Car Insurance Rates Rise in 32 States as Home and Health Costs Climb

Auto premiums turn up again after a rare break

The break drivers got on car insurance in 2025 is ending in much of the country. Insurify's mid-year auto report found that average full-coverage premiums fell 6% last year, and drivers in 39 states paid less11. In the first half of 2026, the national average for full coverage rose 1% to $2,237, and 27 states recorded increases1112. Insurify expects 32 states to finish the year higher than they started1112.

The increases are concentrated in a handful of states. Connecticut is up 15% from a year earlier, the steepest rise in the report, and its rates have climbed 67% over five years11. Kentucky and West Virginia are each up 8%, and Nevada and Illinois are up 6%12. Kentucky shows how fast a state's position can change. Its drivers used to pay about $58 less than the national average and now pay about $65 more1112.

Some expensive markets are moving the other way. Washington, D.C., had the largest mid-year drop at 7%, and Insurify links it to fewer car thefts and fatal crashes. D.C. is still the most expensive place to insure a car, at an average of $3,955 for full coverage11. New Mexico fell about 6%, and New York and New Jersey each fell about 5%1112. New York's premiums are down 13% since June 2025. Its drivers still pay $2,840 a year, well above the national average12.

A reversal, or just a plateau?

Calling this a reversal overstates it. Insurify CEO Snejina Zacharia told FOX Business that most states are trending up this year11. But the national change is only 1%. Insurify's own consumer site describes the national average as leveling off with a modest 1% increase by year's end20. A quote in one write-up of the report calls 2026 "a year of normalization" rather than a spike12.

Other data points to cooling rather than renewed inflation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' motor vehicle insurance index fell 4.5% in the 12 months through July 2026 and declined in six of the previous seven months, even as overall consumer prices rose 3.4%18. NerdWallet, which analyzed more than 1.4 billion rate estimates, found that premiums rose 13.8% and 13.2% in the first two years of its study but only 2.6% in the latest year13. Insurers' filings with state regulators show the same thing. From January 2025 through mid-August 2026, the median filed rate change was 0%. Insurers asked for increases on only 24.2% of policies so far in 202613. State Farm sought increases on just 5% of its policies, and the median filed changes at GEICO and Auto-Owners were small cuts13.

Even Insurify's numbers don't line up exactly. One version of the mid-year report puts Connecticut's 2026 increase at 15%. A later monthly update says the state has risen 10% so far this year and projects another 4% by year's end1115. The Insurify site also says 35 states will see increases, not 3220. These differences are small, but they show how much depends on the time window and the method.

Our reading is that the national market has stopped falling, not started climbing again. In a minority of states, especially places that used to be cheap, the cost of claims is still outpacing premiums. In most of the country, insurers' rates have caught up with their losses. NerdWallet says that is why double-digit filings have largely stopped13.

Prices are leveling off well above where they were

The slowdown doesn't make car insurance affordable. NerdWallet found that the median full-coverage premium rose 32.3% from January 2023 to January 2026, from $1,784 to $2,359. Per-capita personal income grew 13% over the same period13. Since January 2020, motor vehicle insurance prices have risen 56.2%, about twice the 26% increase in overall consumer prices13. Insurify calculates that the national average jumped 46% between 2022 and 202420.

The reasons are well known and largely structural. Zacharia points to a 45% rise in repair costs, which she traces to pandemic supply problems and chip shortages, ongoing inflation, and tariffs on auto parts11. NerdWallet adds that cars now carry sensors and cameras that need specialist repairs, and it points to "social inflation," meaning claim costs pushed up by lawyer advertising, rolled-back tort reforms, and investors funding lawsuits13. In August 2026, IIHS-HLDI found that cars with bundles of driver-assistance features have about 10% higher collision claim severity. The same technology reduces how often crashes happen, so total collision losses still come out lower14. As long as these pressures last, prices are unlikely to fall back to pre-2020 levels.

Business fleets have had no relief at all. Commercial auto premiums rose 5.8% in the first quarter of 2026, the 59th straight quarterly increase according to the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, and another 4.5% in the second quarter14. Overall commercial premiums fell 2% in that quarter and commercial property dropped 6.3%17.

Home insurance: a fifth straight year of increases

Home insurance shows no sign of the cooling seen in auto. Insurify projects the average homeowners premium will reach $3,057 by the end of 2026, up 4%. That would follow a 12% jump in 2025 and bring the five-year increase to 46%4. NerdWallet measured a 4.6% national increase from early 2025 to early 2026 and a 24% rise over three years2.

The big changes are happening away from the coasts. In the first half of 2026, Minnesota premiums rose 12.9% and Louisiana's rose 8.6%1. Some counties went much higher. Collier County, Florida, rose 25.3% to an average of $10,052, and Jefferson Parish in Louisiana rose 33% after heavy insured losses15. NerdWallet says the Midwest had the biggest regional increase, 25% over three years, after years of wind and hail claims. Wisconsin led at nearly 41%2. Insurify blames severe weather above all7.

The surveys disagree more on home insurance than on auto. Insurance.com's 2026 data has Massachusetts premiums up 42.9% and Nebraska up 21.1%, the largest dollar increase at $9603. Insurify's first-half data shows Massachusetts and Nebraska roughly flat or slightly down1. The surveys use different coverage profiles and time periods. Readers should treat any one state ranking as one estimate, not a final figure. All of them agree on the direction: Florida is still the most expensive state, at roughly $8,500 a year13, and costs keep rising.

Older homes are falling behind new ones. NerdWallet found that premiums on newly built homes fell slightly in early 2026, while premiums on homes built in 1984 rose 4.6%. The gap between them is now 81%2.

Health insurance is the biggest increase coming

If auto premiums are leveling off and home premiums are rising steadily, health premiums are heading for a sharp jump in 2027. Preliminary results from the Mercer survey of more than 1,800 employers, which some outlets attribute to parent company Marsh, project an 8.2% rise in health benefit costs per employee. That would be the largest increase since 20032426. Without plan changes, employers say costs would rise 11%25. Other forecasts run from 9.2% at the Business Group on Health and 9.5% at Aon to 11.1% at WTW27. Aon expects average costs to top $19,000 per employee22.

Smaller buyers face larger increases. Insurers selling ACA-compliant small-group plans are proposing a median 14% increase22. Insurers in the individual marketplace want a median 15%, according to KFF's review of filings from 276 insurers21. Those requests follow an average 20% increase for 2026 and the expiration of the enhanced federal subsidies26. The cost drivers are new cancer treatments, consolidation among hospitals and doctors, specialty drugs, and GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, which Mercer estimates add about one percentage point to the increase24.

Not every forecast is this steep. CMS actuaries project per-participant employer spending will grow about 4.9% in 202730. That figure measures something different from the consultants' surveys, but it shows that forecasters disagree.

Workers will feel these increases most directly. About two-thirds of large employers expect to raise employees' share of premiums, and 59% plan cost-cutting changes such as higher deductibles2426.

What it means for household budgets

Taken together, the picture isn't a single new wave of insurance inflation. Car insurance has stopped getting cheaper, home insurance keeps rising, and health insurance is about to jump. For households, the slight rise in auto premiums matters less than the fact that all three bills remain high at once. Since insurers are no longer filing big auto increases, shopping for a new car insurance quote is one of the few places families can still save money right now.