BlockBefore

Mexico Beach, Florida

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1944 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Mexico Beach census division. It lies in ZIP code area 32410. It stands on Salt Creek. The Survey maps it on the Beacon Hill quadrangle. 916 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 13 feet above sea level.

Mexico Beach within Bay County

Then and now

1944 to 1988

The 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.

Topographic sheet of Mexico Beach, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Mexico Beach, surveyed 1944

On record in Mexico Beach

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

Population over time

2 figures

Mexico Beach fell from 1,072 to 916 between 2010 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.

YearPeople Change
20101,072
2020916-156 (-15%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 surveys from 15 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

88 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 88 fires within 5 miles of Mexico Beach between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,154 acres in total. 24 started naturally. 8 were 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
Natural24
Equipment and vehicle use16
Debris and open burning11
Misuse of fire by a minor8
Railroad operations and maintenance8
Arson/incendiarism8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Power generation/transmission/distribution3
Smoking3
Recreation and ceremony1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
6 September 2015Natural1.0 acresFlorida Forest ServiceWHIPPOORWILL MARSH (23)
5 September 2015Natural1.0 acresFlorida Forest ServiceWHIPPOORWILL (23)
5 September 1997Natural15 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
5 September 1997Natural11 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
30 September 1994Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
19 September 1995Equipment and vehicle use2.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
11 September 1997Railroad operations and maintenance15 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
9 August 1993Natural4.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bay County

Storms near this place

9 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Mexico Beach in 9 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 waterspout, 1 hail, 1 flood. The reports record 10 injuries. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
October 2025Tornado (EF1)Mexico Beach10 hurt, $500,000A tornadic waterspout moved onshore into Mexico Beach at approximately 6:30 am CDT, causing roof and siding damage to a couple of homes along the beach. The roof of the El Governor hotel was lifted and tossed across U.S. 98 into an RV park, where several RV's were damaged or rolled over. A number of minor injuries were reported at the RV park. The tornado continued eastward, moving inland across several neighborhoods. Roof damage, the most significant of which involved the peeling of metal roofing, was noted at several locations. Otherwise, the damage was scattered and mostly minor. The tornado dissipated before reaching Highway 386. The damage was consistent was an EF1 tornado with maximum winds of approximately 100 mph.
July 2013FloodMexico Beach$1,000,000Persistent heavy rains over a multi-day period led to significant areal flooding across Bay county. Preliminary damage estimates were around $1 million with significant damage to roads occurring. Many rural roads became impassible and cut off residents in the area for extended periods of time.
October 2025Thunderstorm WindMexico Beach$100,000Straight line wind damage occurred to the southeast of an EF1 tornado due to the rear flank downdraft of the supercell. Winds were estimated around 75 mph. Damage to roofing and siding occurred to homes.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindMexico Beach$1,000The Bay County 911 dispatch reported a power line blown down at 800 N 15th Street in Mexico Beach. Monetary damage was estimated.
October 2025Thunderstorm WindMexico Beach-An Ambient weather station in Mexico Beach gusted to 58 mph.
January 2024Thunderstorm WindMexico Beach-The Mexico Beach WeatherSTEM gusted to 75 mph.
April 2020Thunderstorm WindMexico Beach-Trees were blown down in Mexico Beach.
March 1998HailMexico Beach-Pebble to quarter sized hail observed in Mexico Beach and along the Bay-Gulf County line.
September 1997WaterspoutMexico Beach-A waterspout was reported by county authorities.

Every storm recorded in Bay County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Davis Beach2.7 miles15
Farmdale5.6 miles18
Allanton6.1 miles18
Wetappo7.4 miles18
Cook13.3 miles16
San Blas14.1 miles16
Long Point15.0 miles16
Old Callaway15.8 miles15

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 Mexico BeachAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q999465The 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 286747. 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.

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.