BY ALANA SEMUELS
CLIMATE
JAKE VIA, WHO HAS LIVED EVERYWHERE FROM Fortaleza, Brazil, and Seattle to Sun Valley, Idaho, and Austin, calls Milwaukee “the greatest city on earth.” And he’s serious.
When Via and his wife Anabel planned to relocate from Salt Lake City in 2021, they made an extensive list of cities, and they are grateful that they ended up in Milwaukee instead of other places they considered like Charlotte, N.C.; Pittsburgh; or Phoenix, where his parents live.
One reason is that Via says his “climate anxiety” has been growing while he’s lived in the American West, in cities running out of water and whose air is frequently polluted by wildfire smoke or smog. When an earthquake struck Salt Lake City in March 2020, Via and his wife, who grew up in Mexico City, decided they’d had enough, and embarked on a search for a place to settle where they wouldn’t have to worry about water or earthquakes or fires. Milwaukee ranked highly because it’s relatively immune to natural disasters, has access to a huge body of fresh water—Lake Michigan—has affordable houses for sale, and is diverse, which was important to the interracial couple.
Now that they’ve moved, Via loves not having to worry about running out of water, not having to water his lawn because of Milwaukee’s frequent rains, and being able to keep his window open for a good chunk of the year because he doesn’t need air-conditioning.
Via, who is 39 years old, knows most people still aren’t considering the climate when they move—states beset with blistering heat and hurricanes like Arizona and Florida are still gaining population, fast. But “I can’t wrap my head around not considering factors like, Is there going to be water to drink in 30 years?” he says. “Or, What’s going to be the average outdoor temperature? Or, Is the local government making the changes needed to protect the things needed for human life?”
FOR DECADES, THE MIDWEST has been a region left behind as manufacturing and other jobs dried up. Milwaukee County’s population has shrunk 12.3% in the past 50 years. And while Sun Belt states like Florida and Texas grew from 2020 to 2022, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio all lost population, according to the Council of State Governments. Of the 50 ZIP codes that have seen the largest increase in new residents since 2020, 86% were in Texas, Florida, and Arizona.
But some Midwestern leaders see their states’ resilience to climate change as a means
