Higher prices, less coverage. Home insurance prices have risen drastically in areas most exposed to climate-related risk

Home insurance prices have risen drastically in areas most exposed to climate-related risk, like California and Florida. And research shows the effects of the higher rates are also spilling over into the broader real estate market. Mario Tama/Getty Images

 
 By Claire Brown

 

Last month, we reported on new research that found home insurance prices have increased drastically, particularly in areas most exposed to climate-related risk.

And the research showed something new and equally worrisome: The effects of the higher rates are spilling over into the broader real estate market, suppressing home prices in the ZIP codes most vulnerable to hurricanes and wildfires.

We asked you to send us your own stories of rising insurance costs. (You can still send along your story here and see what’s happening in your area.)

Hundreds of you responded. Some homeowners who wrote in have opted to pack up and move elsewhere. Others are dropping coverage and hoping for the best. Those who maintain their policies have seen deductibles creep upward in tandem with rising rates.

The data we analyzed captured only part of the picture. Under the surface, home insurance coverage is changing in big ways that are harder to see. Here’s what we learned from your stories.

Big increases with little explanation

We heard many horror stories about rate increases in places like Florida and California, where insurance markets have been turbulent for years. But we also heard similar anecdotes out of states like Ohio, Maryland and Massachusetts, where disasters are less frequent but homeowners say they’re seeing rates climb by 30 percent or more year after year.

A condo owner in Texas, a Dallas senior on a fixed income, said that her annual premium jumped to $1,239 in 2024, a 63 percent rise from the year prior, with no increase in coverage. In Minnesota, a homeowner’s rates are set to jump up to between $6,000 and $8,000 after their insurer stopped offering coverage. They previously paid $3,300. In the Colorado mountains, one reader saw their premiums climb to $8,600 last year, a more than a threefold increase over the past 15 years. They switched insurers. A homeowner in New Orleans said their total home insurance costs, including flood protection, had jumped to about $21,100 a year, up from $3,800 in 2015.

One clear theme: Readers say insurance companies are not providing clear or detailed explanations for rising rates, and a lot of people feel as if they’re paying for someone else’s risk.

“It is as though we are being held up by the mafia,” wrote one Minnesota reader who saw rates for a small homeowners’ association more than triple since 2021. “We have to have insurance, but the coverage we have is abysmal.”

Dropping insurance, selling homes and returning to renting

Many of you told us that problems with home insurance — like lack of coverage, high rates or few local options — have been a driving force behind major life decisions.

We heard from an architect who abandoned plans to purchase a home in California after checking out insurance prices, and moved with his family to New England instead.

A pair of teachers in Colorado wrote in to say the burdens of rising insurance and property taxes have pushed them to consider relocating. “It is a strain,” they said.

And a few of you have decided insurance is not worth the hassle, opting to sell your homes and rent instead.

Quite a large number of people wrote in to say they’re keeping insurance only because their mortgage lender requires it. Several readers without mortgages have decided to drop their plans, reasoning that if disaster strikes they will pay out of pocket to rebuild or relocate.

“I surveyed all our friends who own outright, and NONE of them pay for wind insurance. It’s scary,” one Floridian wrote.

Avoiding making claims for fear of getting dropped

Many of you described a fear that making a claim — that is, using insurance for its intended purpose — could prompt an insurer to stop offering coverage.

Several readers wrote in with stories about sticking with an insurance company for decades only to be dropped after making a single claim. Often, this meant switching to a new provider with much higher premiums.

Others are paying for home repairs out of pocket, in some cases spending thousands of dollars just to avoid insurance headaches.

“I honestly doubt that insurance will cover anything without a fight, but I still feel it is better to have insurance than not,” one Floridian wrote. “We do not ever put in any claims for anything that we can reasonably cover ourselves in order to reduce the risk of being dropped.”

Deductibles are creeping upward, especially for wind damage

When we mapped rising insurance premiums across the country, the numbers captured the total rates homeowners are paying. But they didn’t tell us anything about the plans these premiums are actually buying.

Readers wrote in to tell us that even as their premiums rise, the underlying plans are offering less coverage. Think of it as shrinkflation for the insurance market.

“Make a claim and you are penalized. There is a ‘windstorm deductible’ of 5 percent,” wrote one reader from New Rochelle, N.Y. “You know who believes in climate change? Insurance companies!”

Mira Rojanasakul contributed reporting.