As climate risks mount, homeowners far beyond California face soaring insurance bills

As disasters linked to climate change become more frequent in the U.S., homeowners across the country are paying the price through skyrocketing insurance costs — and not only in states like Florida and California that are considered most vulnerable to global warming. 

The Los Angeles wildfires, which have decimated neighborhoods such as Pacific Palisades and Altadena, are focusing attention on a mounting insurance crisis that is particularly acute in states at greatest risk of wildfires, such as California, Colorado, Texas and Oregon. But the problem is reaching into almost every region of the U.S., including the Midwest, the Northeast and the Mountain states, according to analyses of insurance data.

Research shows that climate change is heightening the conditions that lead to fire-conducive weather, including drying out vegetation and constraining water supplies. Such conditions are in turn prolonging wildfire season as well magnifying the size and intensity of blazes.