information:filtering, structural:scholar_edition, stylistic:style_transfer, structural:expansion
Social effects

Socioeconomic groups with a household income below around $10,000 tend to have a low air conditioning adoption, which worsens heat-related mortality. The lack of cooling can be hazardous, as areas with lower use of air conditioning correlate with higher rates of heat-related mortality and hospitalizations. Premature mortality in NYC is projected to grow between 47% and 95% in 30 years, with lower-income and vulnerable populations most at risk. Studies on the correlation between heat-related mortality and hospitalizations and living in low socioeconomic locations can be traced in Phoenix, Arizona, Hong Kong, China, Japan, and Italy. Additionally, costs concerning health care can act as another barrier, as the lack of private health insurance during a 2009 heat wave in Australia, was associated with heat-related hospitalization.

Disparities in socioeconomic status and access to air conditioning are connected by some to institutionalized racism, which leads to the association of specific marginalized communities with lower economic status, poorer health, residing in hotter neighborhoods, engaging in physically demanding labor, and experiencing limited access to cooling technologies such as air conditioning. A study overlooking Chicago, Illinois, Detroit, and Michigan found that black households were half as likely to have central air conditioning units when compared to their white counterparts. Especially in cities, Redlining creates heat islands, increasing temperatures in certain parts of the city. This is due to materials heat-absorbing building materials and pavements and lack of vegetation and shade coverage. There have been initiatives that provide cooling solutions to low-income communities, such as public cooling spaces.