2025 List of States Where Finding Home Insurance Is Most Difficult and Why
Homeowners insurance is a necessity if you own a home, particularly if you are currently carrying a mortgage. Mortgage lenders require homeowners insurance to protect their investment in your home by always carrying homeowners insurance.
If your insurance is cancelled or you are non-renewed it can be a huge problem. As wildfires and major windstorms become more common, some insurance companies are pulling out of specific areas, making it difficult for homeowners in these areas to find coverage.
A number of states are experiencing skyrocketing homeowners insurance costs and less policy options to choose from as insurers stop writing coverage in certain areas. A recent Senate budget committee staff report warned of a sharp increase in non-renewals by insurance carriers over the past several years.
Here is a quick list of the states where finding homeowners coverage is becoming more difficult:
Florida: The Sunshine State has a variety of issues when it comes to insurance costs. Insurance fraud combined with frequent severe weather have led to some of the highest insurance rates in the country and numerous insurers leaving the state.
According to the Senate report, Florida saw non-renewals increase 280 percent from 2018 to 2023. The Florida insurance market was one of the main reasons Congress investigated the insurance market in the first place.
In many areas of Florida, Citizens Property (the state insurer of last resort) is the largest insurer for homeowners coverage. While state legislators have passed legislation designed to help prevent fraud, it hasn’t resulted in lower premiums and coverage can be very hard to find in certain areas of the state.
Louisiana: According to the congressional report, Louisiana was number two when it comes to non-renewals, seeing a 267 percent increase between 2018 and 2023. An investigation by Grist found that almost 20 companies left the market in the last two years, making it difficult to find coverage in high-risk areas.
North Carolina: The Tarheel state saw a massive amount of non-renewals. According to the Congressional report, “in 2023, 13 inland North Carolina counties ranked in the top 100 nationwide for highest non-renewal rates among counties with at least 10,000 policies in force.”
The counties impacted include Cumberland, Mecklenburg, Guilford, Union, Alamance, Nash, Bladen, Lenoir, Duplin, Columbus, Robeson, Sampson, and Martin counties.
The report predicts that coverage will continue to be difficult to find in some areas and that it may get worse in the future.
California: Wildfires are responsible for many of the issues in the California insurance market. The non-renewal rates in California were the highest in more inland counties where wildfires have taken their heaviest toll.
The recent fires in L.A. will almost certainly impact the insurance market and may result in numerous insurers leaving the market.
Massachusetts: While Massachusetts saw a high number of non-renewals, the report did not include any details as to what led to the non-renewals. The areas with the highest number of non-renewals were in coastal counties which points to weather or flooding being the major issue.
Wind and hail can cause massive damage to homes and car, leading to expensive claims which raise rates for everyone and can lead to insurers leaving the market.
Mississippi: Mississippi is located on the Gulf Coast and is no stranger to severe weather and hurricanes which is why insurers have non-renewed customers and, in some cases, have stopped writing coverage in certain areas. Hurricane Ian, which hit in 2021, was extremely costly and may have led to non-renewals as insurer reassess their risks.
Oklahoma: While Oklahoma is not located on a coast, it is right in the middle of Tornado Alley which earned it a 7th place finish in the non-renewal rankings in 2023 and was number 5 in the highest non-renewal category from 2018 through 2023.
Convective storms such as tornados which can not only level a home but also cause damage through hail and wind are the main issues in Oklahoma.
Rhode Island: The congressional report noted that Rhode Island was an area “where insurance unavailability has skyrocketed rapidly and recently.” There are 400 miles of coastline which leads to storm damage and claims.
Connecticut: This state also has a huge coast with over 600 miles of coastline. Claims due to hail and wind damage can push up the cost of insurance and lead to non-renewals which is how Connecticut end up on the congressional report.
Hawaii: Hawaii is usually one of the more inexpensive states for homeowners insurance but the Lahaina fire resulted in major damage which led to higher rates as well as non-renewal notices.