Strong Opportunity With Lower Physical Risk

Cities that score well on employment without elevated hazard exposure

The tradeoff most relocation decisions actually turn on: places with a strong job market that are not paying for it in natural-hazard exposure.

40 locations · Calculated August 29, 2026

#	City	Score	Resilience	Opportunity
1	Madison, WI	88	97	80
2	Atlanta, GA	84	83	85
3	Boston, MA	83	97	68
4	Des Moines, IA	82	89	75
5	Sioux Falls, SD	81	83	79
6	Pittsburgh, PA	81	81	80
7	Boise City, ID	80	82	79
8	Austin, TX	80	75	84
9	Cincinnati, OH	79	89	69
10	Lincoln, NE	79	75	83
11	Raleigh, NC	79	73	85
12	Spokane, WA	78	89	66
13	Columbus, OH	78	77	79
14	Yonkers, NY	78	85	70
15	Fort Wayne, IN	77	77	77
16	Kansas City, MO	77	75	79
17	Virginia Beach, VA	75	92	59
18	Overland Park, KS	75	83	66
19	Milwaukee, WI	74	98	49
20	Minneapolis, MN	73	93	54
21	Omaha, NE	73	62	85
22	New York, NY	73	75	71
23	Akron, OH	73	90	56
24	Frisco, TX	73	66	79
25	Worcester, MA	72	85	58
26	Cleveland, OH	71	97	44
27	St. Paul, MN	70	93	48
28	McKinney, TX	70	67	73
29	Plano, TX	69	67	71
30	Washington, DC	69	97	41
31	Baltimore, MD	69	91	46
32	Salt Lake City, UT	68	55	82
33	Knoxville, TN	68	73	63
34	Indianapolis, IN	68	67	70
35	Lexington-Fayette urban county, KY	68	74	62
36	Durham, NC	68	68	68
37	Columbus, GA	67	73	62
38	Chesapeake, VA	67	77	57
39	Philadelphia, PA	66	71	61
40	Richmond, VA	65	82	49

Methodology

The mean of the AreaProfile Opportunity and Physical Resilience signals, published only where both are available. Weighting them equally is deliberate: this ranking is about the balance between the two, not about which matters more.

What is excluded, and why

Cities under 100,000 residents, and cities where either signal could not be produced.

40 of 146 published cities qualified.

Sources

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Local Area Unemployment Statistics (la)
Federal Emergency Management Agency — National Risk Index (1.20.0)
U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) (2024)

Full details of how signals and the Area Score are calculated are on the methodology page.