One-third of Americans say climate change could make them move
A recent report from Forbes Home found that concern about climate change varies region-to-region across the U.S.
Americans living in Northeastern states are the most likely to move due to bad weather or climate change, says recent research from Forbes Home. However, people across the nation seem to be rightly concerned about climate change and natural disasters, with 34% citing better weather and 30% citing climate change as things that could motivate them to move in 2022.
A report from CoreLogic released in February 2022 found that about 1-in-10 homes in the United States – more than 14.5 million – were impacted by natural hazards in 2021. These events are not only traumatic for those affected, but they can also be incredibly expensive. CoreLogic reported that of the $56.92 billion in property damage caused by these events in 2021, about $33 billion was caused by hurricanes, $1.46 billion was caused by wildfires and $15 billion in property damage was caused by severe weather events like tornadoes and hail.
Residents in Southwestern states were the least likely to be concerned about climate change and weather events, Forbes Home reports, which is causing some experts to express concern that those Americans aren’t taking natural hazards around them as seriously as they should.
“People are moving to areas with worsening risk to climate hazards. Take wildfires—real estate prices are skyrocketing across the west, not decreasing, in areas with increased fire risk because of climate change,” Dr. Cascade Tuholske, Earth Institute Postdoctoral Research Scientist for Columbia University is quoted in the report. “What is really concerning to me is extreme heat, often called the silent killer in cities like Houston, which my work shows has had the biggest increase in dangerous hot-humid over the last 30 years of any American city. Yet again, Houston’s population has exploded.”
Forbes Home also found people ages 26 to 41 were the most likely to move because of climate change at 35%, followed by those over age 77, with 32% stating it would motivate them to relocate.