Landlord Insurance Cost Data by State
Expect a landlord policy to cost roughly 15-25% more than homeowners coverage on the same house, which puts our national estimate at about $2,860 to $3,110 a year against a $2,490 homeowners benchmark. Below are those ranges for all 50 states, with the claim and premium data behind them, for anyone shopping landlord insurance for small landlords. Every figure is a benchmark or an estimate, not a quote.
By LandlordTested editorial teamLast reviewed
On this page
How we built these numbers
The state figures start from NerdWallet’s 2026 homeowners rate study, which uses sample rates from Quadrant Information Services. NerdWallet took the median rate from a range of insurers in every ZIP code for a 40-year-old nonsmoker with good credit, a single-family two-story home built in 1984, $400,000 of dwelling coverage, $300,000 of liability coverage and a $1,000 deductible, with all rates rounded to the nearest $5 (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
That is a homeowners (HO-3) benchmark, not a landlord price. Landlord policies, usually written on a dwelling form called DP-3, typically run around 15-25% higher than homeowners coverage on the same building. So for each state we multiplied the homeowners benchmark by 1.15 and 1.25 and rounded to the nearest $10. That range is our estimate. No insurer has offered it, and a quote on your property is the only number you can budget around.
Landlord insurance cost data by state
Annual figures. The homeowners column is NerdWallet’s 2026 state benchmark (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost). The landlord column is our estimate at 1.15x to 1.25x.
| State | Homeowners benchmark (per year) | Estimated landlord range (per year) |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $4,285 | $4,930 to $5,360 |
| Alaska | $1,385 | $1,590 to $1,730 |
| Arizona | $3,415 | $3,930 to $4,270 |
| Arkansas | $4,955 | $5,700 to $6,190 |
| California | $1,820 | $2,090 to $2,280 |
| Colorado | $3,910 | $4,500 to $4,890 |
| Connecticut | $2,135 | $2,460 to $2,670 |
| Delaware | $1,365 | $1,570 to $1,710 |
| Florida | $2,845 | $3,270 to $3,560 |
| Georgia | $3,225 | $3,710 to $4,030 |
| Hawaii | $900 | $1,040 to $1,130 |
| Idaho | $2,195 | $2,520 to $2,740 |
| Illinois | $3,240 | $3,730 to $4,050 |
| Indiana | $2,985 | $3,430 to $3,730 |
| Iowa | $3,765 | $4,330 to $4,710 |
| Kansas | $5,455 | $6,270 to $6,820 |
| Kentucky | $3,795 | $4,360 to $4,740 |
| Louisiana | $2,020 | $2,320 to $2,530 |
| Maine | $1,525 | $1,750 to $1,910 |
| Maryland | $2,375 | $2,730 to $2,970 |
| Massachusetts | $1,645 | $1,890 to $2,060 |
| Michigan | $2,415 | $2,780 to $3,020 |
| Minnesota | $3,615 | $4,160 to $4,520 |
| Mississippi | $4,445 | $5,110 to $5,560 |
| Missouri | $3,805 | $4,380 to $4,760 |
| Montana | $3,765 | $4,330 to $4,710 |
| Nebraska | $6,015 | $6,920 to $7,520 |
| Nevada | $1,635 | $1,880 to $2,040 |
| New Hampshire | $1,500 | $1,720 to $1,880 |
| New Jersey | $1,480 | $1,700 to $1,850 |
| New Mexico | $2,800 | $3,220 to $3,500 |
| New York | $1,710 | $1,970 to $2,140 |
| North Carolina | $3,025 | $3,480 to $3,780 |
| North Dakota | $3,510 | $4,040 to $4,390 |
| Ohio | $2,080 | $2,390 to $2,600 |
| Oklahoma | $7,255 | $8,340 to $9,070 |
| Oregon | $1,705 | $1,960 to $2,130 |
| Pennsylvania | $1,720 | $1,980 to $2,150 |
| Rhode Island | $2,230 | $2,560 to $2,790 |
| South Carolina | $3,205 | $3,690 to $4,010 |
| South Dakota | $3,965 | $4,560 to $4,960 |
| Tennessee | $4,220 | $4,850 to $5,280 |
| Texas | $4,915 | $5,650 to $6,140 |
| Utah | $1,810 | $2,080 to $2,260 |
| Vermont | $1,170 | $1,350 to $1,460 |
| Virginia | $2,265 | $2,600 to $2,830 |
| Washington | $1,880 | $2,160 to $2,350 |
| West Virginia | $2,465 | $2,830 to $3,080 |
| Wisconsin | $2,175 | $2,500 to $2,720 |
| Wyoming | $1,805 | $2,080 to $2,260 |
Three states need a footnote. Standard policies in Hawaii don’t cover hurricane wind damage, so owners buy that separately and pay more in total than the table shows (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost). In Florida and Louisiana, a median-of-insurers method lands lower than many other studies, and coastal wind pricing swings widely by county or parish, so treat those two rows as a floor.
National benchmarks for 2026
- Homeowners insurance averages $2,490 a year, about $208 a month, for $400,000 of dwelling coverage (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
- The five most expensive states are Oklahoma ($7,255), Nebraska ($6,015), Kansas ($5,455), Arkansas ($4,955) and Texas ($4,915) (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
- The five cheapest are Hawaii ($900), Vermont ($1,170), Delaware ($1,365), Alaska ($1,385) and New Jersey ($1,480) (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
- By our count from those state figures, 24 of the 50 states sit above the $2,490 national figure, 16 are under $2,000 and 8 are over $4,000. The median state is about $2,440. Oklahoma’s benchmark is about eight times Hawaii’s.
- Among 20 large metro areas, Oklahoma City is the most expensive at $9,770 a year, followed by Houston at $7,855 and Fort Worth at $7,460. San Jose is the cheapest at $1,475 (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
- Average rates from the largest home insurers can differ by more than $1,000 a year, which is why we’d get at least three quotes (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
- 34% of Americans with homeowners insurance said their premium went up in the past 12 months (NerdWallet survey, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
What changes the premium on a rental
The same NerdWallet sample policy, with one input changed at a time, shows which levers matter most. All figures are national averages (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
| Change to the sample policy | Average annual premium |
|---|---|
| $200,000 of dwelling coverage | $1,480 |
| $300,000 of dwelling coverage | $1,975 |
| $400,000 of dwelling coverage (baseline) | $2,490 |
| $600,000 of dwelling coverage | $3,510 |
| $800,000 of dwelling coverage | $4,445 |
| Newly built home instead of 1984 | $1,425 |
| One prior wind claim | $2,750 (10% more) |
| Poor credit instead of good | $4,290 (72% more) |
- Raising the deductible from $1,000 to $2,500 saves about 9% a year on average (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
- California, Maryland and Massachusetts don’t allow insurers to use credit to price homeowners, renters, condo and mobile home policies (NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
For a landlord, the age line is the one to watch. Many small rentals are older houses, and an older roof, wiring or plumbing pushes the price up before any landlord markup is added.
What regulators report for dwelling fire policies
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners publishes actual average premiums by policy form, including dwelling fire, the policy family landlord (DP) coverage belongs to. Its latest report covers 2023 data and was published in July 2026. One caution: NAIC’s report labels its dwelling fire data as one-family, owner-occupied, non-seasonal buildings, so read these as a guide to how dwelling forms are priced, not as an average landlord premium.
- The countrywide average dwelling fire premium was $1,019 in 2023, against $1,737 for an HO-3 homeowners policy (NAIC, Dwelling Fire, Homeowners Owner-Occupied, and Homeowners Tenant and Condominium/Cooperative Unit Owner’s Insurance Report: Data for 2023, 2026, https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/publication-hmr-zu-homeowners-report.pdf).
- NAIC warns that this gap reflects coverage, not a discount: in each coverage range, a dwelling fire policy represents less coverage than the matching homeowners package, and the dwelling fire data aren’t directly comparable to homeowners data (NAIC, 2026, https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/publication-hmr-zu-homeowners-report.pdf).
- Dwelling fire policies made up 2.1% of the roughly 102 million house-years of coverage counted in 2023, about 2.1 million house-years (NAIC, 2026, https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/publication-hmr-zu-homeowners-report.pdf).
- Dwelling fire is most common on lower-value buildings: 18.0% of policies written for less than $150,000 of coverage were dwelling fire (NAIC, 2026, https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/publication-hmr-zu-homeowners-report.pdf).
- At $1 million or more of coverage, the average dwelling fire premium was $4,735 (NAIC, 2026, https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/publication-hmr-zu-homeowners-report.pdf).
- Your tenants’ renters (HO-4) policies averaged $173 a year in 2023, and condo unit-owner (HO-6) policies averaged $658 (NAIC, 2026, https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/publication-hmr-zu-homeowners-report.pdf).
- Between 2021 and 2022, the nationwide average premium for dwelling fire and owner-occupied homeowners policies rose 10.5% (NAIC, 2025, https://content.naic.org/article/naic-releases-homeowners-insurance-report-2022).
- The average HO-3 premium was $1,569 in 2022, up 11.2% from 2021. Florida ($2,677), Louisiana ($2,603) and Texas ($2,397) were the highest; Oregon ($893) was the lowest (NAIC data via Insurance Information Institute, 2022 data, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
The NAIC averages are lower than the NerdWallet benchmarks because they divide all premium written by all policies, including small and older houses with low coverage amounts. NerdWallet prices one $400,000 house. Neither is your quote.
How often claims happen, and what they cost
These figures come from ISO, a Verisk business, as published by the Insurance Information Institute. They cover homeowners policies, which is the closest large dataset to a single-family rental.
- 5.3% of insured homes had a claim in 2023, down from 6.4% in 2020 (Insurance Information Institute, 2023 data, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
- The average claim paid was $20,062 in 2023, about 44% more than the $13,884 average in 2019 (Insurance Information Institute, 2023 data, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
- Wind and hail caused 42.5% of homeowners losses in 2023, water damage and freezing 22.6%, and fire and lightning 21.6% (Insurance Information Institute, 2023 data, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
- Liability claims were 2.1% of losses and theft 0.6% (Insurance Information Institute, 2023 data, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
- From 2019 to 2023, the average fire and lightning claim was $88,170, the average water damage and freezing claim $15,400, and the average wind and hail claim $14,747 (Insurance Information Institute, 2019-2023 data, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
- The average bodily injury and property damage liability claim was $37,174 over the same period (Insurance Information Institute, 2019-2023 data, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
- The average non-catastrophe fire claim reached $173,111 in 2024, about 74% more than the $99,613 average in 2020 (Insurance Information Institute, 2024 data, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
- Each year, about one in 18 insured homes has a claim, one in 35 has a wind or hail claim, one in 60 has a water damage or freezing claim, one in 425 has a fire or lightning claim, and about one in 1,100 has a liability claim for bodily injury or property damage (Insurance Information Institute, based on ISO data, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
Read those together and the landlord math is plain. Fires are rare and very expensive, which is what the dwelling coverage is for. Water claims are common, and in a rental nobody may notice a leak for days.
When the regular market says no: FAIR plans
FAIR plans and beach and windstorm plans are state-backed insurers of last resort. Landlords in wildfire, coastal and hail country increasingly end up there.
- FAIR plans held 2,684,925 policies in fiscal 2024, nearly double the 1,363,488 they held in 2018 (Property Insurance Plans Service Office via Insurance Information Institute, 2024, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
- Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance had 1,335,517 policies, the California FAIR Plan 431,300 and the Texas FAIR Plan 126,680 in fiscal 2024 (Property Insurance Plans Service Office via Insurance Information Institute, 2024, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
Why premiums keep rising
- Insured losses from U.S. catastrophes totaled more than $940.4 billion from 2016 to 2025, in 2025 dollars (Insurance Information Institute, as cited by NAIC, 2026, https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/publication-hmr-zu-homeowners-report.pdf).
- The U.S. averaged 1,326 tornadoes a year from 2016 to 2025, ranging from 977 in 2016 to 1,810 in 2024 (Insurance Information Institute, as cited by NAIC, 2026, https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/publication-hmr-zu-homeowners-report.pdf).
- There were 27 U.S. disasters that each caused at least $1 billion of damage in 2024 (NOAA, as cited by NerdWallet, 2026, https://www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/homeowners/learn/average-homeowners-insurance-cost).
- In 2021, homeowners insurance cost 1.99% of median household income nationally and 4.07% in Florida, the highest of any state (Insurance Research Council via Insurance Information Institute, 2021 data, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
- State Farm wrote 18.7% of U.S. homeowners premiums in 2025, the largest share of any group (NAIC data via Insurance Information Institute, 2025, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
- 34.8% of occupied U.S. housing units were renter occupied in 2024 (U.S. Census Bureau via Insurance Information Institute, 2024, https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance).
Questions landlords ask
The questions we get most, each answered in a paragraph.
How much does landlord insurance cost per year?
Using NerdWallet's 2026 homeowners benchmark of $2,490 a year for $400,000 of dwelling coverage, and the usual 15-25% markup for a landlord (DP-3) policy, our national estimate is about $2,860 to $3,110 a year. Your state matters more than anything else. The same estimate runs from about $1,040 in Hawaii to about $9,070 in Oklahoma. Only a quote on your actual property is a real number.
Why is landlord insurance more expensive than homeowners insurance?
Insurers price a rented home as a higher risk. Nobody who owns it lives there to spot a slow leak or a failing water heater, tenants come and go, and the policy usually adds loss-of-rent coverage that a homeowners policy doesn't carry. Water damage and freezing alone made up 22.6% of homeowners losses in 2023, and a leak nobody notices for a week is the kind of claim insurers worry about in a rental.
Are these state figures quotes I can buy?
No. The homeowners column is a published benchmark for one sample house and one sample owner, and the landlord column is our estimate built from it. Your premium depends on the building's age, roof, construction, claims history, deductible, credit (in most states) and the exact ZIP code. Use the table to sanity-check quotes, not to replace them.