Cortez, Florida
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1944 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Bradenton census division. It lies in ZIP code area 34215. It lies near Prices Key. The Survey maps it on the Bradenton Beach quadrangle. 4,121 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1944 to 1988The same ground, surveyed 44 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


On record in Cortez
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 1 record
Cortez Historic Districtlisted 1995
Population over time
3 figuresCortez fell from 4,491 to 4,121 between 2000 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 4,491 | |
| 2010 | 4,241 | -250 (-6%) |
| 2020 | 4,121 | -120 (-3%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 15 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1944 USGS Bradenton Beach quadrangle1:24000
- 1944 USGS Bradenton Beach quadrangle1:31680
- 1956 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Bradenton Beach quadrangle1:24000, 5 printings
- 1972 USGS Tampa quadrangle1:250000
- 1979 USGS Sarasota quadrangle1:100000
- 1988 USGS St Petersburg quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
2 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Cortez between 1998 and 2006, burning about 8 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 May 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | 5.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | 41-SISTER KEY FIRE-0334 |
| 23 October 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 3.0 acres | Florida Forest Service | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Cortez: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P and R Shell Pit | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
4 since 2014Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cortez in 4 storm reports between 2014 and 2020: 2 tornado, 1 heavy rain, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2020 | Tornado (EF0) | Cortez | $20,000 | A waterspout came ashore near Bradenton Beach producing a tornado. Damage included a lifeguard stand, an outdoor wooden canopy with picnic table, half a dozen umbrellas stands, and medium size tree branches. |
| July 2020 | Tornado (EF0) | Cortez | - | Multiple reports of trees down near Coquina Beach due to a waterspout that pushes on land that became a tornado. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cortez | - | Lifeguard stand reported a strong wind gust as waterspout came ashore. |
| September 2014 | Heavy Rain | Cortez | - | Broadcast media reported that heavy rain caused the roof to collapse at an apartment building, temporarily trapping one person inside. No injuries were reported. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bradenton Beach | 1.0 miles | 15 | |
| Ilexhurst | 1.9 miles | 15 | |
| Longbeach | 2.2 miles | 15 | |
| Holmes Beach | 2.2 miles | 15 | |
| Whitney Beach | 2.7 miles | 15 | |
| Palma Sola Park | 3.0 miles | 15 | |
| Palma Sola | 4.1 miles | 15 | |
| Longboat Key | 4.2 miles | 15 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Cortez | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2346413 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 280867. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.








