Americans Move To Most Dangerous Wildfire Cities

Americans are not fleeing some of the most dangerous cities in the US, which are those where wildfires and wildfire conditions are prevalent.

According to a new study from LendingTree titled “Metros With Highest Wildfire Risk See Influx of New Residents,” researchers found, “In fact, just two of the 29 metros with the highest wildfire risk had a higher rate of people moving out than in.”

At the top of the list was Flagstaff, where the city added 137.1 residents per 1,000. It also had a high number of people moving out, at 80.2 per 1,000. While LendingTree calls this churn, it is just as likely that residents are worried about wildfire conditions. People moving here have not had that experience. 

Florida Danger

Flagstaff was followed by Oscala, Florida, Chico, California, and Provo, Utah. Three of the top 10 were in Florida–Ocala, Lakeland, and Naples. This is interesting, as these cities are also hurricane-prone. 

The researchers noted, “A metro is considered at high risk for wildfires if any county ranks in the top 50 for wildfire risk, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Risk Index (NRI) data. That left us with 29 metros to analyze.” Additional data came from 2023 ACS data with one-year estimates to get the populations in 2022 and 2023 for each metro.

While the trend seems counterintuitive, it does match the inward migration to Florida, although that seems to have slowed in the last year. This may be because of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Aside from destruction, the storms raised residential real estate prices. But, residents like the warm weather and low taxes.

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