Washington Post, August 5, 2024, More Americans Are Moving Into Flood And Fire Hot Spots
Drawing on data from the Census Bureau and the First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that assesses climate risk, the Redfin analysis showed that the counties most exposed to floods and fires gained more population than they lost between July 2022 and July 2023 — a continuation of a years-long trend of Americans disproportionately relocating to climate-vulnerable areas.
But the report, provided exclusively to The Post, also revealed hints that migration patterns might be shifting. In fire-prone California, the highest-risk counties had a net outflow of nearly 7,000 people. And the net inflow to the nation’s high-flood-risk counties fell dramatically — a net population increase of just 16,144 last year after gaining 383,656 people between 2021 and 2022.
