Abstract

Increasingly, communities throughout the U.S. are facing threats and uncertainty from hazards exacerbated by climate change, population shifts, and land-use changes. States are on the front line of responding to these hazards and are tasked with mitigating risk and building resilience to impacts. A necessary step to building resilience is understanding the efficacy of existing and planned actions by measuring changes in resilience. Measuring resilience is an emerging practice, especially at the state level, with no standard approach. This paper aims to contribute to the growing conversation about state-level resilience measurement by providing a comparative analysis of South Carolina and Washington State’s resilience metrics and the approaches these states took to begin measuring resilience. While the two approaches taken by the states differ, similar considerations underpin the measurement frameworks used. Additionally, this paper highlights the qualities of successful resilience measurement as identified by South Carolina and Washington. As more governments at all levels develop approaches to measuring resilience, this paper aims to provide some guidance for the process.