Climate disasters and residential mobility: how hurricane Irma reshaped household relocation patterns in Miami-Dade County, Florida

As climate disasters intensify, understanding how hurricanes reshape residential mobility is critical for equitable adaptation policy. This study examines how Hurricane Irma (2017) altered the determinants of residential relocation in Miami-Dade County, Florida, using a difference-in-differences design with negative binomial regression to compare household mobility patterns before (2015–2017) and after (2017–2019) the storm. Drawing on household-level relocation data, flood extent maps, digital elevation models, satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and American Community Survey estimates, we analyze how flood exposure modified relationships between mobility and key neighborhood characteristics: elevation, green space, income, and age. While overall relocation rates increased substantially after Hurricane Irma, flood exposure alone did not drive mass out-migration. Instead, the disaster fundamentally reshaped the determinants of residential mobility. Age ceased to predict lower relocation rates post-storm, suggesting disruption of social anchors sustaining residential stability. The lowest-income households exhibited significantly elevated post-disaster relocation while rates among middle-income households declined, revealing stratified displacement pressures that disproportionately burden economically vulnerable populations. Post-hurricane relocations occurred predominantly in non-gentrified neighborhoods. These findings suggest that climate induced displacement, rather than climate gentrification, may be the more immediate consequence of post-disaster residential change. • Relocation rates in Miami increased significantly (30%) after Hurricane Irma. • Elevation affected outmigration, not destination gentrification status. • The lowest-income households were more likely than affluent households to relocate. • Climate migration is more pronounced than climate gentrification after the hurricane.