Homeowners insurance rates have risen sharply in states like Florida and California for years. Now, the affordability crisis is spreading across the country.
Nationwide, home insurance rates rose nearly 47% from 2020 through 2025, according to LendingTree’s 2026 State of Home Insurance report.
In the hardest-hit states, the 2025 jump was about three times the national average. Colorado saw rates jump 18.3%, while Minnesota and Iowa were close behind at 17% and 14.7%, respectively. No state included in LendingTree’s analysis saw rates fall that year.
“Homeowners across the country have faced steeply risen rates,” said Sharon Cornelissen, director of housing at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. “It’s not just California and Florida anymore.”
Colorado leads the nation in home insurance rate hikes
Colorado’s more than 100% increase was the steepest in the country, putting the state well ahead of the nearly 47% national average increase.
Severe weather is the main factor pushing rates higher. Colorado was affected by 22 separate billion-dollar disasters from 2020 through 2024, according to NOAH data. Hail, wildfires, tornadoes, and severe storms are some of the biggest culprits, said Mark Friedlander, senior director of media relations at the Insurance Information Institute.
“Both (wildfire and hail) perils had been priced conservatively for years because the loss history looked stable,” said Friedlander. “However, a trend of costly loss events since 2020 forced insurers to re-underwrite the state’s risk more aggressively.”
Colorado’s Marshall Fire in December 2021, for example, burned deep into residential neighborhoods in the suburbs surrounding Boulder, ultimately destroying more than 1,000 homes.
Colorado’s population growth and new home construction are also increasingly concentrated in the heart of “Hail Alley,” the most hail-prone area in the entire country. The state ranks sixth nationally in hail-related insurance claims.
To help homeowners who can’t afford coverage in the private market, Colorado launched an insurer-of-last-resort option last year known as the FAIR Plan.
The state is also trying to tackle rising costs through its Access Homeowner’s Insurance Enterprise law, signed by Gov. Jared Polis in June. The law creates grants to help homeowners install fortified roofs resistant to hail and wind damage, paid for by fees charged on insurers.
But the program won’t begin issuing grants until at least 2027, and the law doesn’t require insurers to cut premiums by a specific amount.
The 10 states where home insurance costs have risen the most
Many of these states offered affordable insurance premiums just a few years ago. Now, rate increases far outpace inflation and wages, and homeowners are feeling the pressure.
Florida and California — long considered ground zero for skyrocketing insurance costs — didn’t even make the top 10. Instead, rate hikes are mostly concentrated in states west of the Mississippi River.
The sharpest premium increases are showing up away from the coasts due to what’s known as secondary perils — namely, severe convective storms and wildfires. They’ve historically been modeled less precisely than named-storm risk, said Friedlander.
“Insurers are now recalibrating pricing in these regions to reflect a decade of escalating losses,” he added.
Why these states are seeing the sharpest increases
Surging rates are frustrating for homeowners, but understandable from an insurer’s perspective: Severe weather losses are becoming increasingly common — and expensive — while labor and construction material costs remain high.
Hail, wind damage, and wildfires
Many of the hardest hit states are clustered in the Midwest and Mountain West, not in hurricane-prone coastal areas. In many states, deductibles, especially for hail and wind damage, are going up.
Hail is especially expensive for insurers because one storm can damage roofs, siding, and other property across thousands of homes at once.
Wildfires add another layer of risk in Western states. The relatively dry climates of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and California have produced wildfires in recent years with catastrophic losses.
More claims than premiums
LendingTree noted that in three states — Louisiana, Iowa, and Hawaii — home insurers paid more in claims than they collected in premiums. An insurance company can absorb that loss for a while, but not forever. As claims experience has caught up with a decade of worsening losses, insurers in these states have had to file larger, more frequent rate increases to keep pace, said Friedlander.
Insurers are passing those costs onto customers. “It’s putting increasing pressure on already high housing costs for both renters and homeowners,” said Cornelissen of CFA.
Reinsurance
For states like Colorado, reinsurance also plays a role. Reinsurance is essentially insurance for insurance companies. It helps carriers absorb the financial hit from large catastrophes.
When reinsurance becomes more expensive, companies like State Farm and Allstate may seek larger rate increases, raise deductibles, tighten underwriting standards, or even back out of high-risk areas entirely.
But higher costs for insurers often take time to trickle down, in part because insurers in most states need to seek regulatory approval before higher rates can take effect. From 2020 through 2024, the median time to approve rate filings was 331 days in Colorado and 305 days in California, according to the Government Accountability Office.
So for homeowners, the financial impact of a bad catastrophe might not be felt for a year or more.
How rate increases line up with nationwide costs
From 2021 to 2024, insurance companies increased premiums in 95% of U.S. ZIP codes, according to the Consumer Federation of America. But a state can see a huge increase in homeowners insurance rates without necessarily becoming one of the most expensive places to buy coverage.
Arizona is a good example. Rates there climbed 71% from 2020 through 2025, the sixth-largest increase in the country. Yet homeowners pay an average of $2,225 per year for coverage — about 7% below the national average of $2,395.
“A state like Arizona can post a large percentage increase off a historically low base and still land below the national average annual premium,” said Friedlander.
Other states are getting hit with both rapidly rising rates and high overall premiums. Nebraska, which had the fifth-largest rate increase at 72%, now has the second-highest average homeowners insurance cost in the country at $4,956 a year. That’s more than double the national average.
There’s also a worrisome trend playing out: Homeowners are seeing their standard coverage decrease while their premiums rise. So consumers are now often paying more to receive what was once considered standard coverage.
“Homeowners are seeing a growing share of their monthly payments go towards insurance rather than their mortgage,” said Cornelissen of CFA. “Growing insurance unaffordability is a big part of our housing affordability crisis.”
Read more: How to shop for homeowners insurance in 5 steps
How to save on homeowners insurance costs
You can’t control the weather or approved rate increases. But homeowners insurance pricing can vary widely, and numerous factors influence how much you actually pay for coverage.
Here are some tips for saving on homeowners insurance:
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Shop around regularly: Get several quotes from different insurers and compare equivalent coverage, not just the premium. Insurers also change their rates over time, so a company that was expensive a few years ago could be more competitive now.
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Raise your deductible if you can afford it: A higher deductible usually lowers your premium because you’re taking on the risk of paying more out of pocket when you file a claim. Just make sure the deductible is an amount you can actually cover after a major loss.
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Bundle home and auto coverage: Many insurers offer a multipolicy discount. Compare the combined price with the cost of buying the policies separately, since bundling isn’t guaranteed to be the cheapest option.
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Ask about available discounts: Security systems, smoke detectors, and other safety features may qualify you for a discount. Some insurers also reward newer roofs or updated plumbing.
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Make your home more disaster resistant: Depending on where you live, investing in roof upgrades, storm shutters, or impact-resistant windows might qualify you for savings from your insurer.
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Review your coverage limits: Understanding how much homeowners insurance you actually need is key. Review limits annually so you aren’t paying for unnecessary coverage or leaving yourself underinsured.
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Improve your credit score: CFA research found that homeowners with a lower credit score are charged almost twice as much for insurance as homeowners with a higher credit score. Working with a credit counselor or strategically paying down debt can help improve your score, and potentially, save you money on insurance.
Read more: How to save money on homeowners insurance
