UCLA factsheet says Texas small businesses face climate resilience gaps

By Atlas Watchline Staff · News · August 29, 2026

A UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute factsheet says many Texas small businesses lack disaster insurance and other preparedness measures as climate risks mount.

A UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute factsheet says Texas small businesses face climate and disaster resilience gaps, with insurance coverage a major weak point and home-based firms appearing more vulnerable than storefront businesses.

Texas small businesses make up more than 3.2 million firms, or about 99% of all businesses in the state, and employ over 44% of Texas workers, according to the factsheet. The institute says the state has also faced repeated climate-related events, including hurricanes, coastal storms, droughts, wildfires, tornadoes, rising temperatures and extreme heat.

The factsheet says Texas recorded 55 separate billion-dollar climate disaster events in the past five years, with total costs listed at between $50 billion and $100 billion. It also cites Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey data showing that in 2022, about 1 in 7 Texas small businesses reported losses from natural disasters in the prior year.

The analysis is based on a 2022 survey of more than 600 Texas small business owners and managers conducted by UCLA LPPI and the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge between November 2022 and September 2023. The factsheet says the survey used a convenience sample and is not fully representative. It covered 52 questions on capital, technology, cybersecurity, COVID-19 recovery, sustainability practices, climate impacts and energy costs.

In one analysis, 33% of surveyed small businesses lacked disaster insurance. Home-based firms appeared less protected than storefront businesses: 47% lacked insurance, compared with 28% of storefront businesses. The factsheet says that gap suggests home-based firms may face more recovery challenges after flood, earthquake or fire.

The report also links preparedness with organizational ties and planning. Businesses that belonged to an association had higher insured rates, at 71% versus 61% for non-members. Businesses with a formal sustainability plan were more likely to have bought a generator, at 55% versus 28% among those with no intention of developing one, and more likely to have wind or flood protection measures, at 41% versus 22%.

Businesses with sustainability measures also were more likely to carry natural disaster insurance, at 79% versus 61%, and more likely to have flood and wind protection measures, at 35% versus 24%. The factsheet says the pattern points to preparedness gaps and suggests that greater awareness and action on climate knowledge and sustainability planning could strengthen resilience.

The source text provided appears to cut off in the references section, so the extracted citation list is incomplete. No additional official response was included in the brief.

Sources

• UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute, “4 Facts to Strengthen Resilience for Texas’ Small Businesses”
• Google News RSS item for the factsheet

Editorial note: This article was prepared with AI assistance and includes source attribution for reader review.

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