It used to be the administrative seat of the Amt Landschaft Sylt and a municipality into which a number of villages had been amalgamated in 1970.

However, following a referendum in May 2008, Sylt-Ost merged with Westerland and Rantum to form the collective municipality Gemeinde Sylt which was created on 1 January 2009.

The herring is meant to depict the former importance of fishery for the area, it was already used as the seal of the Sylt bailiffs in the 17th century.

The most important factor of income in the area is tourism, which nowadays completely dominates the Sylt economy.

Having been the most important sector prior to the arrival of the tourist business, agriculture today plays a minor role.