Racial Disparities in U.S. Climate Migration

Summary:  View help for Summary Floods are increasingly frequent and severe due to climate change, thereby impacting migration within the United States. Considering that Black and Brown populations are disproportionately exposed to floods, less likely to receive disaster-related government funds, and vulnerable during subsequent displacement, an examination of differences in migration patterns across racial/ethnic groups is critical. The prevailing conjecture is that after floods, Black and Brown populations will migrate while White ones remain in place. We test this hypothesis by examining the effect of floods on migration across all U.S. county-pairs between 2006-2016 and find that this hypothesis is incorrect: generally, after floods Black populations remain in place and White populations migrate. However, this pattern reverses when the Federal Emergency Management Agency provides financial support. Notably, migration by Hispanic and Asian populations is not significantly affected by floods. These results provide the first evidence of racial disparities in climate migration.