Capacity and Change in Climate Migrant-Receiving Communities Along the U.S. Gulf: A Three-Case Comparison

Description: Climate change is already driving population migrations, especially along the Gulf Coast. However, the capacity of destination communities to prepare for and integrate people who are displaced by natural disasters and climate change – known as climate migrants – has received little attention. This project will examine communities in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas that are already receiving climate migrants to determine the communities’ capacities to integrate them at the point of migration and the migrants’ effects on housing and employment markets, financial services, health care providers, and social and cultural facilities. The project team will use findings to develop actionable information that Gulf communities can use in their preparation for and integration of expected future climate migrants.

Funding Cycle: Thriving Communities 5
Funding Organization: National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program

Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Data: to assess the number of jobs and the number of residents with jobs at a given geography

Decennial Census and American Community Survey Data: to assess the number of people unemployed, the number of people in the labor force, the total population, and the number of people asked the employment question.

The Area Health Resources Files (AHRF): panel data at the county level to assess demand and supply changes in the health care system of residents of Louisiana and Florida

The County Health Rankings (CHR): panel data at the county level to assess demand and supply changes in the health care system of residents of Louisiana and Florida

American Community Survey 5-year demographic data

HUD Income Limits by household size for the year 2019 for all states and some overseas territories of the United States

Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates: Percent of Families in Poverty

Unemployment statistics for various counties within the Gulf of Mexico, California, Nevada, and New Jersey, from 2000 to 2022