Residents of the New York metro region are deeply concerned about the impacts of climate change and are willing to take dramatic measures to do something about it according to public opinion polling conducted by Regional Plan Association (RPA) and Global Strategy Group (GSG) as part of the NY Metro Area Issues Survey.

Nearly three of four NY metro region residents are concerned about the impact of climate change on their communities.

Almost one in two residents - 46% - supports the government prohibiting building in high-risk flood zones. RPA’s Fourth Regional Plan in 2017 encouraged communities to begin transitioning away from the most vulnerable stretches of coastline that cannot be protected.

A plurality of residents - 46% - said that protecting the environment from the effects of climate change is the most compelling reason to invest in clean energy.

The polling includes the debut of the RPA-GSG Metro NY Outlook Index, a score that averages attitudes among participants across eight core aspects of life to present one holistic metric for how residents are feeling one year after the pandemic first struck the region.

Standing at 57 out of 100, the Outlook Index suggests residents are optimistic. This optimism is not shared equally, however. Just as people of color bore the brunt of the COVID crisis, the poll results found they expressed the lowest levels of satisfaction with quality of life, along with women and low-income residents.

More than half of the survey respondents - and almost 80% of Black residents - say they would move out of their community if they could. 52% would move and 48% would stay. This represents a noticeable increase since RPA surveyed residents in 2013 when 36% would move and 62% would stay.

RPA and GSG will continue to highlight survey results across specific issue areas including. Learn more and view the full survey data here.