The average annual cost of home insurance is projected to reach roughly $3,057 by the end of 2026, a 4% increase over 2025 and the fifth consecutive year insurance analytics firm Insurify has recorded a national rise, according to a report highlighted by The Hill. California, Nebraska, New Mexico and Georgia are projected to see the steepest jumps in the country this year, each driven by a different mix of wildfire risk, severe storm losses and rebuilding costs insurers are passing to policyholders. For homeowners on fixed retirement incomes, the increase lands on top of years of premium growth already adding hundreds of dollars to the typical policy.
Why These Four States Lead the Country in Rate Hikes
Insurify’s projections single out four states for the sharpest increases in the country this year, and the reasons differ enough from state to state that no single national story explains all of them. California is projected to see the largest percentage jump, with average premiums climbing 15.8% to $2,843 as insurers continue recovering wildfire losses from recent years and roll out more granular, address-level risk modeling that prices individual homes rather than broad zip codes, according to the Insurify report.
Nebraska’s increase is smaller in percentage terms, at 13.2%, but the resulting premium is by far the highest of the four states, projected to reach $4,560 by the end of the year. The driver is not wildfire or hurricane exposure but severe convective storms, the hail, straight-line winds and tornado outbreaks that have repeatedly damaged roofs and siding across the Midwest and Great Plains, a category of loss insurers have increasingly priced as aggressively as coastal catastrophe risk, as The Hill’s coverage of the report notes.
New Mexico and Georgia round out the list with projected increases of 10.8% and 10%, bringing average annual premiums to $2,524 and $3,167 respectively. Neither state carries the same wildfire or hurricane profile that typically dominates insurance headlines, which is part of why Insurify’s report frames 2026 as a year in which rate pressure has spread well beyond the states usually associated with catastrophic weather losses.
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The National Number Behind the Projection
Nationally, Insurify projects the average annual home insurance premium will reach approximately $3,057 by the end of 2026, up 4% from roughly $2,948 at the close of 2025. The firm’s own report frames this as the fifth consecutive year it has recorded a national increase, a run that began well before the most recent wave of severe-weather losses and reflects a longer rebuilding-cost trend across the insurance industry.
The 4% national increase is notably smaller than the double-digit jumps projected for California, Nebraska, New Mexico and Georgia, which illustrates how much state-level variation matters to any individual homeowner’s bill. A retiree in a state not flagged for a steep increase this year may see a premium roughly in line with inflation, while a retiree in one of the four flagged states could see an increase two to four times the national rate on the same policy renewal.
Insurify calculates the figures as a projection based on current filing and claims data, not a finalized government statistic, and the firm has revised its estimates in past years as actual rate filings came in higher or lower than initial models predicted. The $3,057 figure should be read as the insurance industry’s own forecast of where premiums are heading, not as a number regulators have certified as final for every state.
What’s Driving Costs Even in States Without Hurricanes or Wildfires
The Nebraska example is the clearest illustration of a broader shift in how insurers price weather risk. States without a history of hurricanes or wildfires have historically enjoyed comparatively stable premiums, but a run of severe convective storms across the Great Plains and Midwest has produced enough repeated roof, siding and vehicle damage claims that insurers now treat that risk category with the same seriousness as coastal catastrophe exposure.
That repricing shows up fastest in states where a single insurer or a small handful of carriers dominate the market, since less competition gives individual companies more room to pass claims costs directly into the next renewal cycle. Homeowners in those states often have fewer options to shop around for a materially cheaper policy than someone in a state with a dozen active carriers competing for the same customers.
For homeowners already managing a fixed retirement income, the practical effect is that an insurance renewal notice can now carry as much budget risk as a property tax reassessment, arriving once a year with an increase that has little to do with anything the homeowner did and everything to do with regional claims history compiled well before the bill arrives.
Insurify’s report does not project relief on the horizon. With this marking the fifth straight year of national increases and four states now facing double-digit jumps for reasons ranging from wildfire modeling to hailstorms, the more useful planning assumption for most homeowners may be that the renewal bill goes up most years, not that a particular bad year eventually corrects itself.
This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
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