Heat waves are known as periods of abnormally high temperatures that can cause health problems, even deaths. The 2003 heat wave in Europe and the Chicago heat wave of 1995 are well known examples that are well-documented and caused thousands of mortalities and morbidities. Scientific studies show that climate change will cause more frequent, more extreme, and longer lasting heat waves in the future all over the world. Additionally, more people are expected to live in urban areas in the future, that are known to experience higher temperatures compared to their surrounding non-urban areas, because of concrete, asphalt, steel, and similar materials that absorb energy and return it as heat. Because of this issue, known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, and because more people live in urban areas, most studies tracking the most heat-threatened people are focused on urban areas, or use the same findings for rural areas, too. In this study, we separate the state of Nebraska into four levels of urbanizations from highest metropolitan to most rural and found that the socioeconomic variables combined differently based on urbanization.

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