In the 2005 INEGI Census, the city of Pánuco reported a total population of 33,122.

[1] Pánuco is traditionally held to have been founded by Hernán Cortés on 22 December 1522, as Villa de Santiesteban del Puerto, the second ayuntamiento on the American continent.

It was the capital of the Province of Pánuco in the early colonial period.

Hernando de Soto's 1541 expedition stopped in Panuco after his death.

On April 23, 1900, Pánuco was destroyed by fire, leaving more than 2,000 homeless.