Markets · · 3 min read

The Wealthiest Americans Now Carry the Most Flood Exposure. Models Don't Reflect That.

New Census Bureau research confirms what private flood insurers have been betting on: flood exposure is concentrating among the wealthiest Americans, and the market is moving to follow it.

The Wealthiest Americans Now Carry the Most Flood Exposure. Models Don't Reflect That.
Photo by Bridger Bowcutt / Unsplash

New research from the U.S. Census Bureau upends one of the most persistent assumptions in climate risk analysis: that flood exposure falls disproportionately on lower-income and vulnerable communities.

Using confidential household-level data covering nearly 25 years, researchers found the opposite is increasingly true — and that the tools used to price and transfer flood risk may be systematically mispricing it as a result.