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Migration is one way in which rural households can seek to reduce their vulnerability to climate change. However, migration also carries risks and costs, such that vulnerability may not be reduced. This article constructs an index of rural households' vulnerability to extreme weather events, in order to explore how key components of vulnerability relate to migration. Applied to case studies in China and India, the study finds that the effect of remittances is non-linear. Although overall, in Assam, few differences were found in the vulnerability of households that did and did not receive remittances, in Yunnan, remittance-recipient households were found to have less adaptive capacity in response to drought. However, those who had received remittances over longer periods were found to have improved adaptive capacity in both case studies, and in Yunnan, their exposure to such events was also lower. Meanwhile in Assam, longer distance migration was associated with reduced exposure to flooding and with specific forms of adaptation. The vulnerability index developed has capacity to be used in assessments of effects of migration on vulnerability elsewhere.