Climate Change Threatens our Health and Deepens Health Inequities 

Updated July 2026

All across the United States, climate change is already reshaping our communities and making it harder to lead our healthiest lives.

The Issue

While the specific impacts of climate change are different depending on where we live, the harms are real and urgent everywhere. Climate change is making life less predictable, but it’s not just about more extreme weather: It’s putting cracks in the foundation of how our communities and systems we rely on are built, whether it’s healthcare, the economy, food systems, or transportation. These changes—individually and together—directly threaten our communities, homes, wallets, and, ultimately, harm our health and wellbeing.

The health impacts are wide-ranging. We're seeing more polluted air and water, hotter days and nights, worsening allergies, more disease-spreading ticks and mosquitoes, food systems threatened by droughts and floods, and contaminated food and water. It’s clear that climate change is making us sicker, and the effects ripple throughout our lives. When extreme weather such as floods, hurricanes, and wildfires forces people from their homes, the damage extends to their safety, livelihoods, and mental health.

And while climate change affects us all, the burden isn’t even or fair. Some of us face a bigger burden and are harmed earlier than others based on factors like where we live or work, our race or ethnicity, age, income, or current health. And regardless of individual factors like these, some communities and neighborhoods face greater health burdens because of discriminatory past and ongoing policies and disinvestment. For example, people who live near polluting factories or landfills will be exposed to more pollution in a flood or have poorer air quality on hotter days. And people who earn less may not be able to pay for cooling or to evacuate when a hurricane or wildfire hits.

Key Findings

This set of briefs shows how climate change is harming the health of all while also demonstrating how the health inequities we see today, which too often are the result of structural and systemic racism, are made even worse by a changing climate. The series explores:

• How climate change makes urban areas hotter, especially for those who live in communities that experience disinvestment in the infrastructure to keep people cool in the face of increasing temperatures.
• How climate change is threatening our ability to grow food through droughts and heat—and threatening those who work outdoors in agriculture.
• How climate change is making our air less healthy, especially for communities with the greatest exposure to pollution, which are most likely to be home to people of color and people with low incomes.

Conclusion

Each of these briefs highlight the need for solutions to climate change that prioritize health and equity so that everyone has the resources and tools they need to stay safe. Climate change is making us sicker and making our lives less stable, but when we prioritize protecting people from the effects of climate change, health improves, and families have a genuine chance to live better lives.