By 2050, climate change will have the biggest negative impact on urban areas located in the Sun Belt.
Online insurance marketplace Policygenius evaluated the 50 largest U.S. cities to determine which will be most and least impacted by climate change by 2050. The factors analyzed included heat and humidity, flooding and sea level rise, air quality, and frequency of natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, social vulnerability, and community resilience.
Least Impacted
- San Francisco, California
- Seattle, Washington
- Columbus, Ohio
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Portland, Oregon
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Richmond, Virginia
- Denver, Colorado
Most Impacted
- Houson, Texas
- Miami, Florida
- Tampa, Florida
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Orlando, Florida
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Los Angeles, California
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Riverside, California
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
Of the cities ranked most at risk, all are located in the Sunbelt, which often tops lists of the best places to move or retire. Eight of those are located in the South, which was the only region that drew net new residents from other states in 2023, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Experts are concerned this trend will leave an increasing number of people, particularly Black communities and communities of color, vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change.
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