Prepared for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, this comprehensive technical report documents important social, economic, and demographic trends and conditions in counties and communities adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico. The report integrates the results of two MMS-funded projects: Benefits and Burdens of OCS Activities on Select Communities and Public Institutions; and Effects on Local Human Communities of OCS Mineral Extraction in Frontier Areas. The work was carried out between 1998 and 2004. The studies make clear that: (a) the shoreside benefits and burdens of development in the deep waters of the Gulf have tended to concentrate in areas with significant historic involvement in the oil and gas industry, and (b) effective analysis of such effects requires analytical attention not only to changes in the oil and gas sectors, but also to macroeconomic trends, regional changes in the adjacent fishing and tourism industries, ongoing changes in local and regional demography, and natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.