Climate change is causing extreme heat across many of America’s major cities this summer. However, a new report from moveBuddha shows that the typical buyer isn’t yet factoring in these risks when deciding where to live.
According to Climate Central, June was the hottest summer on record — the average global surface temperature was 1.89 F warmer than the historic average.
Across the country, summers have gotten hotter by an average of 2.4 F in 229 U.S. cities since 1970. Certain cities, though, are heating up faster than others — and four of the top 10 fastest-warming cities are right here in the Lone Star State.
The fastest-warming Texas city is El Paso, where summers have gotten 5.3°F hotter since 1970. The city experienced 23 straight days of triple-digit temperatures in July. It ranked at No. 5, trailing behind No. 4 Salt Lake City (+5.5 F), No. 3 Boise (+5.8 F), No. 2 Las Vegas (+5.8 F) and No. 1 Reno (+11.1 F).
Other Texas cities with quickly rising temperatures are McAllen, Austin and Houston.
Despite these trends, migration into most of these cities hasn’t slowed. El Paso and Austin have seen a 1.21 move in-to-out ratio so far in 2023, and McAllen’s population has grown by 1.7% since 2020. While Houston’s population growth is a bit slower, the Bayou City is still poised to become one of the most populated cities in the country by the end of the century.