Picture this: You’re looking to buy a place to live, and you have two options.
Option A is a beautiful home in California near good schools and jobs. But it goes for nearly a million dollars — the median California home sells for $906,500 — and you’d be paying a mortgage that’s risen 82% since January 2020.
Option B is a similar home in Texas, where the median home costs less than half as much: just $353,700. The catch? Option B sits in an area with significant hurricane and flood risk.
This isn’t just a hypothetical scenario. It’s the impossible choice millions of Americans face as the U.S. housing crisis collides with climate change. And we’re not handling it well.
The migration patterns are stark. Take California, which lost 239,575 residents in 2024 — the largest out-migration of any state. High housing costs are a primary driver: median home prices in California are more than double the national median.