Texas has some of highest home insurance costs nationally, study finds
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas has some of the highest home insurance prices in the country, according to a Realtor.com analysis released Monday.
Florida led the nation, with 20% of the state's homeowners paying a minimum of $4,000 a year for home insurance. Realtor.com's analysis pulled data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey as part of its reporting.
Louisiana came in second, with 17% of its homeowners hitting that $4,000 minimum threshold. Texas and Colorado tied for third, with each state reporting 11% of its homeowners paying $4,000 or more on home insurance.
Oklahoma rounded out the top five, with 9% of its homeowners paying that amount.
Nationally, an analysis from Bankrate found the average cost of home insurance (for policies with a $300,000 coverage limit) in 2024 hovered around $2,300 annually. Some of the factors leading to heightened home insurance rates include inflation, increased costs of building materials and factors like some states' extreme weather conditions and losses that could result from them.
As a result, Realtor.com's findings noted numerous insurance carriers have increased their rates and minimized coverage as a result of having to pay more for claims than the carriers received in premiums. Those higher premiums negatively impact affordability for homeowners as a result, the study found.
While some states report especially high home insurance costs, rates are trending substantially upward nationally. Realtor.com cited research from S&P Global Market Intelligence, which found home insurance rates grew 34% nationally between 2018 and 2023.
Here in Texas, the state's home insurance premium cost jumped nearly 60% in the same five-year timespan, per S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“The monthly cost of homeownership includes not only paying down the principal and interest on a loan, but also covering tax and insurance," said Hannah Jones, a senior economic research analyst with Realtor.com, in the release. "This means that the whole picture, insurance costs included, has to be considered when defining a budget for a home purchase."
More details on Realtor.com's analysis are available online.