Mobile sits on the Mobile River at the head of Mobile Bay, and about 22.5 percent of its area is water. Alabama Extension names Mobile and Baldwin counties as the place where Formosan termites are most prevalent.
Mobile counted 187,041 residents in the 2020 census and averages only about 33 feet in elevation, though ground near the airport reaches 211 feet. It lies on the Mobile River at the head of Mobile Bay, covers 180 square miles of which 40.59 are water, and hosts Alabama's only deep-water port. Midtown, Oakleigh Garden, Spring Hill and Toulminville are among its neighborhoods.
The humid subtropical climate is the wettest of Alabama's three big cities: July averages 82 degrees, January 51, relative humidity runs about 75 percent through the year, and Mobile Regional Airport records 67.08 inches of precipitation annually. Warm winters, constant moisture and ship and rail traffic leave termites, roaches and mosquitoes few slow months.