Racial-Ethnic and Regional Disparities in Climate Event Exposures in a National United States Sample
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Data Source
2.2. Race and Ethnicity Variable
2.3. Region Variable
2.4. Climate Variables
2.5. Covariates
2.6. Analysis Plan
3. Results
3.1. Sample Characteristics
3.2. Bivariate Results
3.3. Interactions
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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| Region | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast | Midwest | South | West | Total | |
| N = 1683 (17.1%) | N = 2083 (21.2%) | N = 3756 (38.2%) | N = 2315 (23.5%) | N = 9837 (100.0%) | |
| Race and Ethnicity | |||||
| White, non-Hispanic | 1218 (72.4%) | 1638 (78.6%) | 2227 (59.3%) | 1404 (60.7%) | 6487 (65.9%) |
| Black, non-Hispanic | 139 (8.2%) | 200 (9.6%) | 722 (19.2%) | 107 (4.6%) | 1168 (11.9%) |
| Hispanic | 213 (12.7%) | 127 (6.1%) | 683 (18.2%) | 574 (24.8%) | 1597 (16.2%) |
| Asian, non-Hispanic | 113 (6.7%) | 118 (5.7%) | 124 (3.3%) | 230 (9.9%) | 585 (5.9%) |
| Age Group | |||||
| 18–29 | 268 (16.0%) | 378 (18.2%) | 630 (16.8%) | 473 (20.6%) | 1749 (17.8%) |
| 30–49 | 609 (36.4%) | 691 (33.3%) | 1329 (35.4%) | 766 (33.3%) | 3395 (34.6%) |
| 50–64 | 444 (26.5%) | 515 (24.8%) | 1026 (27.4%) | 544 (23.7%) | 2530 (25.8%) |
| 65+ | 351 (21.0%) | 493 (23.7%) | 767 (20.4%) | 516 (22.4%) | 2128 (21.7%) |
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 763 (45.5%) | 1047 (50.4%) | 1719 (45.9%) | 1101 (47.6%) | 4630 (47.2%) |
| Female | 906 (54.0%) | 1017 (48.9%) | 2014 (53.8%) | 1193 (51.6%) | 5130 (52.3%) |
| Other | 9 (0.5%) | 16 (0.7%) | 9 (0.2%) | 18 (0.8%) | 51 (0.5%) |
| Married | 889 (53.1%) | 1155 (55.5%) | 1921 (51.5%) | 1184 (51.6%) | 5148 (52.6%) |
| U.S. Citizen | 1543 (91.8%) | 2021 (97.1%) | 3483 (92.9%) | 2090 (90.8%) | 9136 (93.1%) |
| Political Ideology | |||||
| Very conservative | 125 (7.6%) | 204 (10.2%) | 403 (11.0%) | 166 (7.3%) | 898 (9.4%) |
| Conservative | 412 (25.1%) | 480 (24.1%) | 952 (26.1%) | 495 (21.9%) | 2338 (24.5%) |
| Moderate | 583 (35.5%) | 802 (40.2%) | 1473 (40.4%) | 957 (42.4%) | 3814 (40.0%) |
| Liberal | 352 (21.4%) | 380 (19.0%) | 566 (15.5%) | 443 (19.6%) | 1741 (18.2%) |
| Very liberal | 172 (10.5%) | 130 (6.5%) | 255 (7.0%) | 197 (8.7%) | 754 (7.9%) |
| Education Level | |||||
| <High school | 111 (6.6%) | 171 (8.2%) | 369 (9.8%) | 176 (7.7%) | 827 (8.4%) |
| High school | 462 (27.5%) | 635 (30.5%) | 1099 (29.3%) | 608 (26.4%) | 2803 (28.6%) |
| Some college | 484 (28.8%) | 638 (30.6%) | 1160 (31.0%) | 721 (31.3%) | 3003 (30.6%) |
| Undergraduate | 323 (19.2%) | 386 (18.5%) | 602 (16.0%) | 459 (19.9%) | 1770 (18.0%) |
| Postgraduate | 301 (17.9%) | 252 (12.1%) | 519 (13.8%) | 340 (14.7%) | 1411 (14.4%) |
| Income Tier | |||||
| Lower | 479 (30.4%) | 535 (27.2%) | 1295 (35.7%) | 738 (33.6%) | 3047 (32.5%) |
| Middle | 743 (47.1%) | 1052 (53.5%) | 1781 (49.2%) | 1085 (49.5%) | 4661 (49.8%) |
| Upper | 355 (22.5%) | 381 (19.4%) | 547 (15.1%) | 371 (16.9%) | 1654 (17.7%) |
| Metropolitan Area | 1563 (92.9%) | 1663 (79.8%) | 3221 (85.7%) | 2101 (90.8%) | 8547 (86.9%) |
| Region | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast | Midwest | South | West | Weighted Chi-square Test | |
| N = 1683 (17.1%) | N = 2083 (21.2%) | N = 3756 (38.2%) | N = 2315 (23.5%) | ||
| Wildfire | |||||
| No | 1579 (94.2%) | 1934 (93.0%) | 3252 (87.2%) | 955 (41.4%) | <0.001 |
| Yes | 97 (5.8%) | 146 (7.0%) | 475 (12.8%) | 1352 (58.6%) | |
| Drought | |||||
| No | 1445 (86.0%) | 1743 (83.8%) | 2856 (76.6%) | 747 (32.3%) | <0.001 |
| Yes | 235 (14.0%) | 336 (16.2%) | 873 (23.4%) | 1564 (67.7%) | |
| Sea Level Rise | |||||
| No | 1346 (80.5%) | 1879 (91.0%) | 3053 (82.4%) | 1903 (83.1%) | <0.001 |
| Yes | 326 (19.5%) | 186 (9.0%) | 650 (17.6%) | 387 (16.9%) | |
| Severe Weather | |||||
| No | 873 (52.1%) | 1187 (57.1%) | 1775 (47.5%) | 1724 (74.8%) | <0.001 |
| Yes | 804 (47.9%) | 893 (42.9%) | 1959 (52.5%) | 582 (25.2%) | |
| Heat Wave | |||||
| No | 1165 (69.6%) | 1562 (75.2%) | 2034 (54.6%) | 846 (36.8%) | <0.001 |
| Yes | 508 (30.4%) | 515 (24.8%) | 1689 (45.4%) | 1454 (63.2%) | |
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Wong, R.; Solomon, S. Racial-Ethnic and Regional Disparities in Climate Event Exposures in a National United States Sample. Climate 2026, 14, 59. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli14020059
Wong R, Solomon S. Racial-Ethnic and Regional Disparities in Climate Event Exposures in a National United States Sample. Climate. 2026; 14(2):59. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli14020059
Chicago/Turabian StyleWong, Roger, and Saba Solomon. 2026. "Racial-Ethnic and Regional Disparities in Climate Event Exposures in a National United States Sample" Climate 14, no. 2: 59. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli14020059
APA StyleWong, R., & Solomon, S. (2026). Racial-Ethnic and Regional Disparities in Climate Event Exposures in a National United States Sample. Climate, 14(2), 59. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli14020059

