union Volusia Wakulla Walton Washington

v t e  State of Louisiana Baton Rouge (capital) Topics Index History Music Louisianans Constitution Governors Lieutenant Governors Attorneys General Legislature Supreme Court Congressional Districts Symbols Visitor Attractions Society Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics Regions Acadiana Ark-La-Tex Central Louisiana Florida Parishes Greater New Orleans North Louisiana Southwest Louisiana Cities Alexandria Baton Rouge Bossier City Hammond Houma Kenner Lafayette Lake Charles Monroe New Iberia New Orleans Opelousas Ponchatoula Ruston Shreveport Slidell Sulphur CDPs Chalmette Harvey LaPlace Marrero Metairie Moss Bluff Terrytown Metros Alexandria Baton Rouge Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux Lafayette Lake Charles Monroe New Orleans Shreveport‑Bossier City Parishes Acadia Allen Ascension Assumption Avoyelles Beauregard Bienville Bossier Caddo Calcasieu Caldwell Cameron Catahoula Claiborne Concordia DeSoto East Baton Rouge East Carroll East Feliciana Evangeline Franklin Grant Iberia Iberville Jackson Jefferson Jefferson Davis La Salle Lafayette Lafourche Lincoln Livingston Madison Morehouse Natchitoches Orleans Ouachita Plaquemines Pointe Coupee Rapides Red River Richland Sabine St. Bernard St. Charles St. Helena St. James St. John the Baptist St. Landry St. Martin St. Mary St. Tammany Tangipahoa Tensas Terrebonne Union Vermilion Vernon Washington Webster West Baton Rouge West Carroll West Feliciana Winn

v t e  State of Mississippi Jackson (capital) Topics Mississippians Delegations Governors Lieutenant Governors Legislature State Parks State Landmarks Music History Geography Education Visitor Attractions Regions The Delta Golden Triangle Gulf Coast Mississippi Plain Natchez District Pine Belt Tennessee Valley Metros Gulfport-Biloxi Hattiesburg Jackson Memphis (TN) Pascagoula Larger cities Biloxi Clarksdale Clinton Columbus Greenville Gulfport Hattiesburg Jackson Meridian Olive Branch Pascagoula Pearl Ridgeland Southaven Starkville Tupelo Vicksburg Smaller cities Bay St. Louis Brandon Brookhaven Canton Cleveland Corinth Gautier Greenwood Grenada Horn Lake Indianola Itta Bena Laurel Long Beach Madison McComb Moss Point Natchez Ocean Springs Oxford Pass Christian Picayune Tunica Waveland West Hattiesburg (Oak Grove) West Point Yazoo City Counties Adams Alcorn Amite Attala Benton Bolivar Calhoun Carroll Chickasaw Choctaw Claiborne Clarke Clay Coahoma Copiah Covington DeSoto Forrest Franklin George Greene Grenada Hancock Harrison Hinds Holmes Humphreys Issaquena Itawamba Jackson Jasper Jefferson Jefferson Davis Jones Kemper Lafayette Lamar Lauderdale Lawrence Leake Lee Leflore Lincoln Lowndes Madison Marion Marshall Monroe Montgomery Neshoba Newton Noxubee Oktibbeha Panola Pearl River Perry Pike Pontotoc Prentiss Quitman Rankin Scott Sharkey Simpson Smith Stone Sunflower Tallahatchie Tate Tippah Tishomingo Tunica Union Walthall Warren Washington Wayne Webster Wilkinson Winston Yalobusha Yazoo

v t e  State of Texas Austin (capital) Topics Architecture Climate Cuisine Geography Government History Languages Literature Sports Texans Transportation Symbols Visitor attractions Society Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics Regions Ark‑La‑Tex Big Bend Blackland Prairies Brazos Valley Central Texas Coastal Bend Cross Timbers Deep East Texas East Texas Edwards Plateau Golden Triangle Hill Country Llano Estacado Northeast Texas North Texas Osage Plains Panhandle Permian Basin Piney Woods Rio Grande Valley Southeast Texas South Plains South Texas Trans-Pecos West Texas Metropolitan areas Abilene Amarillo Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos Beaumont–Port Arthur Brownsville–Harlingen College Station–Bryan Corpus Christi Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington El Paso Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Laredo Longview Lubbock McAllen–Edinburg–Mission Midland Odessa San Angelo San Antonio–New Braunfels Sherman–Denison Texarkana Tyler Victoria Waco Wichita Falls Counties There are 254 counties in Texas. (See Table of Texas counties or List.)