[1] The economy of the Gulf Coast area is dominated by industries related to energy, petrochemicals, fishing, aerospace, agriculture, and tourism.

Much of the year is warm to hot along the Gulf Coast, while the three winter months bring periods of cool (or rarely, cold) weather mixed with mild temperatures.

However, the central and southern Florida peninsula and South Texas has a pronounced winter dry season, as at Tampa and Fort Myers.

Over most of the Gulf Coast from Houston, Texas, eastward, extreme rainfall events are a significant threat, commonly from tropical weather systems, which can bring 4 to 10 or more inches of rain in a single day.

The Global and Regional Sea Level Rise Report predicted more frequent, major and destructive high tide flooding events along with taller storm surges by 2050 after scientists determined high tide flooding has been "increasingly common" over the past few years due to the rising sea levels.

Rising sea level and erosion will also imperil critical habitats for many commercially important fisheries that depend on inshore waters for either permanent residence or nursery area.

[6] In 2021 alone rising sea levels cost the United States approximately $2.6 billion in relief efforts and caused at least seven deaths.

The marshlands along the Louisiana and Texas coasts provide breeding grounds and nurseries for ocean life that drive the fishing and shrimping industries.

[10] Before European settlers arrived in the region, the Gulf Coast was home to several pre-Columbian kingdoms which had extensive trade networks with empires such as the Aztecs and the Mississippi Mound Builders.

The Louisiana Purchase (1803), Adams–Onís Treaty (1819) and the Texas Revolution (1835–1836) made the Gulf Coast a part of the United States during the first half of the 19th century.

As the U.S. population continued to expand its frontiers westward, the Gulf Coast was a natural magnet in the South providing access to shipping lanes and both national and international commerce.

The first was the American Civil War, which caused severe damage to some economic sectors in the South, including the Gulf Coast.

Due to its immense size, Hurricane Ike caused devastation from the Louisiana coastline all the way to the Kenedy County, Texas, region near Corpus Christi.

Florida has grown as well, driven to a great extent by its long established tourism industry but also by its position as a gateway to the Caribbean and Latin America.