Gautier ( GOH-SHAY) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States, along the Gulf of Mexico west of Pascagoula. It is part of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 18,572 at the 2010 census, up from 11,681 at the 2000 census. In 2002, Gautier had annexed land over doubling its area.

Gautier is a bedroom resort community between bayous and wetlands on three sides. The natural environment of Gautier offers many opportunities for recreation and eco-tourism. The Gulf Coast region, of which Gautier is a part, has been considered a relatively tall growth area of the state; however, the loss of houses and jobs after Hurricane Katrina upon August 29, 2005 led to outmigration in 2006.

The town takes its pronounce from the Gautier relatives that originated in Lyon, France. Fernando Upton Gautier (1822–1891) was born upon a cargo boat as his parents were emigrating to New Orleans. In 1867, Gautier conventional a spacious homestead at the mouth of the Pascagoula River, which still stands. He expected a lucrative sawmill event in the area, and the town grew going on from it. The home, known by locals as “The Old Place”, is owned by the descendants of Fernando Upton Gautier and his wife, Theresa Fayard Gautier (1828–1911), and is used for private and public events.

Gautier is located in southern Jackson County along Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the West Pascagoula River, locally known as the “Singing River”. The city is bordered to the east by the city of Pascagoula (the Jackson county seat) and to the west by Ocean Springs, and to the north by unincorporated Vancleave.