Gulf County is a county in Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico coast in the panhandle. It had a population of 14,192 at the 2020 census and covers 564 square miles (1,461 km2) of land, centred near 29°54′N 85°14′W.
Port St. Joe is the county seat, and its postal code is 32456. The county has two incorporated cities and more than a dozen unincorporated communities; it is one of the few counties in the United States split between two time zones — Eastern and Central.
Towns & Villages in Gulf County
Gulf County has two incorporated cities — Port St. Joe and Wewahitchka — and a scatter of unincorporated communities along the bay shore and inland pine flatwoods. CDP = census-designated place; Unincorp. = an unincorporated community with no separate census figure.
| Place | Type | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Port St. Joe | City · seat | — | 32456 |
| Wewahitchka | City | — | 32465 |
| Cape San Blas | CDP | — | 32456 |
| St. Joe Beach | CDP | — | 32456 |
| Highland View | Unincorp. | — | 32456 |
| White City | Unincorp. | — | 32456 |
| Beacon Hill | Unincorp. | — | 32456 |
| Indian Pass | Unincorp. | — | 32456 |
| Honeyville | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Howard Creek | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Oak Grove | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Overstreet | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Simmons Bayou | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Wetappo | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Ward Ridge | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Dalkeith | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Iola | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Lake Grove | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Majette | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Milltown | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Niles | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Odena | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Early | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
| Gaskins Still | Unincorp. | — | 32465 |
Cape San Blas and St. Joe Beach sit on the same barrier peninsula south of Port St. Joe and are often confused with each other; Cape San Blas is the tip of the cape nearer the lighthouse, while St. Joe Beach lies a few miles north along the Gulf-front road. The duplicated “Lake Grove” entry on older lists is a single community, not two.
ZIP Codes
- 32456 — Port St. Joe (also serves Cape San Blas, St. Joe Beach, Highland View and White City)
- 32457 — Port St. Joe (PO Box only)
- 32465 — Wewahitchka (also serves Honeyville, Howard Creek, Oak Grove, Overstreet, Wetappo and the county’s inland communities)
Most of the small unincorporated communities inland and along the bay share a ZIP with their nearest post office town rather than carrying one of their own.
Geography
Gulf County lies where Florida’s panhandle meets the Big Bend, split by St. Joseph Bay and the Apalachicola River. St. Joseph Peninsula, a narrow sand barrier now largely protected as a state park, shelters the bay from the open Gulf of Mexico; the Apalachicola forms much of the county’s eastern edge. The county borders Bay County to the west, Calhoun County to the north, Liberty County to the northeast, and Franklin County to the east.
Demographics
Gulf County’s population was 14,192 at the 2020 census. Port St. Joe and Wewahitchka are its two largest communities. The county’s median household income (2016–2020 five-year estimate) was $50,640, below the Florida median of $73,311. Roughly 12% of residents live below the poverty line. With 564 square miles of land, the county’s density works out to about 25 people per square mile — one of the more sparsely settled counties on the Gulf coast.
Economy & Local Life
Seafood, forestry and tourism anchor the local economy. Port St. Joe’s working waterfront still supports oyster and shrimp boats, while the surrounding pine flatwoods feed the region’s timber industry. St. Joseph Peninsula State Park and the beaches around Cape San Blas draw vacation-rental and second-home traffic that has grown steadily since Hurricane Michael’s 2018 landfall, which badly damaged Port St. Joe’s downtown and has driven much of the rebuilding since.
History
Gulf County was created in 1925 from part of Calhoun County and named for the Gulf of Mexico on its southern shore. Port St. Joe traces its identity to the earlier boomtown of St. Joseph, a 1830s port and site of Florida’s first constitutional convention that was later wiped out by yellow fever and a hurricane; the modern city grew up nearby around a paper mill in the early 20th century. Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm, made landfall in the county in October 2018.
Getting There
U.S. Route 98 runs along the coast through Port St. Joe, and State Road 71 connects Wewahitchka north to Blountstown and I-10.
- Panama City — about 30 miles west
- Apalachicola — about 20 miles east
- Blountstown — about 25 miles north
- Tallahassee — about 75 miles northeast
The nearest commercial airport is Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) in Bay County.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Gulf County located?
It is in the Florida panhandle on the Gulf of Mexico, between Bay County to the west and Franklin County to the east.
What is the population of Gulf County?
14,192 at the 2020 census.
How big is Gulf County?
564 square miles (1,461 km2) of land, plus roughly 192 square miles of bay and Gulf water.
What is the county seat of Gulf County?
Port St. Joe.
How many towns are in Gulf County?
Two incorporated cities, Port St. Joe and Wewahitchka, plus about two dozen unincorporated communities.
What ZIP codes are in Gulf County?
32456 (Port St. Joe), 32457 (Port St. Joe PO Box) and 32465 (Wewahitchka).
Why does Gulf County span two time zones?
An internal line separates the county’s western edge, which observes Central time, from the rest of the county on Eastern time — one of only a handful of U.S. counties split this way.