The City of St. Augustine Beach was incorporated June 20, 1959 as the Town of St. Augustine Beach and was later changed to a City in 1978. At the time of incorporation, the city had a population of 396, and now has over 6,700 residents. It currently consists of 2.17 square miles on Anastasia Island in northeast Florida, halfway between Jacksonville and Daytona Beach, has 2.76 linear miles of coastline, and an elevation of 7 feet above sea level.
As with all coastal communities, the city faces issues with sea level rise, more so due to its existence on a barrier island, barely 2 miles across at the widest point, with the Matanzas River on the west side as well as the Atlantic Ocean on the east. In cooperation with St. Johns County and the Army Corps of Engineers, the city has started to mitigate the rise with beach renourishment every seven years. The city is also in the process of a sea oats planting to help stabilize and grow the dune wall protecting the city.
