Will People Move To Cleveland And Detroit Because Of Climate Dangers?

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The New York Times recently ran a series of maps. It showed the overlap of people moving into areas of the US where climate change has made life much more risky. In some cases, like Florida and Phoenix, the risks have become immense.

Some areas people have left are much more temperate and less likely to have violent weather. That does not mean there will never be heavy storms or cold winters, but the chance of catastrophic weather events is minimal.

Huge Population Move To Texas

Since the start of the century, the population has risen by the hundreds of thousands in Texas, Florida, and Arizona. Over the last eight decades, Cleveland and Detroit have lost about half of their residents.

A new term in the climate change dictionary is “climate migration.” People leave areas where the climate makes them less habitable for ones that are. In areas like India, that is impossible. Despite huge ocean storms, extreme heat, and air pollution, millions of people in India have nowhere to go.

Climate Migration

In the US, climate migration is much more realistic. It is not only a flight to safety but also to places where living is financially more practical. Insurance rates in some of the most climate-plagued areas of America’s south rise by double digits yearly. And, in some areas, insurance is not available at all. A byproduct of this is falling real estate value.

Homes are generally less expensive in Ohio and Michigan than on the Florida coasts. At some point, for many people, affordability, and temperature will trump warm weather and lower taxes.