Climate Migration is Reshaping Miami's Future

Miami is ground zero for climate change in America. The city faces rising seas, intensifying hurricanes, and flooding that no longer waits for storms. Yet construction continues, property values rise, and millions keep moving here.

The cognitive dissonance is remarkable. Developers build luxury condos on land that may be underwater in decades. Insurers flee the market while buyers pile in. The official response oscillates between denial and inadequate action.

Climate migration has already begun. Lower-income residents in flood-prone areas move to higher ground—which means moving to neighborhoods long occupied by Black and brown communities. Climate gentrification displaces the vulnerable twice.

Some adaptation happens. Raised roads, improved drainage, building codes that assume flooding. But these are defensive measures against an offensive that never stops.

The wealthy will adapt. They always do. The question is what happens to everyone else—and whether Miami remains recognizable when the adaptation is complete.