South Padre Island Texas Map
Explore South Padre Island, Texas, with this interactive street and satellite map.
This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.
Interactive Map of South Padre Island, Texas
How to Use This South Padre Island, Texas Map
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for South Padre Island, Texas. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of Texas or beyond.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to South Padre Island.
Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.
| City | South Padre Island |
| State | Texas (TX) |
| County | Cameron County |
| Country | United States of America |
| Timezone | Central Time (America/Chicago) |
| Latitude | 26.120465 |
| Longitude | -97.170703 |
| Population | 2,066 |
| Density | 296.8 /km² |
| Incorporated | Yes |
| ZIP Code | 78597 |
| Area Code | 830 |
| County Seat | Brownsville |
| School District | Point Isabel Independent School District |
About South Padre Island, Texas
South Padre Island is a locality in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It has a population of approximately 2,066. The population density is 296.8 people per km². South Padre Island is located at 26.1205°N, 97.1707°W. It observes the Central Time (America/Chicago) timezone. South Padre Island is an incorporated locality. ZIP code: 78597.South Padre Island stretches as a slender, sun-bleached barrier between the shifting tides and the quiet interior lagoons. It lies 24.9 miles northeast of Brownsville, TX (from Brownsville, TX: bearing 56°T), and is situated 3.4 miles northeast of Port Isabel. The landscape here is defined by the unrelenting horizon where the sky bleeds into the salt-crusted air, only a few miles from the turbulent currents of Brazos Santiago Pass. Dunes of fine, pale sand rise and fall in the wind, providing a fragile rampart against the encroaching water, while inland, the flat expanse toward Vadia Ancha remains a study in stillness and muted, earthy tones. Even the distant silhouette of Loma de la Palangana provides a rare point of verticality in a world dominated by the horizontal pull of the surf, as the light at dusk turns the beach into a mirror of polished nickel.
South Padre Island functions as a transient outpost where the rhythm of the economy aligns with the seasonal migration of visitors and the persistent, slow-moving currents of the Rio Grande further south. While the local activity centers around the water, residents find a quiet respite at Water Tower Park, a space that serves as a terrestrial anchor amidst the shifting sands. History here is written in the erosion of the coastline and the slow reclamation of land, far removed from the more settled reaches near Clark Island. The cultural character remains tethered to the border-country influence, a blend of Tex-Mex sensibilities and the salt-worn patience of those who live at the edge of the continent, watching the horizon with a gaze as steady as the incoming tide.
Nearby Outdoor Places
- Water Tower Park (Local Park) — 0.5 mi, 175° S
- Andy Bowie Park (Local Park) — 1.2 mi, 001° N
- Gravity Park (Theme Park) — 1.3 mi, 173° S
- Padre J. Nicolas Balli (Monument) — 2.5 mi, 175° S
- Pier 19 (Attraction) — 2.9 mi, 179° S
- 1923 Point Isabel Coast Guard Building (Monument) — 3.2 mi, 173° S
- Brazos Santiago, C.S.A. (Monument) — 3.6 mi, 167° S
- Jesus Christ of the Fisherman Statue (Public Artwork) — 3.6 mi, 167° S
- Treasures of the Gulf Museum (Museum) — 3.8 mi, 217° SW
- Port Isabel Historical Museum (Museum) — 3.8 mi, 217° SW
- South Bay Coastal Preserve (State Conservation Area) — 4.4 mi, 184° S
- Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge (National Wildlife Refuge) — 4.5 mi, 183° S · 277k acres
- Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge (National Wildlife Refuge) — 5.3 mi, 227° SW · 287k acres
- Holly Beach (Park) — 7.0 mi, 269° W
- Boca Chica State Park (Marine Protected Area) — 7.5 mi, 178° S
- Boca Chica (State Park) — 7.5 mi, 178° S
- Starbase Sign (Attraction) — 9.6 mi, 187° S
- Rocket Ranch Launch View Outpost (Viewpoint) — 11.2 mi, 191° S
- Highway 48 Boat Ramp (Local Recreation) — 11.4 mi, 224° SW
- Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area (State Conservation Area) — 22.4 mi, 226° SW
- Welcome to Texas Sign (Attraction) — 24.7 mi, 231° SW
- Saint Joseph Academy Football Stadium (Stadium) — 24.8 mi, 236° SW
- Resaca de la Palma State Park (State Park) — 25.2 mi, 251° W
- Brownsville Heritage Museum (Museum) — 25.3 mi, 233° SW
- Stillman House Museum (Museum) — 25.3 mi, 233° SW
- Brownsville Art League Fine Arts Museum (Museum) — 25.5 mi, 232° SW
- Bobby Morrow Stadium (Stadium) — 29.6 mi, 273° W
- Padre Island National Seashore (National Lakeshore) — 31.3 mi, 349° N · 262k acres
- Topgolf (Attraction) — 64.1 mi, 275° W
- Border Theater (Theatre) — 72.0 mi, 275° W
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About This South Padre Island Map Page
This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of South Padre Island, Texas. Coordinates: 26.120465, -97.170703. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.
Detailed location data for South Padre Island includes the ZIP code (78597), telephone area code (830), county seat of Cameron County (Brownsville), and school district assignment (Point Isabel Independent School District).
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any US town, county or landmark by name; offers USGS topographic maps and USGS aerial imagery as base layers; overlays a labelled U.S. National Grid (USNG) so the map can be read like a printed topographic quad; measures distance and grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as a USNG grid reference and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles require cell coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map cannot load.
Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Location data | SimpleMaps US Cities Database; coordinates matched to USGS GNIS definitive data |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; USGS The National Map topographic and aerial imagery (public domain); magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Wikipedia validation | Article content matched to USGS GNIS coordinates via Wikipedia geosearch API. |
