The color of water: Racial and income differences in exposure to floods across US neighborhoods

Abstract

We provide a US national portrait of annual average exposure to floods across racial/ethnic and income groups, using predictions from the First Street Foundation flooding exposure model. Nationally, we find that Native Americans in inland neighborhoods and Hispanics in coastal ones face (statistically) significantly higher average exposure to flooding than non‐Hispanic Whites, even when neighborhood income composition is controlled. Surprisingly, non‐Hispanic Blacks and Asians generally have significantly lower average exposure to floods than non‐Hispanic Whites. Lower income groups exhibit substantially higher exposure in inland areas than higher income groups—but not in coastal areas—when neighborhood racial/ethnic composition is controlled.