on
6.5 million Americans face landslide risks—a new database shows where they live
Landslides cause an estimated $3 billion to $6 billion in damage and multiple fatalities annually in the United States. Those numbers could easily increase as housing needs spur development in landslide-prone areas and climate change increases the severity and frequency of heavy rains, which often trigger landslides. Despite the threat, there has never been a systematic, nationwide accounting of who is most at risk from landslides.
The new Landslide Exposure Database, or LED, is the first resource to map building-level landslide risk across the entire U.S. The database, developed by University of Washington researchers, rates 128 million buildings by landslide susceptibility and uses socioeconomic data to assess residents' vulnerability to the dangers and disruptions caused by landslides.
According to the analysis, roughly 6.5 million people live in landslide-prone regions; most are concentrated in Appalachia and along the West Coast. Urban residents of landslide-prone properties tended to be more affluent and resilient, whereas rural residents in at-risk areas tended to have fewer resources and be more vulnerable to the effects of landslides.
The results give government agencies and emergency managers a way to prioritize resources for landslide education and mitigation and can also help individual residents understand their own risk.
A national map of exposure
"As a community of landslide researchers, we have spent almost all of our time studying the physical geography of landslides," said Joseph Wartman, a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering and the co-creator of the database. "But we never considered the human geography. Now we can answer some very important questions about who is exposed."
Wartman and his team published their findings July 29 in Earth's Future. They also posted the full database online along with user-friendly tools to help nonscientists browse the results.
To create the new database, the research team blended multiple huge datasets: a map of terrain and landslide susceptibility made by the U.S. Geological Survey; inventories of building footprints and occupancy information from the Overture Maps Foundation and the Army Corps of Engineers, respectively; and socioeconomic data from the Census Bureau. The census dataset included information like income, disability, vehicle access, housing condition and other factors that affect communities' ability to respond to disasters.
"This effort was much more than just merging massive datasets," said lead author Daniel Acosta-Reyes, a UW doctoral student of civil and environmental engineering. "The real work was the careful curation required to turn the incredibly rich data available in the U.S. into an accurate, usable tool for everyone from decision-makers to the public."
Risk clusters in two regions
The analysis revealed that while almost 20% of the land in the country is prone to landslides, that area is home to just 2% of the population, or about 6.5 million people. Of those highest-risk residents, 80% live either on or near the West Coast or in Appalachia; West Virginia emerged as the state with the largest share of at-risk residents.
When city and country diverge
"Those concentrations were surprising," Wartman said. "In a sense, it's good news, because it shows landslide risk to be a localized hazard, which makes it more practical and affordable to address."
The results also reveal an unexpected urban-rural divide. In rural areas across the country, the most landslide-prone communities tend to face greater economic constraints and are thus more vulnerable than the overall population. Residents there often have fewer resources to prepare for or recover from a landslide, for example, and are more likely to live in structures far from emergency services.
But in urban areas, Wartman said, "all of that flips on its head."
Landslide-prone areas in cities tend to be highly valued hillside neighborhoods with desirable views, so the exposed populations are often better resourced. When a landslide occurs, these residents typically have greater financial capacity to recover from the damage.
Tailoring policy to local realities
Because of those complex regional and socioeconomic differences, the researchers warn against a "one-size-fits-all" approach to landslide policy. Instead, they recommend mitigation strategies specific to each region's realities. In Appalachia, that might mean early warning systems that can reach a widely dispersed population, whereas in Seattle or San Francisco, it might mean regulations that discourage building on unsafe slopes.
Wartman hopes that researchers and regulators will use the dataset to study landslide risk and develop new ways to protect residents across the country. He also sees it as an educational tool for anyone to learn about landslides and assess their own risk.
"People email me because they want to know if their homes are at risk, and I haven't had a resource to point them to," Wartman said. "That was a big part of the motivation for this work. Now I have something straightforward to offer them."
Publication details
Daniel Acosta‐Reyes et al, Landslide Exposure in the United States, Earth's Future (2026). DOI: 10.1029/2026ef008622
Who's behind this story?
BSc Life Sciences & Ecology. Microbiology lab background with pharmaceutical news experience in oil, gas, and renewable industries. Full profile →
Bachelor's in mathematical biology, Master's in creative writing. Well-traveled with unique perspectives on science and language. Full profile →
Citation: 6.5 million Americans face landslide risks—a new database shows where they live (2026, July 29) retrieved 30 July 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-07-million-americans-landslide-hazard-zones.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.