Labor Day Weekend marks the last hurrah of summer, but don’t fret, a few weeks of sunshine and warm temperatures still lie ahead, certainly enough to permit a few long afternoons at the beach.
With that in mind, The Daily Beast wanted to know, for the second year in a row, which of America’s countless beaches are the most popular. With data on more than 100 of the busiest beach destinations in the country from the United States Lifesaving Association, we compared the 2011 attendance numbers to each beach town’s population, using 5-year population estimates from the U.S. Census. We also equally weighted this per-capita number with the total number of visitors to determine our final ranking of America’s 20 most popular beach destination cities and towns.
AFP / Getty Images (2) ; Getty Images (2)
Population: 2,587
Beachgoers: 775,000
Beachgoers per capita: 300
Logan Mock-Bunting / Getty Images
Population: 2,097
Beachgoers: 641,540
Beachgoers per capita: 306
Marty.FM / Flickr
Population: 19,721
Beachgoers: 3,550,000
Beachgoers per capita: 180
Lenny Ignelzi / AP Photo
Population: 22,788
Beachgoers: 4,315,450
Beachgoers per capita: 189
Jae C. Hong / AP Photo
Population: 21,434
Beachgoers: 4,200,000
Beachgoers per capita: 196
Bruce Lipsky, Florida Times-Union / AP Photo
Population: 188,914
Beachgoers: 7,936,526
Beachgoers per capita: 42
David McNew / Getty Images
Population: 141,249
Beachgoers: 7,727,987
Beachgoers per capita: 55
Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Population: 13,397
Beachgoers: 3,500,000
Beachgoers per capita: 261
Stan Grossfeld / The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Population: 496,053
Beachgoers: 10,000,000
Beachgoers per capita: 20
John Raoux / AP Photo
Population: 1,348
Beachgoers: 600,000
Beachgoers per capita: 445
chicabrandita / Flickr
Population: 83,571
Beachgoers: 9,446,850
Beachgoers per capita: 113
Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
Population: 330
Beachgoers: 176,000
Beachgoers per capita: 533
Lee Cannon / Flickr
Population: 292
Beachgoers: 159,000
Beachgoers per capita: 545
Lucian Perkins / The Washington Post via Getty Images
Population: 128
Beachgoers: 79,471
Beachgoers per capita: 621
William Thomas Cain / Getty Images
Population: 4,178
Beachgoers: 2,216,969
Beachgoers per capita: 531
Sandy Huffaker / AP Photo
Population: 1,161
Beachgoers: 800,000
Beachgoers per capita: 689
Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post via Getty Images
Population: 87,585
Beachgoers: 13,268,841
Beachgoers per capita: 151
Patrick Farrell, Miami Herald / MCT via Getty Images
Population: 936,984
Beachgoers: 16,407,466
Beachgoers per capita: 18
Patrick Baz, AFP / Getty Images
Population: 7,194
Beachgoers: 4,500,000
Beachgoers per capita: 626
Jim Watson, AFP / Getty Images
Population: 1,282,800
Beachgoers: 21,705,659
Beachgoers per capita: 17
Mary Knox Merrill, The Christian Science Monitor / Getty Images
