Home Insurance Premiums Up 24% in Three Years, Led by Wisconsin

The Midwest moves to the top of the list

For years, coverage of home insurance costs has focused on Florida's hurricanes and California's wildfires. New data on the past three years points somewhere else. Home insurance premiums for the typical U.S. homeowner rose 24 percent over three years, and the Midwest saw the biggest increases.1 Coverage costs in the region climbed 25 percent between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2026. That compares with 20.5 percent in the Northeast, 19.2 percent in the South and 16.4 percent in the West.1

Wisconsin stands out. Homeowners there saw a cumulative premium increase of 40.9 percent over the period, far above the national figure.1 Michigan followed at 29.9 percent, with Iowa, Minnesota and Indiana each between 27 and 28 percent.1 Put in dollars, a Wisconsin homeowner who paid $2,000 for coverage in 2023 could now be paying about $2,818.2 Hail is the main cause. Severe hail events in Missouri rose 276 percent when 2023–2025 is compared with the previous three years. They rose 258 percent in Illinois and 183 percent in Indiana.2

The headline numbers also hide a slowdown. Premium growth eased over the past year. The reasons given are a fairly quiet 2025 Atlantic hurricane season and reforms by California regulators and Florida lawmakers meant to steady those troubled markets.1 North Carolina, Rhode Island and West Virginia posted the largest year-over-year declines, at 9.6, 7.9 and 7.6 percent.1 Still, premiums kept rising in most of the country in 2026. Four states had double-digit increases, led by Pennsylvania at 16.4 percent, Arizona at 14.9 percent and Minnesota at 10.9 percent.1

Different methods, different rankings

Compare the major rate studies and the overall direction matches, but the state rankings often don't. That matters for readers trying to judge their own risk.

Insurance.com's 2026 survey, based on Quadrant Information Services data, puts Florida far ahead as the most expensive state, at $8,471 a year for a standard policy.4 Five other states average more than $5,000: Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Louisiana.3 Its fastest-rising state, though, is Massachusetts, where average premiums jumped 42.9 percent, from $1,478 to $2,112.3 Nebraska had the biggest dollar increase, at $960.3 Nebraska, Colorado, Kentucky and Texas are the only states on both the ten-most-expensive and ten-fastest-rising lists. Homeowners there face high costs that are also climbing quickly.4

The two studies split sharply on some states. The three-year study shows Pennsylvania with the steepest one-year increase in the nation.1 Insurance.com shows Pennsylvania's average premium falling 4.9 percent, to $1,434.3 Wisconsin tops the three-year cumulative ranking.1 In Insurance.com's year-over-year table it rose just 1.3 percent.3 These results aren't necessarily contradictory. A three-year window, a one-year window, and quoted rates versus actual premiums can produce very different rankings. Even so, readers should be careful treating any one state ranking as definitive.

Other studies stretch the timeline further. One analysis found Colorado's home insurance rates rose 100.8 percent from 2020 to 2025, more than doubling. Iowa rose 96 percent and Minnesota 88.2 percent.6 A separate breakdown citing Insurify projected the largest 2026 increases in California (16 percent), Nebraska (13 percent), New Mexico (11 percent) and Georgia (10 percent).10

Some states show up in almost every study. Minnesota is high on the three-year list, rose 22.1 percent in Insurance.com's annual data, and is in the top three for long-run cumulative increases.136 Nebraska is similar. North Carolina's decline also appears in more than one dataset.13 When methods this different agree, the shared result is probably real. The clearest finding is that the Plains and Upper Midwest have become hard places to insure a house.

Why storms, not hurricanes, are driving prices

The insurance industry's loss data explains the shift on the map. U.S. insured losses from severe convective storms (hail, tornadoes and straight-line winds) topped $50 billion in each of 2023, 2024 and 2025.39 Aon's broking leadership now treats annual losses of $50 to $60 billion as normal, not exceptional.34 Many of these events fall below the thresholds where reinsurance kicks in, so primary insurers keep more of the losses themselves.34 That leads straight to higher homeowner rates in hail-prone states.

The first half of 2026 was calmer. Insured storm losses ran at about half the pace of the previous three years.39 Gallagher Re put them above $22 billion as of mid-June, and Aon put them near $27 billion. Both figures are below the five-year first-half average of $38 billion.32 Where the losses happened changed as well. With Texas and Colorado quieter, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan made up a larger share of insured losses than in recent years.39 Karen Clark & Company expects the Upper Midwest to have above-average storm losses this year, while Texas and the Southeast run below normal.32 That shift is consistent with the Midwest's premium pain lasting rather than fading.

A quieter year is not likely to bring rates down quickly. Insurify projects the national average home premium will rise about 4 percent in 2026, the fifth straight annual increase.32 Insurers in hail-prone states are also raising wind and hail deductibles and moving harder-to-price risks into the excess and surplus lines market.32 As a result, homeowners can be exposed to more cost even when their premium stays the same.

The claims-payout argument

Insurers point to their history to justify the increases. A Government Accountability Office review found that homeowners insurers' claims and expenses exceeded premium income in 22 of the 30 years from 1995 through 2024. The line averaged an underwriting loss of 4.2 percent.36 The GAO also concluded that premiums generally kept pace with inflation, but rose faster in disaster-prone areas. Since 2021, ZIP codes with severe or extreme wind or wildfire risk saw annual premium growth of 6 to 10 percent, compared with 1 to 4 percent in lower-risk areas.36

The industry's recent results are much better. The NAIC reported that the property and casualty sector's combined ratio improved 4 points to 92.9 percent in 2025, as net losses fell for the first time in more than a decade.40 The regulator noted that this was helped mostly by the lack of large catastrophes beyond the California wildfires.40 Boston Consulting Group describes a market moving into softer pricing after a long hard cycle, though loss costs are still high.35 My reading is that insurers have rebuilt their margins, so the strongest pressure to raise rates should ease. The remaining increases look more like ongoing repricing of storm risk than an emergency response.

Auto rates cool, but not everywhere

Auto insurance shows a similar pattern of national calm and local spikes. ValuePenguin projected average auto coverage would rise only about 1 percent across states in 2026, the smallest increase since 2022, after rates jumped 17.13 percent in 2024.28 Insurify's midyear report reaches a similar national figure, with full coverage averaging $2,237 a year. It also finds that 27 states saw increases in the first half of 2026, compared with only nine in the second half of 2025.22

The trouble spots differ by study. Insurify points to Connecticut, projected to rise 15 percent this year, followed by Kentucky and West Virginia at 8 percent each.25 ValuePenguin and The Zebra both point to New Jersey, at roughly 10.4 to 10.5 percent.2321 Part of New Jersey's increase comes from higher state minimum coverage requirements that took effect in January 2026.30 Repair costs are the common factor. Maintenance and repair costs have risen 45 percent over five years, and newer, tech-heavy vehicles are more expensive to fix.27

Health coverage is the steepest increase

Household budgets face their biggest jump from health insurance. Marsh estimates employer health benefit costs will rise 8.2 percent per worker in 2027, the largest increase since 2003.11 Other consultancies project higher figures: WTW at 11.1 percent and Aon at 9.5 percent.11 Fifty-nine percent of employers plan cost-cutting changes such as higher deductibles.11

The individual market is worse. Across 276 ACA Marketplace insurers, the median proposed increase for 2027 is 15 percent. That follows a finalized median of 20 percent for 2026.12 Insurers cite medical cost trends, more severe claims, and the expiration of enhanced premium tax credits, which led healthier enrollees to drop coverage.12 State regulators handled the requests very differently. New York cut a requested 20.6 percent average to 6 percent. Washington approved 22.2 percent against a 22.4 percent request.18

What it adds up to

The home insurance map is changing, and the most important finding is that the risk now extends across much of the country. The Midwest's three-year surge is driven by repeated hail losses, not a single disaster. Insurers' improved margins point to slower increases ahead, not price cuts. For a family in Minnesota or Nebraska facing higher home, auto and health premiums at once, a slowdown in the national average offers limited relief.