Average Home Insurance Cost by State

Every US state and DC ranked by average homeowners insurance premium, NAIC data. National average is $1,411 a year; the range runs from $780 to $2,437.

The national average home insurance premium is $1,411 a year, or roughly $118 a month. But that single number hides a very wide range: the most expensive state in the table above, Florida at $2,437, costs about three times the cheapest, Wisconsin at $780 — a spread of $1,657. Where your home sits on that list is one of the largest single factors in what you pay, and it is also the one factor you cannot change.

How to read the ranked table

The table above ranks all 51 jurisdictions (50 states plus the District of Columbia) from most expensive to least. The "vs US average" column is the most useful one for a quick read: it tells you how far your state sits from the $1,411 national figure, in percentage terms. Florida, at #1, runs +73% above the national average. Wisconsin, at #51, runs well below it. A state at #20 (California, $1,403) is effectively at the national average — within a rounding error of it — even though it sits in the middle of a 51-row list.

Two cautions about the ranking itself:

• Rank is not the same as distance. The gaps between neighboring ranks are uneven. The jump from #1 Florida to #2 Louisiana is $178; the jump from #18 South Carolina to #19 Wyoming is zero — both are listed at $1,432, and the rank order between them is a tiebreak, not a real difference. Do not read a one- or two-place rank difference as a meaningful cost difference.
• These are statewide averages, not quotes. An average blends every insured home in the state: brand-new construction and 90-year-old houses, coastal and inland, $150,000 dwellings and $900,000 ones. Your own premium can sit well above or below your state's figure depending on the property itself.

Why the spread is so wide

Home insurance premiums are priced on expected loss. A state's average reflects the aggregate of what insurers expect to pay out in claims there, plus the cost of running the business and the capital carriers must hold against catastrophic loss. Four forces drive most of the state-to-state variation:

• Catastrophe exposure. Hurricane, hail, wildfire and severe convective storm risk concentrate in particular geographies. States repeatedly hit by large events carry higher averages because reinsurance — the insurance insurers buy for themselves — is repriced after those events and that cost flows into homeowner premiums.
• Construction and repair costs. Where labor, materials and rebuilding permits are expensive, claims cost more to settle, and premiums follow. This is part of why some high-cost states without extreme weather still land mid-table or above.
• Regulatory environment. Each state's insurance department reviews rates and rules on filings, cancellation, and residual-market programs. Two states with identical risk can produce different averages because their rate-review processes and legal environments differ.
• Take-up and housing stock. The average only covers insured homes. A state with a large share of older housing, or with many homes insured through a state-backed residual program, will show a different average than its raw risk profile alone would suggest.

What to do with your state's number

Treat your state's figure as a benchmark, not a target. The practical use is comparison: if your premium is far above your state average, that gap is worth investigating, because it usually comes from something specific and often fixable.

• Check your dwelling coverage limit. Coverage should reflect rebuild cost, not market value or your mortgage balance. An inflated limit raises premium for protection you may not need; an inadequate one leaves you exposed. Ask what rebuild-cost method was used.
• Look at your deductible. A higher deductible lowers premium because you absorb more of each loss. The trade-off is real: you must be able to fund that amount after a claim without borrowing. A deductible set higher than your available savings is a false economy.
• Review endorsements and add-ons. Water backup, scheduled jewelry, and equipment breakdown riders each add cost. Confirm you need each one.
• Ask about mitigation credits. Wind mitigation features (roof shape and covering, shutters, straps), impact-rated windows, and in some states wildfire-hardening measures can earn discounts. Insurers do not always apply these automatically — ask directly.
• Compare like with like. When you gather quotes from multiple carriers, hold coverage limits, deductibles and endorsements constant. A lower premium with a lower dwelling limit is not a saving; it is a smaller policy.
• Re-shop periodically. Carriers reprice their books at different times. A policy that was competitive when you bought it may not be after several renewal cycles.

What the averages cannot tell you

A state average says nothing about your roof age, your claims history, your credit-based insurance score where permitted, or the distance from your home to a fire station or coast. Those underwriting variables can move a premium by more than the difference between two adjacent states on this list. That is why a reader in a "cheap" state can still pay above the national average, and a reader in Florida can sometimes beat the state figure.

It is also worth knowing that the ranking shifts over time. Catastrophe years, reinsurance pricing cycles, construction-cost inflation and regulatory changes all move state averages, sometimes sharply, and not in lockstep. Use this table to understand your state's position relative to the country, then use your own declarations page to understand your own position relative to your state.

All figures on this page are statewide average premiums from NAIC data, presented for reference and comparison only. They are not quotes, offers, or predictions. An individual premium depends on the specific property, its construction and location, the coverage selected, the deductible, and the underwriting profile of the policyholder, and will differ from any state average shown here.

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