Advancing coastal resilience requires a clear understanding of community-level risks and a robust evaluation of the costs and benefits of adaptation strategies, including Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Gulf Coast states face growing threats from flooding, erosion, and groundwater hazards, yet lack a comprehensive framework to quantify these risks or assess how local solutions can mitigate them. In collaboration with institutions such as USGS, University of Arkansas, and Deltares over the past two decades, we present modeling approaches that have been deployed across the country to systematically evaluate coastal hazard risk and the effectiveness of NbS under current and future conditions. Our findings show that conserving and restoring tidal wetlands—such as mangroves and salt marshes—can be highly cost-effective; for example, existing mangroves across the Gulf Coast prevent an estimated $1 billion in annual storm damages. Expanding evaluations of NbS—including the restoration of salt marshes, beaches, and dunes—across the Gulf region will help guide cost-effective investments in coastal sustainability.