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Losses from Natural Disasters: New County-Level Data and Resilient Consumer Spending

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Abstract

We introduce Losses from Natural Disasters, the first comprehensive public dataset on county-level damages, injuries, and fatalities from U.S. natural disasters, and document new facts about consumer spending and household financial strain around extreme weather. We map NOAA meteorological zones to counties using geographic tools and data on population, housing, and economic activity. Using transaction and consumer credit data, we find that spending falls sharply when hurricanes and coastal disasters begin but recovers within a week, while the share of borrowers with high credit card utilization remains elevated for several quarters. Despite large damages, wildfires show no comparable spending response.

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  • Matteo Crosignani & Martin Hiti & Sneha Parthasarathy, 2025. "Losses from Natural Disasters: New County-Level Data and Resilient Consumer Spending," Staff Reports 1156, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fednsr:101189
    DOI: 10.59576/sr.1156
    Note: Revised October 2026. Previous title: “Losses from Natural Disasters: County-Level Data on Damages, Injuries, and Fatalities.”
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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