Cities With The Highest Home Insurance Rates
New Orleans has the highest annual home insurance rates of any major American city. At $10,800 per year, its rates are double those of the second most expensive city, Houston, at $5,316. Many people overlook insurance rates when considering the relationship between where they live and climate change. For homeowners — and especially for those thinking of relocating — climate risk deserves serious consideration. Insurance of almost every kind is priced according to risk, and some cities are far more likely to generate home insurance claims because they sit in regions prone to disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes, most of which are climate-related.
Between 1997 and last year, New Orleans was struck by eight hurricanes and 15 tropical storms, according to the NOAA. (To qualify as a hurricane, a storm must have sustained winds of at least 74 mph.) These storms have killed over 600 people and caused more than $150 billion in property damage. But the level of risk is not driven by storm frequency alone. New Orleans is more vulnerable to flooding than almost any other U.S. city. According to Realtor.com, “Flood exposure is another major driver. New Orleans leads the country in terms of flood value share gap, with 66% of its housing market at severe or extreme flood risk outside of FEMA flood zones.”
Houston’s high insurance rates stem from similar factors. Its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico creates significant hurricane risk, and much of the city sits within flood zones.
Los Angeles ranks among the ten most expensive cities for home insurance. Homeowners in areas burned by the L.A. wildfires should expect their rates to rise significantly from pre-fire levels. The fires began on January 7, 2025, lasted more than two weeks, and ultimately comprised 14 separate blazes driven by winds of up to 90 mph. As PBS noted, the destruction covered 59 square miles — roughly the size of San Francisco — and more than 16,000 structures burned. In Altadena alone, 9,413 homes, businesses, and other buildings were destroyed; in Pacific Palisades and neighboring areas including Malibu, 6,833 buildings, mostly homes, were lost. The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction put the total cost of the disaster at $53 billion. Residential insurance rates across California have surged in the aftermath.
Florida homeowners across much of the state have faced similar pressures. Hurricanes Milton and Helene both struck the state’s west coast in the fall of 2024, causing tens of billions of dollars in combined damage. NBC News highlighted the steep rise in insurance rates in the affected region. Climate risk expert Jeremy Porter of the First Street Foundation told NBC News, “By 2055, home insurance premiums could rise by 213% in the Tampa metro area because of hurricane risk.” The problem extends beyond Florida: Porter noted that residents of Sacramento, California, could face a 137% increase due to growing wildfire danger. NPR has also reported on the broader economic consequences of rising rates, noting that in southwest Florida, surging insurance costs have begun to depress home values, which in turn reduces property-tax revenue for local governments.
The city rankings below are drawn from Climate Crisis 247’s analysis of data provided by Insurify, whose data scientists analyzed rates from more than 180 home insurance companies sourced directly from Insurify’s partner companies and Quadrant Information Services.
Though it receives less attention, parts of the Plains states and Midwest are also seeing rising rates due to thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hail. Annual hail damage costs reached an estimated $46 billion in 2023, and Omaha ranks fifth among U.S. cities by residential insurance rates.
These are the ten cities with the highest residential insurance rates based on absolute dollars:
| City | Average Annual Cost |
|---|---|
| New Orleans, LA | $10,800 |
| Houston, TX | $5,316 |
| Dallas, TX | $4,416 |
| Denver, CO | $3,336 |
| Omaha, NE | $3,228 |
| Los Angeles, CA | $3,180 |
| Nashville, TN | $2,868 |
| Jackson, MS | $2,628 |
| Detroit, MI | $2,592 |
| Chicago, IL | $2,472 |
