Find out how much home insurance costs and how to reduce your insurance bill.
Many folks buy homeowners insurance because it’s required by their mortgage company, but it’s important to remember the real value of your policy: it’s a safety net for the worst-case scenario. If you’re wondering, “how much is house insurance?” it’s important to recognize that your policy is an investment in your financial well-being. Protecting your home and belongings is a way of protecting yourself and your family.
But we get it – no one is trying to spend more on coverage than they have to, which is why it’s vital to find competitive homeowners insurance rates that provide owners renters with general protection from additional expenses that pop up when you need to repair damage to your home.
The national average annual cost of home insurance is $1,279 per year, and home insurance prices are trending upward – likely due to inflation and an increase in extreme weather.
| Year | Average Home Insurance Premium |
|---|---|
| 2009 | $880 |
| 2010 | $909 |
| 2011 | $979 |
| 2012 | $1,034 |
| 2013 | $1,096 |
| 2014 | $1,132 |
| 2015 | $1,173 |
| 2016 | $1,192 |
| 2017 | $1,211 |
| 2018 | $1,249 |
| 2019 | $1,279 |
Source: The Insurance Information Institute, Facts + Statistics: Homeowners and Renters Insurance.
That said, your individual costs for insurance coverage depend on several potential factors:
These typical homeowners insurance variables mean that the average price of homeowners insurance fluctuates – a lot.
That’s why answering questions like, “What is a good price for home insurance?” isn’t always straightforward. Your state’s averages likely offer a more helpful impression of the baseline price for home insurance in your area. So asking “what is the average cost of homeowners insurance in my state” makes more sense. Let’s take a look.
| State | Average Premium | State | Average Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $1,463 | Montana | $1,287 |
| Alaska | $962 | Nebraska | $1,564 |
| Arizona | $850 | Nevada | $791 |
| Arkansas | $1,456 | New Hampshire | $1,021 |
| California | $1,177 | New Jersey | $1,237 |
| Colorado | $1,618 | New Mexico | $1,126 |
| Connecticut | $1,531 | New York | $1,357 |
| Delaware | $908 | North Carolina | $1,193 |
| D.C. | $1,275 | North Dakota | $1,236 |
| Florida | $1,988 | Ohio | $853 |
| Georgia | $1,362 | Oklahoma | $2,000 |
| Hawaii | $1,182 | Oregon | $727 |
| Idaho | $799 | Pennsylvania | $955 |
| Illinois | $1,154 | Rhode Island | $1,731 |
| Indiana | $983 | South Carolina | $1,303 |
| Iowa | $913 | South Dakota | $1,218 |
| Kansas | $1,519 | Tennessee | $1,259 |
| Kentucky | $1,172 | Texas | $1,982 |
| Louisiana | $2,037 | Utah | $743 |
| Maine | $936 | Vermont | $947 |
| Maryland | $1,125 | Virginia | $1,080 |
| Massachusetts | $1,617 | Washington | $908 |
| Michigan | $999 | West Virginia | $968 |
| Minnesota | $1,433 | Wisconsin | $750 |
| Mississippi | $1,622 | Wyoming | $1,244 |
| Missouri | $1,299 | United States | $1,279 |
Source: The Insurance Information Institute, Facts + Statistics: Homeowners and Renters Insurance.
Every state has its own risks, rules, and regulations that affect the cost of home insurance. While some perils are universal – a home can get broken into anywhere – others are regionally specific. For example, a home along the coast of Florida is uniquely exposed to hurricanes, while a home in Oklahoma may be at risk for tornadoes and earthquakes. Many California homes face serious risk of wildfire, while homes in Louisiana may face flooding and hurricanes.
On the other side of the coin, landlocked homes in the Midwest and West – Utah, Wisconsin, Idaho, and Nevada – often have lower home insurance rates because they are exposed to fewer catastrophes like floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes. This means they are less likely to suffer damage and require repairs.
It’s also worth noting that where you get your home insurance can seriously impact how much you pay for coverage. For example, while the national average premium for homeowners insurance in Florida is $1,988, Kin’s Florida customers pay an average of $1,354 yearly. Your city may influence your rates, too. For example, these are the yearly median premiums Kin customers pay in the following Florida cities, based on our data:
With that in mind, let’s look at the highest and lowest home insurance costs by state.
The following states have the highest average home insurance premiums:
The following states have the lowest average home insurance premiums:
Now’s a good time to remind you that the coverage amount you choose impacts your home insurance premium, too. The averages listed below are based on HO3 policies that offer open-perils coverage for the dwelling and named perils coverage for personal property – that’s pretty standard for a home insurance policy. If you opt for all-perils coverage for your belongings, too, that will increase the cost of your policy.
| Coverage Limits | Average Premium |
|---|---|
| $100,000 - $124,999 | $882 |
| $150,000 - $174,999 | $975 |
| $200,000 - $299,999 | $1,113 |
Similarly, your policy limits – or the amount of coverage you have – for your dwelling impacts your costs. If you look at national averages for home insurance costs based on coverage levels, you can get an idea of how your choices may increase or reduce your rates.
If your home’s replacement cost – that is, how much it would cost to rebuild it from the ground up – is high, your premium will be higher, too. As illustrated above, the amount of dwelling coverage you have can impact your rates considerably.
For homeowners in Florida, the home’s roof shape and wind mitigation measures can be a significant cost factor, too. Hip-shaped roofs tend to weather hurricane winds better, so they may fetch a lower rate. A homeowner who has invested in other wind mitigation measures, like stronger roof-to-wall connections, roof-to-deck connections, and roofing materials, can lower their rates even more.
| Cost Factors You Can Control | Cost Factors That Are Mostly Fixed |
|---|---|
| Coverage Types and Amounts | Location |
| Deductibles | Claims History |
| Risk Mitigation Discounts | Home Age and Replacement Cost |
The following factors impact your home insurance costs, but you can tinker with them to make your policy more affordable:
The following variables are often fixed but have a significant impact on your home insurance rates:
While you can’t control some factors that influence your homeowners insurance cost, such as your home’s location, its age, and its replacement cost, there are some things you can do to reduce your rates.
These tips can help you get the cheapest homeowners insurance possible without sacrificing the quality of your coverage.
Don’t go with the first insurance provider you find or the one your parents use. The best way to make sure you get a good deal on your coverage is to shop around. Get a quote from a few different providers, and don’t look at price alone. You’ll also want to consider:
When you find an insurance provider you trust, this part should be easy. A good insurance provider will help you choose the appropriate amount of coverage for your home, your belongings, and your liability. Not too much coverage, which can drive up your premiums, and not too little, which leaves you inadequately protected.
Ideally, your policy will offer replacement cost coverage for both your home (which means you can rebuild with similar materials at the current market rate) and your belongings (which allows you to replace your missing or damaged possessions with similar, new items).
Typically, the higher your deductible, the lower your premium will be. While it may be tempting to choose the highest possible deductible to offset your monthly bill, be careful. You don’t want to choose such a high deductible that it puts an unreasonable financial burden on you when you need to make a claim.
For reference, Kin customers can choose between the following deductible options: $500, $1,000, $2,500, $5,000 or 1, 2, 3, or 5 percent of your dwelling coverage.
While you can’t pick up your home and move it to a new location, you can opt out of adding things to your home that may raise your premium. For example:
Certain updates to your house not only make the home safer, but they can also cut your home insurance costs. For example, the following improvements may reduce your bill:
Before making big investments, talk to your insurance agent to see what kind of discounts you can expect from each improvement. That can help you spend money that will be offset by savings down the road.
Most insurers can use your insurance score, which is based on your credit score, as a factor to determine your premium. The logic is the better your score, the less likely you are to make a claim (and subsequently, you qualify for lower rates).
To improve your credit score and reduce your insurance bill, you can:
We get the impulse to buy and forget about your coverage, but a yearly review is a good practice for a few reasons:
Every insurance company offers different discounts, prices, and coverage. Luckily, they also typically offer assistance to help you figure these out. So while the tips here apply to most insurers, you’ll get the best insight from a provider who can give you the scoop on:
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