The purpose of this study is to investigate how rising tides and coastal zone management is treated in regions with differing socioeconomic statuses. This is of high importance as climate change and rising sea levels pose serious economic, environmental, and social threats to coastal communities and create both national and global problems. Two communities along the California coast were selected based on their differing level of socioeconomic status and degree of vulnerability to rising sea levels. The implementation of each coastal zone management plan is analyzed and public response and environmental impacts are compared. Recordings of town hall meetings, panel presentations from each project director, environmental impact reports, and the public's feedback/responses are analyzed. Research studies, along with these case studies suggest that affluent communities tend to receive more funding, and utilize hard coastal armoring strategies, but also have less public support than lower socioeconomic communities. Policy recommendations are discussed and include: 1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) should be amended to require a longer time frame for public response/feedback and agencies should be required to notify the community when new information is released. 2) Agencies should incentivize public engagement and have a staff member or team devoted to community outreach and engagement 3) More emphasis is needed on enhancing communication and relationships between agencies and stakeholders.