Neighborhood Selection and Natural Disasters: Purposive Residential Mobility after Hurricanes

In the United Statues, hurricanes increase residential mobility, particularly for lower-income residents, renters, and residents of color. However, there is a lack of research on how hurricanes impact the destination neighborhoods of movers. To address the gap in research on post-hurricane neighborhood selection, I use data from the American Community Survey to investigate how the attributes of destination neighborhoods differ between moves undertaken before and after a hurricane. I find that post-hurricane movers, including both within-county movers and incoming migrants, choose neighborhoods with higher housing values, lower poverty rates, and higher proportions of white residents, relative to pre-hurricane movers. I conclude that post-hurricane moves align with a purposive model of mobility. After hurricanes, on average, movers select into richer, whiter neighborhoods rather than systematically shifting into lower quality neighborhoods.