Home Insurance Now Costs More Than Property Taxes in Most U.S. Counties

Homeowners in roughly two-thirds of U.S. counties now pay more on average to insure their homes than they pay in property taxes, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence reported by Bloomberg News on Oct. 20. The analysis, which Bloomberg Intelligence published on Oct. 19, compared county-level premiums with tax bills using data from the U.S. Census, state insurance regulators, and federal weather and transportation agencies.

The finding reorders a familiar household budget. Insurance and property taxes are both recurring costs of owning a home, and in most counties insurance is now the larger of the two. In CoverGuard's view, that shift matters most to people who have not yet bought: a buyer comparing two homes at the same price may be comparing two very different monthly costs, and the difference can stay hidden until a quote arrives after the offer is accepted.

The size of the gap varies sharply by region. Bloomberg Intelligence found that, at the county level, homeowners pay an average of 14% more for insurance than for property tax. When the share of auto premiums tied to extreme weather is added, the combined insurance cost exceeds property taxes in 75% of counties, and the average gap widens to 30%, according to the analysis.

The increase has been steep. Inflation-adjusted average homeowner premiums, measured county by county, rose 45% over a decade, Bloomberg reported, with Nebraska up 79%. Across the Southeast, where property taxes are among the lowest in the country, the analysis found premiums at two and a half to four times the property-tax bill. In the Midwest and Mountain West, hail and winter storms are driving rates up, with the steepest increases in Colorado, Utah and Minnesota. Gaps are narrower in the Northeast, the West and large metro areas, where property taxes are higher, according to the report.

Regulators' own data points the same way. In an Aug. 5 report covering 2018 through 2024, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said average premium per policy rose in every region of the country, with inflation-adjusted increases of 18.3% to 43.3% depending on the region. Insurer-initiated non-renewal rates rose between 96% and 216% over the same period, the NAIC said, drawing on Market Conduct Annual Statement data collected by state insurance departments.

An earlier federal study found that costs fall hardest where climate risk is highest. The Treasury Department's Federal Insurance Office, which analyzed more than 246 million policies from over 330 insurers for 2018 through 2022, reported in January 2025 that the average premium in the riskiest fifth of ZIP codes was $2,321, or 82% higher than in the least risky fifth. Non-renewal rates in the highest-risk ZIP codes ran about 80% above those in the lowest-risk ones, the office found.

State-level studies released this year show how the arithmetic plays out for buyers. A LendingTree analysis reported by RISMedia in July found that insurance costs exceeded property taxes in 15 states, including Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. In Texas, a report by Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research and the policy group Texas 2036 estimated that about 64% of households cannot afford the median-valued home in their county after insurance premiums and other housing costs, Newsweek reported in August.

Florida, long the focal point of the debate, illustrates how the two costs now compete for homeowners' attention. In a University of North Florida poll of 1,511 insured homeowners conducted in July, 63% said insurance worried them more than property taxes, while 36% named taxes, according to Newsweek. Mark Friedlander of the Insurance Information Institute said the state's market had improved since legislative reforms, citing a 50% decline in new lawsuit filings since 2020, Newsweek reported.

Higher premiums are arriving at the same time as higher borrowing costs. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate stood at 7.40% as of Oct. 15, unchanged from the prior week and up from 6.27% a year earlier, according to Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey. In CoverGuard's view, with rates higher than a year ago and premiums climbing, buyers have less room to absorb a premium they did not plan for.

Who pays for disasters is also changing. Over the past two decades the federal government covered about 90% of disaster recovery costs, Bloomberg reported, but the federal and local shares are now closer to even. After the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, federal aid to California totaled $2.6 billion while spending within the state reached $3.5 billion, according to the report. Andrew John Stevenson of Bloomberg Intelligence described the shift as "a very daunting proposal for local government." Rising deductibles are also leaving more of each loss with the homeowner before coverage begins, Bloomberg said.

The underlying losses remain large. Climate Central, a science nonprofit, counted 23 weather and climate disasters with at least $1 billion in U.S. damages in 2025, with an estimated $115 billion in total damages.

One near-term date is worth watching. The National Flood Insurance Program, which holds nearly 4.5 million policies, is authorized through Dec. 11, 2026, according to the Congressional Research Service. If authorization lapses, the program cannot write new policies. The CRS noted that during a lapse in June 2010, more than 1,400 home sale closings a day were canceled or delayed, because lenders require flood coverage for homes in Special Flood Hazard Areas.

In CoverGuard's view, the Bloomberg Intelligence finding confirms that insurance is no longer a closing-stage detail. When the premium is the larger of a home's two major carrying costs, it belongs in the comparison buyers and agents make before writing an offer, and in the affordability math lenders run before a commitment.

This is the workflow CoverGuard is built for. Enter any US address and see flood, fire, wind, earthquake and crime risk for that property, along with modeled carrier availability for the area and an estimated cost to insure, before you bid. When it is time to move, you can request a quote from our brokerage team. Carrier availability and cost figures are modeled rather than confirmed, and a quote request is not a guarantee of coverage or price until a carrier confirms it; final pricing comes from licensed carriers.