Where Are Coastal Wetlands?

The Gulf of Mexico region includes 51% of the coastal wetlands in the lower 48 states. The south Atlantic region contains another 30%, which means that approximately 81% of coastal wetlands in the continental US are in the southeast. The entire Pacific coast (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) contains less than 2%. Most coastal wetlands (77%) occur in or adjacent to estuaries.  The Ten Thousand Islands estuary in southern Florida, known for its mangroves and extensive areas of forested, shrub, and fresh marsh in the Everglades, contains the most wetlands of all estuaries, followed by the Mississippi Delta estuary, ranked second, and the Albemarle/Pamlico Sound estuary, ranked third.

The 10 states with the most coastal wetlands are: Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, New Jersey, California, Maine.