The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration

Jake Bittle documents how rising sea levels, inland flooding, and intensifying wildfires are already forcing thousands of Americans to abandon their homes. Through case studies of displaced residents in places like the Florida Keys, coastal Louisiana, and fire-scorched California mountain towns, the book examines the economic mechanisms driving this internal migration. Bittle explains how declining property values, rising insurance premiums, and the federal government’s buy-out programs dismantle existing communities. This narrative identifies a transition from temporary disaster recovery toward a permanent shift in the nation’s geography as middle-class and low-income families scramble for habitable land.

Readers interested in climate policy and urban planning will find a detailed map of how environmental instability impacts the national housing market and local tax bases. The book serves those who want to understand the practical logistics of managed retreat and the logistical failures of current disaster relief systems. Readers walk away with a clear perspective on the financial risks inherent in coastal real estate and the specific ways climate change redistributes human populations across the United States.