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Home insurance premiums surge ahead of the 2026 midterms
Insurify projects the average US premium will rise to $3,066 in 2026, while disaster-exposed regions like coastal North Carolina and Texas saw real-term increases of more than 50% in a February GAO analysis.
Premiums are increasingly becoming a political issue for homeowners ahead of the November 3 midterms, with higher costs showing up not only on bills but also in how Americans say they plan to vote, according to Insurance Business.
The average US homeowner paid $2,948 a year for home insurance coverage in 2025, a 12% increase from the prior year, and Insurify expects premiums to climb another 4% by the end of 2026. Premiums have risen 46% since 2021, while the Government Accountability Office found that premiums tracked inflation nationally but climbed much faster in disaster-exposed regions.
Weather-related losses are a key driver of the rate increases. Swiss Re Institute estimated severe convective storms such as hail, wind and tornadoes produced about $50 billion in insured US losses in 2025, and the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires were the costliest wildfire event on record at roughly $40 billion insured, contributing to the US accounting for 83% of the world’s $107 billion in insured catastrophe losses last year.
The impact is uneven across states, with Insurify data pointing to the sharpest 2025 rate hikes in Oklahoma, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota, mostly tied to hail and severe storm losses. Premiums are expected to ease slightly by year end in several states, while California remains an exception, with wildfire-exposed carriers pushing rates up as much as 16%, and Insurify polling of 1,500 Americans finds 58% are more likely to vote due to rising insurance costs.