Gulf Shores, Alabama

Gulf Shores population, 2020 to 2024

Gulf Shores added 2,076 residents from July 2020 to July 2024, a change of +13.5%. In the latest year it moved by +454. Among 107 Alabama places of 5,000 or more, that growth ranks 9th; the median place changed by +1.7%. The median place of 5,000+ in Alabama has 14,094 people, so Gulf Shores is 1.2 times that size.

Gulf Shores covers 28.69 square miles of land and 4.83 of water, for 608 people per square mile of land. The median Alabama place of 5,000+ has 715, so Gulf Shores is less dense than the typical town.

What county Gulf Shores is in

All of Gulf Shores's residents live in Baldwin County, which had 261,608 residents in 2024. Gulf Shores holds 6.7% of the county's population. The shaded shape is on the map above; dots mark the eight nearest places.

ZIP codes in Gulf Shores

2 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) overlap Gulf Shores by at least 10% of the ZCTA's or the city's land: 36542, 36547. ZCTAs are Census approximations of USPS ZIP code delivery areas. The list comes from the 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file, so a city that annexed land after 2020 may reach into ZIP codes not listed here.

Where Gulf Shores is

The Census internal point of Gulf Shores is at 30.277200, -87.702400. Montgomery, the capital, is 167.0 miles NNE in a straight line. The nearest larger place is Foley, AL (28,043 people), 8.5 miles away. The nearest city of 100,000 or more is Mobile, AL, 36.2 miles away.

Daylight in Gulf Shores

At 30.28° N, Gulf Shores gets about 14 h 06 min of daylight around the June solstice and 10 h 12 min around the December solstice, a swing of 3 h 55 min. Figures are sunrise to sunset from the SunCalc model for June 21 and December 21, 2026.

Places near Gulf Shores

The eight nearest incorporated places of 1,000+ in Alabama, measured between internal points. The closest is Orange Beach, 6.5 miles away, with 8,599 people.