We closely monitor the impact of climate change on home insurance rates & as a result we analyze many disparate data sources including Census data, NOAA’s sea level riser data & TIGER shape files. The current publicly available data to understand the impact of rising sea levels & climate change is a census designation of coastal counties. However, just because a county is designated as coastline does not mean that all places within the county are adjacent to the coast & most impacted by rising sea levels.
We went one level deeper & studied census tracts within coastal counties & analyzed which census tracts were adjacent to the coast or ocean & what places those census tracts belonged to. Based on that analysis, we further mapped the population & housing units on those census tracts. We believe these are the places with the highest risk of rising sea levels & most adversely impacted by climate change & Trump’s Paris accord withdrawal. There are 9.7 million people living in 5.4 million homes in these 2592 census tracts. You can browse through the various places & census tracts at this link. The summary data at the state level and the top places are given below.
TOP US STATES WITH POPULATION IN CENSUS TRACTS ADJACENT TO THE OCEAN
| State | Number of Ocean Adjacent Census Tracts | Total Population Living In Census Tracts Adjacent to the Ocean | Total Houses In Census Tracts Adjacent to the Ocean |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 547 | 1,925,585 | 1,285,487 |
| California | 325 | 1,370,130 | 635,571 |
| Washington | 190 | 798,461 | 391,979 |
| New York | 198 | 756,890 | 352,047 |
| Maryland | 130 | 531,959 | 268,476 |
| Massachusetts | 138 | 528,034 | 319,711 |
| Hawaii | 120 | 494,641 | 209,806 |
| Virginia | 120 | 473,008 | 217,654 |
| New Jersey | 123 | 378,969 | 270,679 |
| North Carolina | 114 | 356,560 | 233,747 |
| Texas | 86 | 348,023 | 184,298 |
| Connecticut | 73 | 286,588 | 135,005 |
| Maine | 70 | 245,536 | 163,500 |
| Alaska | 61 | 240,550 | 105,608 |
| Rhode Island | 52 | 194,098 | 100,114 |
| South Carolina | 61 | 182,030 | 159,132 |
| Oregon | 43 | 135,099 | 89,070 |
| Delaware | 38 | 118,055 | 82,071 |
| Alabama | 22 | 108,603 | 67,869 |
| Mississippi | 25 | 101,588 | 50,396 |
| Georgia | 23 | 94,058 | 52,553 |
| Louisiana | 25 | 81,078 | 35,578 |
| New Hampshire | 8 | 25,309 | 15,448 |
| Grand Total | 2,592 | 9,774,852 | 5,425,799 |
TOP 30 US PLACES WITH POPULATION IN CENSUS TRACTS ADJACENT TO THE OCEAN
| No. | Place Name | Number of Ocean Adjacent Census Tracts | Total Population Living In Census Tracts Adjacent to the Ocean | Total Houses In Census Tracts Adjacent to the Ocean |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York, NY | 108 | 362520 | 153867 |
| 2 | Seattle, WA | 20 | 100776 | 52490 |
| 3 | San Francisco, CA | 22 | 80971 | 41294 |
| 4 | Corpus Christi, TX | 18 | 77985 | 41576 |
| 5 | St. Petersburg, FL | 19 | 72993 | 41561 |
| 6 | Tampa, FL | 20 | 71182 | 36080 |
| 7 | Anchorage, AK | 12 | 66817 | 24664 |
| 8 | Miami, FL | 20 | 60883 | 43704 |
| 9 | San Diego, CA | 15 | 51035 | 28959 |
| 10 | Virginia Beach, VA | 15 | 49940 | 25180 |
| 11 | Los Angeles, CA | 15 | 48667 | 24681 |
| 12 | Norfolk, VA | 12 | 46041 | 14246 |
| 13 | Miami Beach, FL | 15 | 43697 | 35910 |
| 14 | Baltimore, MD | 15 | 43126 | 22450 |
| 15 | Newport News, VA | 9 | 42508 | 16198 |
| 16 | Huntington Beach, CA | 10 | 42343 | 18592 |
| 17 | Alameda, CA | 8 | 40368 | 17224 |
| 18 | Galveston, TX | 17 | 40161 | 23754 |
| 19 | Camp Pendleton North, CA | 1 | 39454 | 7665 |
| 20 | Panama City, FL | 9 | 35857 | 16969 |
| 21 | Santa Barbara, CA | 9 | 34650 | 13913 |
| 22 | Laguna Beach, CA | 6 | 34633 | 18127 |
| 23 | Long Beach, NY | 8 | 33470 | 16748 |
| 24 | Melbourne, FL | 8 | 33247 | 19091 |
| 25 | Warwick, RI | 9 | 32755 | 14814 |
| 26 | Texas City, TX | 6 | 32491 | 15692 |
| 27 | Bradenton, FL | 6 | 31332 | 15381 |
| 28 | Lynn Haven, FL | 5 | 31093 | 12903 |
| 29 | Long Beach, CA | 8 | 30484 | 19913 |
| 30 | Boston, MA | 11 | 30193 | 14100 |