Where Are Coastal Wetlands?

Coastal wetlands are located in coastal watersheds. See more maps of coastal watersheds . Select a region under Estuarine/Coastal Watershed Regional Reference Maps. These regional maps show both coastal drainage areas (CDAs) and estuarine drainage areas (EDAs). All wetlands within CDAs and EDAs are considered by NOAA to be coastal wetlands, because whether the wetland is tidal or non-tidal, fresh or saline, it influences and is influenced by activities in the coastal region. Thus, coastal wetlands can be next to streams, behind barrier beaches, on deltas, in isolated depressions, or in numerous other places in coastal landscapes. Coastal wetlands such as seagrass beds also occur in bays, estuaries, or other shallow coastal waters.

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.