Which US Cities Worry The Most About Climate Change? Is Yours On The List?

By Sam Stebbins  •  September 26, 2025
Crowd gathering for climate change protest, holding activist sign.https://climate-crisis-247-bucket.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/07201445/2990610-150x150.jpeg

Largely due to a build-up of carbon pollution in the atmosphere, the Earth has been warming steadily for well over a century. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the average global temperature has climbed by about 0.1°F every decade since 1850. More recently, the warming trend has accelerated, with average temperatures climbing nearly 0.4°F every decade since 1982.

While a warmer climate alone may not appear to be a cause for alarm, rising temperatures have significant, and potentially devastating, implications. Global warming is increasing both the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. In the United States, the most dramatic consequences are exemplified in Western wildfires, resulting from summer heat and prolonged drought, as well as hurricanes, which become more likely as ocean temperatures rise, impacting communities along the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines.

In addition to singular instances of natural disasters, a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that risks associated with global warming in North America include degradation of ecosystems and threats to national food and water security.

Despite these consequences, millions of Americans remain unconcerned. According to a 2024 survey conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, only 63.3% of adults in the United States say they are worried about global warming. However, in certain U.S. cities, much larger shares of the population appear receptive to the alarm bells being sounded by the scientific community.

Using data from the YPCCC report Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2024, Climate Crisis 247 identified the cities where the most people are worried about climate change. We ranked metropolitan areas by the share of the 18 and older population who say they are worried about climate change. Only cities where at least 70% of the adult population worry about climate change appear on this list. Supplemental data on the share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally, to at least a moderate degree, is also from the YPCCC. The YPCCC bears no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations of the data presented here.

34. Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX

Photo by Tomek Baginski on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 70.1%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 49.0%
  • Adult population: 1,836,646
 

33. Urban Honolulu, HI

Photo by Spenser Sembrat on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 70.1%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 53.0%
  • Adult population: 795,215
 

32. Boulder, CO

Photo by Deepak Adhikari on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 70.3%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 45.9%
  • Adult population: 269,186
 

31. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA

Photo by Zekai Wu on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 70.4%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 49.9%
  • Adult population: 344,369
 

30. Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA

Photo by Rodrigo Kammer on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 70.5%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 50.2%
  • Adult population: 652,465
 

29. Fresno, CA

Photo by Kellen Riggin on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 70.6%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 52.4%
  • Adult population: 843,674
 

28. Eagle Pass, TX

Photo by Florencia Lewis on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 70.7%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 53.3%
  • Adult population: 39,756
 

27. Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA

Photo by Justin Shen on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 70.7%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 49.8%
  • Adult population: 3,982,368
 

26. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Pexels

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 70.8%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 52.3%
  • Adult population: 604,281
 

25. Ithaca, NY

Photo by Will Barkoff on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 70.9%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 47.0%
  • Adult population: 87,889
 

24. Amherst Town-Northampton, MA

Photo by jen G on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 71.1%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 45.0%
  • Adult population: 133,245
 

23. Laredo, TX

Photo by Kristy Mayo on Pexels

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 71.1%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 53.6%
  • Adult population: 182,994
 

22. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

Photo by Olenka Kotyk on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 71.2%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 55.5%
  • Adult population: 10,280,100
 

21. Kahului-Wailuku, HI

Photo by Mike Perez on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 71.3%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 51.1%
  • Adult population: 259,676
 

20. Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA

Photo by Donghun Shin on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 71.3%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 51.1%
  • Adult population: 391,704
 

19. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA

Photo by Shunya Koide on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 71.3%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 48.2%
  • Adult population: 3,173,274
 

18. Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD

Photo by Salonagility.com Daniel on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 71.4%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 50.5%
  • Adult population: 19,597,464
 

17. Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO

Photo by Acton Crawford on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 71.6%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 49.1%
  • Adult population: 2,339,038
 

16. Tucson, AZ

Photo by JC Cervantes on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 71.6%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 51.1%
  • Adult population: 841,365
 

15. Salinas, CA

Photo by John Ruddock on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 71.7%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 50.8%
  • Adult population: 322,630
 

14. Napa, CA

Photo by Bob Chambers on Unsplash

  •  Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 72.0%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 50.4%

  • Adult population: 109,049

13. El Centro, CA

Photo by Kelley Ashbrook on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 72.1%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 53.4%
  • Adult population: 128,204
 

12. El Paso, TX

Photo by Kevin Vega on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 72.1%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 55.5%
  • Adult population: 640,213
 

11. Ann Arbor, MI

Photo by Chris Winchester on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 72.3%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 45.7%
  • Adult population: 300,686
 

10. Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT

Photo by Balazs Busznyak on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 72.4%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 47.1%
  • Adult population: 1,832,688
 

9. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ

Photo by ben o'bro on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 73.0%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 51.7%
  • Adult population: 31,087,764
 

8. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

Photo by Jacob Creswick on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 73.1%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 52.2%
  • Adult population: 19,323,724
 

7. Trenton-Princeton, NJ

Photo by Nellie Adamyan on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 73.5%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 49.3%
  • Adult population: 299,244
 

6. Santa Fe, NM

Photo by Gabriel Tovar on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 73.5%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 51.5%
  • Adult population: 129,600
 

5. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA

Photo by Yeshaya Barron on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 74.1%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 53.6%
  • Adult population: 216,118
 

4. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

Photo by Jimmy Woo on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 74.2%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 52.2%
  • Adult population: 7,917,876
 

3. Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT

Photo by julio angel berroa on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 75.0%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 45.5%
  • Adult population: 1,477,006
 

2. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

Photo by odya kun on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 75.1%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 54.7%
  • Adult population: 1,553,780
 

1. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA

Photo by Braden Collum on Unsplash

  • Share of adults who are worried about global warming: 77.4%
  • Share of adults who think global warming will harm them personally: 56.1%
  • Adult population: 3,750,660