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These U.S. states have the cheapest home insurance premiums in the country

Home insurance costs vary wildly depending on where you live. MoneyGeek's 2026 analysis ranks the U.S. states that pay the least annually

Praswin Prakashan / Unsplash

Owning a home costs wildly different amounts depending on which state a buyer settles in, and insurance is one of the biggest reasons why. Two people with identical mortgages, similar-sized houses, and matching coverage limits can end up paying thousands of dollars apart every year simply because of where their homes sit on the map. Hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, and hailstorms all shape what an insurer charges to cover a roof, and in states that face those threats often, premiums have climbed well past what many households budgeted for when they signed their mortgage. Reconstruction costs compound the problem. Lumber, labor, and materials all cost more than they did five years ago, and insurers pass those higher rebuilding costs straight through to policyholders regardless of whether a claim ever gets filed. For a growing number of homeowners, the insurance bill now rivals property taxes as a fixed cost that swings hard from one state line to the next.

The dollar gap between different states has widened even further this year. A homeowner paying the national average now spends $3,548 annually for a standard policy, but that figure masks how unevenly the cost actually lands from one state to the next. States exposed to hurricanes and severe convective storms carry a heavier reinsurance burden, since insurers there have to buy their own backup coverage to survive a bad storm season, and that expense gets built into every premium they write. Litigation-heavy insurance markets add another layer of cost, and so does exposure to expensive roof claims, which industry estimates put at more than $30 billion nationally in a single recent year. States with less exposure to those pressures pay less for the same coverage, and the difference between the two extremes now tops $9,600 a year, enough to cover a mortgage payment for months.

MoneyGeek's analysis of homeowners insurance premiums breaks down average annual costs in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., using a standardized homeowner profile that assumes a 2,500-square-foot home built in 2000 with $250,000 in dwelling coverage, $125,000 in personal property protection, $200,000 in liability coverage, and a $1,000 deductible. Pricing data comes from Quadrant Information Services, drawing on filings from major national and regional insurers. This list covers the seven states, including the District of Columbia, with the lowest average annual premiums in that analysis, each one landing at less than half the national average.

Zane Persaud / Unsplash

MoneyGeek's data puts Hawaii's average homeowners premium at $601 a year, or about $50 a month, a rate that undercuts the $3,548 national average by 83%. No other state comes close to that gap. The number looks even more striking given Hawaii's reputation as one of the most expensive places in the country to own a home, where median home prices run well above the national figure and everyday costs like groceries and utilities carry a hefty island premium. Insurance is the one line item that runs in the opposite direction.

The explanation lies in what a standard Hawaii policy actually covers. Hurricane damage is excluded by default, and homeowners have to buy a separate hurricane policy to protect against wind and storm surge, an added cost that keeps the base premium artificially low. That gap matters because the underlying risk hasn't disappeared. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration counts just six direct hurricane hits on the islands since 1950, the most recent being Hurricane Hone in 2024, so insurers who write the standard policy face a thin claims history from that peril. Other threats remain real. Tsunamis, wildfires, and volcanic activity all show up in Hawaii's disaster record, and none of them get automatic coverage under a basic homeowners policy either.

Cracks are starting to show in that arrangement. A report from the Insurance Fairness Project flagged this year that increasingly costly climate disasters are shifting Hawaii's risk profile, and hundreds of........

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