Coastal Cities' Preparedness for Rising Sea Levels

The recent Climate Science Special Report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program anticipates that sea levels are "very likely" to rise 4.3 feet, and potentially by 8 feet or more this century.

39 percent of homes valued in the top third of their metro area are projected to be underwater, per Zillow's analysis. “... If top-tier markets mobilize and start to protect themselves, that will mean more and more businesses doing coastal protection work and flood resilience work, and hopefully as the market matures, prices [for protecting individual homes and whole communities] will come down...” said Benjamin Strauss, Climate Central's Vice President for Sea Level and Climate Impacts.

Nationwide, we found that 1.9 million homes worth a cumulative $916 billion could be underwater if seas rise 6 feet. (To be clear, sea levels are not expected to rise uniformly, but we chose a midpoint rather than differentiating sea level predictions for different coastal areas.)

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