Climate-friendly cities: Is anywhere truly safe?

There isn’t anywhere in the United States that has been completely untouched by climate change. In fact, according to the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the U.S. saw two exceptionally busy years for catastrophic weather events in 2020 and 2021, and with the way these statistics are trending, it appears these disastrous events may be our new normal.

In 2020, a record was set for billion-dollar climate and weather disasters in a calendar year with 22 events. While 2021 comes in second with 20 billion-dollar events, what set it apart from previous years was the variety of disasters.

According to the NCEI, 2021 saw:

• 1 winter storm/ cold wave event in the deep south;
• 1 wildfire event, with impacts across Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington;
• 1 drought and heat wave event across the western U.S.;
• 2 flood events in California and Louisiana;
• 3 tornado outbreaks, including December’s long-track tornado and outbreak;
• 4 tropical cyclones;
• 8 severe weather events across the U.S., including the December Midwest derecho.

These 2021 weather events either directly or indirectly caused at least 688 fatalities; the most the country has seen since 2011.

The effects of climate change may be widespread, but there are still some areas of the country that are more resilient to the effects.

A recent study from Hippo combined data from the EPA, ClimateCheck.com and Policygenius to determine the U.S. cities most resistant to climate change issues. The EPA’s score is based on an area’s resilience to meteorological events and natural disasters (the higher the score, the more resilient the area); ClimateCheck.com’s rating (0-100) is based on an area’s risk of climate change events compared to other areas in the U.S. (the lower the score, the lower the risk); and a higher score with Policygenius indicates a better outlook for an area’s low-emissions future, while a lower score signifies a worse outlook.

These factors, combined with a look at local weather, home insurance rates and the risk of natural disasters, led Hippo to declare the following cities the most “climate-friendly” in the U.S.:

1. Bakersfield, California
2. El Paso, Texas
3. Tuscon, Arizona
4. Boise, Idaho
5. Laredo, Texas
6. Reno, Nevada
7. Riverside, California
8. Fresno, California
9. Madison, Wisconsin
10. San Francisco, California

You can see the full list of Hippo’s top 20 most climate-friendly cities as well as the data breakdown for each here.

Related:

• The biggest natural catastrophes of 2021
• Inflation, rising catastrophe costs are challenging commercial property lines
• NAIC: 8 ways to reduce the risk of climate-change losses