By the Numbers: Definition, Demographics, and Climate Risks of U.S. Coastal Cities

Urban Ocean Lab’s mission is to cultivate rigorous, creative, equitable, and practical climate and ocean policy for the future of coastal cities.This memo presents our definition of “coastal city,” identifies 195 of them, and offers an analysis of the demographics of coastal city populations. More than 47 million people—one in seven—live in U.S. coastal cities, and nearly 60 percent of those residents identify as people of color, compared to 37 percent nationally. Relative to national averages, coastal cities have higher poverty and unemployment rates; a higher percentage of residents who are foreign-born and non-U.S. citizens; a higher percentage of residents who lack a high school diploma; and a greater percentage of renters relative to homeowners. These demographics inform our work in the complex and increasingly vulnerable urban areas all these people call home.