The 15 Cheapest States for Home Insurance
The fifteen states with the lowest average homeowners insurance premiums, ranked on NAIC data, from $780 to $1,043 a year against a $1,411 national average.
| State | Average premium | Rank (cheapest) | vs US average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | $780 | #51 | -45% |
| Oregon | $793 | #50 | -44% |
| Utah | $831 | #49 | -41% |
| Nevada | $863 | #48 | -39% |
| Idaho | $884 | #47 | -37% |
| Arizona | $917 | #46 | -35% |
| Ohio | $920 | #45 | -35% |
| Delaware | $988 | #44 | -30% |
| Michigan | $993 | #43 | -30% |
| Maine | $996 | #42 | -29% |
| Washington | $1,001 | #41 | -29% |
| Pennsylvania | $1,014 | #40 | -28% |
| West Virginia | $1,016 | #39 | -28% |
| Vermont | $1,025 | #38 | -27% |
| Iowa | $1,043 | #37 | -26% |
The fifteen cheapest states for home insurance run from Wisconsin at $780 a year to Iowa at $1,043 — a spread of $263 across the whole group. That tight clustering is the point. Compared with the national average of $1,411, every state on this list sits at least 26% below the US figure, and Wisconsin sits 45% below it. The gap between the cheapest state and the most expensive — Florida at $2,437 — is $1,657 a year, more than three times the entire spread within the top fifteen. In other words, the difference between the best and worst state is not a gradual slope; it is a cliff, and the states on this list are all standing well back from the edge.
What actually drives a state average
A state average is not a price list. It is an aggregate of what insurers paid out and expect to pay out across every policy in that state, plus the cost of running the business there. Four forces do most of the work:
- Catastrophe exposure. Hail, hurricane, wildfire and severe convective storm losses are the single largest driver of regional premium differences. States with concentrated, repeated, high-severity events carry a load in every premium that states without them do not.
- Construction cost and labor. Rebuilding a house costs what local contractors, materials and code requirements cost. Where replacement cost per square foot is lower, claims cost less to settle.
- Legal and regulatory environment. Rules on claim handling, litigation, and how quickly rates can be filed and approved change what insurers must hold back for uncertainty.
- Population density and housing stock. Dense areas with older housing and high rebuild costs concentrate risk; dispersed, newer, or lower-cost housing spreads it.
Notice that none of these are things an individual homeowner controls. That is the honest framing of a state average: it describes the weather, the building stock and the rulebook you happen to live under, not your choices.
Why the top fifteen look alike
The list is dominated by the Upper Midwest, the Mountain West and the northern tier — Wisconsin, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, Maine, Washington, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Vermont, Iowa, plus Delaware. What they share is the absence of a dominant, recurring catastrophe peril. Inland states avoid hurricane landfall. Northern states avoid the worst of the hail belt. Several have lower-than-average rebuild costs or older, smaller housing stock that is cheaper to replace.
That is a useful filter for anyone comparing states: ask what peril your state is priced for. If the answer is "none in particular," you are likely in a low-average state. If the answer is "one, and it happens every few years," the average will reflect that whether or not it happens to you.
What a low state average does not mean for you
This is where most readers get misled. A state average of $780 does not mean a typical Wisconsin homeowner pays $780. It means the average policy in that state does. Your premium is built from your property and your choices, and the state figure is only the starting backdrop. The factors that move your own rate most:
- Replacement cost, not market value. Coverage is priced on what it costs to rebuild, which can diverge sharply from what the house would sell for.
- Roof age and condition. An older roof is the most common reason a quote comes in well above the state average.
- Deductible, especially wind or hail deductibles. A percentage deductible shifts more of the loss onto you and lowers the premium.
- Claims history and credit-based insurance score where state law permits its use.
- Coverage add-ons. Water backup, scheduled jewelry, ordinance or law coverage, and extended replacement cost all raise the number.
- Construction and location details. Masonry versus frame, distance to a fire station, and whether the area is rated for wildfire or wind.
Two homes on the same street in the cheapest state on this list can carry premiums that differ by hundreds of dollars for reasons that have nothing to do with the state average.
How to use this list
Treat the table above as a starting benchmark, not a shopping list. The practical sequence:
- Find your state's figure and note the percentage versus the US average. That tells you whether your own quote is running high or low for your state.
- If you are well above your state average, work through the property factors first — roof, deductible, coverage limits — before assuming the market is simply expensive.
- If you are moving, use the state figure to set expectations, then get quotes on the specific address. A single address can be rated differently from the state as a whole because of wildfire zones, wind zones or flood mapping.
- Compare like for like. A lower premium with a higher percentage deductible or a lower dwelling limit is not a cheaper policy; it is a smaller one.
One caution on the ranking: the table numbers states from #51 (cheapest) to #37. Read the rank column as a position within the full fifty-state list, not as a score. Iowa at #37 is still 26% below the national average — being fifteenth cheapest out of fifty is a genuinely low-cost position.
Where this leaves a homeowner
The spread from $780 to $2,437 is real, but it is a spread between state insurance markets, not between individual households. Living in a low-average state gives you a favorable backdrop; it does not guarantee a favorable rate, and it does not protect you from a single bad claim year raising your own premium. The most reliable lever available to any homeowner is the same everywhere: an accurate replacement cost estimate, a roof in good condition, a deductible you could actually afford to pay, and a comparison of several carriers using identical coverage terms.
The figures on this page are statewide average premiums from NAIC data. They describe the average policy in each state and are not a quote, an estimate for any particular home, or a promise about what any homeowner will pay. Individual premiums vary with the property, its location, its condition and the coverage selected.
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