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Welcome to Sturgeon Bay ...

The city of Sturgeon Bay is located in Door County<1> and is the County Seat for Door County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Sturgeon Bay, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1855.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Sturgeon Bay has a population of 8,971 people<2> (see below for details).

Sturgeon Bay is 580 feet [177 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Sturgeon Bay lies in the Central Time Zone (CST/CDT) and observes daylight saving time

Note: If you travel east from Sturgeon Bay (for example, toward Frankfort (MI)), you will leave Central Time and cross into the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT).

Area Codes for Sturgeon Bay: 920 & 274<4>

The ZIP code for Sturgeon Bay: 54235<5>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Sturgeon Bay had an population of 8,971 people. This is a decrease of 1.89% since the 2010 Census (or a decrease of 4.94% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Sturgeon Bay had a population of 9,144 people (or 32.95% of the total population of Door County). This makes Sturgeon Bay the county's most populous community.

The population of Sturgeon Bay represents 0.16% of the total population of Wisconsin (which has 5,686,986 people), making it the state's 100th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 9,144 people, the population of Sturgeon Bay decreased 3.1% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 9,437 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Sturgeon Bay.

Communities Also Named Sturgeon Bay ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found another community named Sturgeon Bay - it's located in Ontario.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Sturgeon Bay.

Websites for Sturgeon Bay ...

Official Website: www.sturgeonbaywi.org/

Communities near Sturgeon Bay ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Sturgeon Bay.

  • Algoma
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Forestville
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forestville have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forestville
    • Forestville is located in Door County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 408 people
  • Egg Harbor
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Egg Harbor have been provided by the GNIS.<6> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Egg Harbor
    • Egg Harbor is located in Door County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 202 people
  • Idlewild
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
  • Little Sturgeon
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
  • Brussels
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Jacksonport
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Namur
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Namur. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<7>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Namur
    • Namur is located in Door County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Namur
    • From Sturgeon Bay to Namur
  • Rosiere
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Rosiere. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<7>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosiere
    • Rosiere is located in Door County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Rosiere
    • From Sturgeon Bay to Rosiere
  • Gregorville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Sturgeon Bay. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Sturgeon Bay.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Sturgeon Bay. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Sturgeon Bay.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Sturgeon Bay. Our list includes 12 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Sturgeon Bay.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Sturgeon Bay ...

Looking for more information about Sturgeon Bay? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Sturgeon Bay, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Sturgeon Bay.

Adding Sturgeon Bay to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Sturgeon Bay in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Sturgeon Bay was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>

X2X - From that list, the Sturgeon Bay post office opened in 1855.

We also found Sturgeon Bay in the book titled List of Post Offices in the United States (1870).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Sturgeon Bay.

The official website for Sturgeon Bay: www.sturgeonbaywi.org/

The official website for Door County: www.co.door.wi.gov/

The official website for State of Wisconsin: https://www.wisconsin.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Wisconsin's counties, including Door, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Sturgeon Bay.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Sturgeon Bay - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 920 code has been Overlayed with the 274 area code. New phone numbers in the Sturgeon Bay area will be assigned with one of these codes: 920 or 274. As a result, placing a call in the Sturgeon Bay area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<5>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a city (such as Sturgeon Bay). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Sturgeon Bay or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
<6>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<7>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<8>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 17 Jul 2025