Housing Market: Insurance Costs Are the Highest in These 10 Cities

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2025-09-03T18:30:20Z

Homeowners in lower-value areas at high risk of natural disasters are feeling the pinch of high premiums.
Housing markets in states like Louisiana and Florida have the highest insurance costs in the country.
Insurance premiums for US homeowners have climbed an average 24% over the last three years.

Forget about mortgage rates. Homeowners in a handful of markets across the US have another thing pushing affordability out of reach: insurance premiums.

That’s no secret to those who already own a house in high-risk areas for natural disaster, according to a new report from Realtor.com, which found that estimated homeowner’s insurance premiums for a typical home were the highest in lower-value markets that are also at high risk of severe climate-related events.

Around 26% of all homes in the US are exposed to the risk of a severe climate-related event, which amounts to around $12.7 trillion worth of housing inventory, the firm said.

“Notably, many of these markets are in southern states like Florida and Louisiana, which face elevated climate risks,” the report added.

The average homeowners insurance premium in the US was $1,411 in 2021, according to the most recent data from the Insurance Information Institute. But premiums for US homeowners have climbed by an average 24% over the last three years, according to an April report from the Consumer Federation of America.

Typically, a premium-to-market value ratio of 2% — meaning the annual insurance premium costs 2% of the house’s market value — is what’s considered the cutoff for home insurance being unaffordable, Realtor.com said.

The real estate listings site highlighted 10 housing markets across the US with the highest estimated premiums, based on the median value of houses in the area and premium-to-market value ratio data from Insurify. Five of them are above that “unaffordable” level of 2%, and all are well above the top-100 average of 0.8%.

Here’s where it could cost the most to get your home insured, listed in decreasing order of premium-to-market value ratio: