Texas welcomes the most disaster-displaced Americans
While hurricane displacements are more common, relocations due to damage from wildfires tends to be more permanent.
As many as 3 million Americans were displaced by natural disasters during the last year, according to an analysis of Census Bureau date from HireAHelper. While most disaster displacements are temporary, 18% of those 3 million Americans (about 533,000 people) had yet to return home as of May 2023.
The length of displacements due to extreme weather vary, but most tend to be short-term, with 33% lasting less than a week and 31% lasting one week to one month. Just under 89,000 people reported making a permanent move after a natural disaster in the last 12 months.
Louisiana was the state most heavily affected by disaster relocations, with 7.5% of residents needing to leave their homes in the last year. Florida – which saw major impacts from Hurricane Ian in 2022 – had the second largest number of residents who had to relocate at 5.6%. The only other states to see displacement rates over 2% were Kentucky (2.6%), Alaska (2.5%), Michigan (2.2%) and New Mexico (2%).
Hurricanes and tornadoes account for the highest number of displacements (41%), followed by floods (26%) and wildfires (23%). While hurricane displacements are more common, relocations due to damage from fires tends to be more permanent. According to the HireAHelper report, 45% of those who escaped wildfires can’t return home, even a full year after the event. Tornadoes are the second largest cause of permanent disaster displacement, with 24% reportedly unable to return home.
Of those who were forced to move because of a disaster, 55% reportedly moved within the same county, 20% moved to a different county within the same state and 25% relocated to a different state.
For several years, Texas has been the most popular place for those changing states to settle, which has led to it having the largest number of disaster refugees relative to the population (58 per 10,000) of any state in the U.S. Other states that have taken in the most disaster-displaced Americans include Tennessee, Mississippi, Wyoming and Michigan.