The town of Zihuatanejo is the seat of the municipality of Zihuatanejo de Azueta and as such is the governmental authority for approximately 416 communities, with a total population of 104,609 as of 2005, and an area of . There are small indigenous communities in the municipality which speak Nahuatl and Tlapaneco. Population increase for the period of 1995-2000 was 1.85 percent, with a population density of just under fifty people per square km. The greatest population increase was seen in the 1980s when the municipality jumped from 25,751 to 63,366 residents.