While weather-related disasters happen regularly, protective infrastructure and building codes usually prevent population loss. Hurricane Katrina’s devastating effects on New Orleans’ levee system and the built environment in other coastline communities in the Gulf of Mexico in 2005 is the exception that proves this rule. Or is it? Empirical studies of hurricane exposure and county-level population change show heterogeneous patterns of post-hurricane population trends. This presentation reviews research on this topic using the weather and population data currently available, and then considers the data and methods that would allow us to answer key questions about disaster-related migration in the US. Specifically, which disasters produce out-migration responses? Where have residents who migrated from disaster-affected places resettle? How do migration systems help us predict post-disaster residential mobility? Which types of residents are most likely to move from disaster-affected places? A transdisciplinary and community-engaged research team is necessary to effectively pursue this research agenda and use that knowledge to prepare for and protect against disaster impacts.