In recent years there has been a lot of talk about Americans moving to so called “Climate Havens”, areas that purportedly will not suffer heavy impacts from climate-pumped extreme events. (which btw is seeming less and less true with every passing season)
In fact, the highest growth parts of the country remain regions that are critically exposed to climate risk.
Part of me says, have at it, bro.
The other part of me knows that the rest of us are going to end up paying for this mass delusional behavior.
Florida has had a population boom over the past several years, with more than 700,000 people moving there in 2022, and it was the second-fastest-growing state as of July 2023, according to Census Bureau data. While there are some indications that migration to the state has slowed from its pandemic highs, only Texas saw more one-way U-Haul moves into the state than Florida last year. Mortgage application data indicated there were nearly two homebuyers moving to Florida in 2023 for every one leaving, according to data analytics firm CoreLogic.
But while hundreds of thousands of new residents have flocked to the state on the promise of beautiful weather, no income tax and lower costs, nearly 500,000 left in 2022, according to the most recent census data. Contributing to their move was a perfect storm of soaring insurance costs, a hostile political environment, worsening traffic and extreme weather, according to interviews with more than a dozen recent transplants and longtime residents who left the state in the past two years.
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While costs have been rising across the country, some areas of Florida have been hit particularly hard. In the South Florida region, which includes Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, consumer prices in February were up nearly 5% over the prior year, compared to 3.2% nationally, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Homeowners insurance rates in Florida rose 42% last year to an average of $6,000 annually, driven by hurricanes and climate change, and car insurance in Florida is more than 50% higher than the national average, according to the Insurance Information Institute. While once seen as an affordable housing market, Florida is now among the more expensive states to buy a home in, with prices up 60% since 2020 to an average of $388,500, according to Zillow.
within 5 yrs there will be a mass exodus out of Florida and Arizona and Nevada due to either lack of drinking water or huge devastating hurricanes or excessive heat and humidity. Inevitable. These people have chosen to ignore 30 yrs of climate change warnings. and voted for politicians who disputed and played down the climate science and risks.
One of my sister’s in-laws had moved to Phoenix for a tech job. They asked him about the looming water shortage, and he just shrugged and said when he turned on the tap, the water came out.
Just think of all of the people who know which teams are in the college basketball playoffs, or who can identify various Kardashians, or what the latest upgrades are in their new iPhones. At least with insurance premium hikes, that might finally get their attention.
speaking as someone who knows a disturbing amount of detail about the Detroit Lions offseason free agent aquisitions, I totally agree we are way too obsessed with non-essentials.
However ,still no excuse to be unaware of climate impacts on vulnerable communities. Lots of people gonna be shocked in coming years.