Samantha Fields

Senior Reporter

SHORT BIO

Samantha Fields is a senior reporter at Marketplace.

She’s particularly interested in how the economy affects people’s everyday lives, and a lot of her coverage focuses on economic inequality, housing and climate change.

She’s also reported and produced for WCAI and The GroundTruth Project, the “NPR Politics Podcast,” NPR’s midday show, “Here & Now,” Vermont Public Radio and Maine Public Radio. She got her start in journalism as a reporter for a community paper, The Wellesley Townsman, and her start in radio as an intern and freelance producer at “The Takeaway” at WNYC. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Latest Stories (537)

The changing climate is driving up home insurance claims, and rates

Oct 28, 2021
More extreme weather means more damage to homes and property — a challenge for insurers, as well as owners.
A car sits on a flooded garage in Mamaroneck, New York, following Hurricane Ida in September.
Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

A cold winter's coming, while heating fuel prices are at multiyear highs

Oct 25, 2021
A lot of people may be facing energy insecurity, or the "heat or eat dilemma" that already affects 1 in 3 households, one expert says.
The price of propane is at a multiyear high and is likely to stay that way through the winter. Above, propane is delivered to a Clinton, Wisconsin, farmhouse in 2014.
Scott Olson via Getty Images

As foundations pledge to get endowments to net zero, monitoring emissions is a challenge

Oct 22, 2021
Companies aren't required to share data on their greenhouse gas emissions, which makes it hard for investors to evaluate their own progress toward net-zero portfolios.
Foundations first have to determine what "net zero" means before it can start figuring out how much a company is emitting.
Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

What does California's drought mean for the rest of the country?

Oct 20, 2021
For starters, California is the biggest agricultural producer in the U.S.
Dead almond trees lie in a drought-stricken field in Huron, California, in July 2021.
Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Unemployed and unable to refinance

Oct 15, 2021
With mortgage rates around 3%, many of those who might benefit the most from refinancing and reducing their monthly payments aren’t able to.
courtneyk via Getty Images
Solar panels are shown in Dry Lake Valley, Nevada, in June 2021. Investments in clean energy would both help countries minimize average global temperature increases and make clean energy rival the oil market.
Ethan Miller via Getty Images

The Social Security increase is historically big

Oct 14, 2021
The 5.9% increase isn't typical, as cost of living increases for Social Security are usually under 2%.

Thirty countries agree to methane emissions cuts to protect the climate

Oct 13, 2021
Pound for pound, it's 28 times better at trapping atmospheric heat than CO2.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) (L) and Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) participate in a news conference about the Senate vote on methane regulation outside of the U.S. Capitol on April 28, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

Biden administration restoring climate-impact rules that could delay infrastructure plans

Oct 7, 2021
The Trump administration had rolled them back, delighting industry and worrying environmentalists.
The Biden administration will be restoring a requirement for infrastructure projects to be evaluated for their climate impact. Above, a crew resurfaces a road in June in Alhambra, California.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Weather forecasting key to navigating climate change

Oct 4, 2021
More accurate hurricane and wildfire forecasting can help save lives as extreme weather events become more common.
Zach Gibson/AFP via Getty Images