State Farm Home Owners Insurance increase by 27%

[mmcmonster]

Just got my State Farm Homeowner's insurance and the premium went up by 27% compared to a year ago.

All of our insurance is through State Farm and we haven't taken any claim against our homeowner's insurance or our umbrella policy.

We live in North East Pennsylvania and the house is ~13 years old and we are the original owners.

I know there was inflation, but the rate increase went up just this year, compared to a year ago.

Anyone else seeing something like this?

I just got off the phone with State Farm and they said it was due to a combination of replacement costs going up for everyone in my community as well as all the natural disasters all over the country taking a hit on State Farm in general.

EDIT: They did say that the replacement cost for my house increased by ~3%. They offered to send an appraiser to come to the house the see if the replacement cost would be different. I declined the offer; figure it would be more likely to cost me more than it would save.

[rockstar]

Mine went up 20%.

Thinking about alternatives.

[beardsicles]

Yeah, sounds right. The news should give a pretty good indication as to why.

[Doom&Gloom]

Anyone else seeing something like this?

Only another threadful of posters about six weeks ago.

[Ace300]

Been with State Farm 20+ years. Moved into current house in 2012. Here are year-by-year annual premiums:

2013: $816
2014: $867
2015: $945
2016: $988
2017: $1,087
2018: $1,177
2019: $1,166
2020: $1,242
2021: $1,382
2022: $1,790
2023: $1,981
2024: $2,253

63% increase over past 3 years. I live in the Midwest, far from coasts, wildfires, etc... I feel like I'm subsidizing something For transparency, I did add a pool in 2018, otherwise nothing else changed.

[NYHawkeye]

Just go my renewal for an Iowa property from Travelers - up 29%. It was up 30%+ last year and I tweaked the policy as much as possible to bring the cost down. Will be shopping it around before paying this increase.

[oldfatguy]

Mine is up close to 100% over two years ago. Shopped around last year and all the quotes I got were higher.

[JoeNJ28]

Housing prices increasing and natural disasters increasing causing more costs to be shared by everyone else.

[jebmke]

Yeah, sounds right. The news should give a pretty good indication as to why.

Very dependent on state regulators in each state. Mine (not SF) has not gone up by a lot.

[InvisibleAerobar]

Just got my State Farm Homeowner's insurance and the premium went up by 27% compared to a year ago.

All of our insurance is through State Farm and we haven't taken any claim against our homeowner's insurance or our umbrella policy.

We live in North East Pennsylvania and the house is ~13 years old and we are the original owners.

I know there was inflation, but the rate increase went up just this year, compared to a year ago.

Anyone else seeing something like this?

I just got off the phone with State Farm and they said it was due to a combination of replacement costs going up for everyone in my community as well as all the natural disasters all over the country taking a hit on State Farm in general.

EDIT: They did say that the replacement cost for my house increased by ~3%. They offered to send an appraiser to come to the house the see if the replacement cost would be different. I declined the offer; figure it would be more likely to cost me more than it would save.

State Farm's answer is always going to be a mealy-mouthed boiler plate.

If lowering of your premium is your primary goal, probably won't hurt to give Erie Insurance a try, as the company operates in PA.

I've found the pricing on mine to be quite reasonable, and much less than what some others would charge for less coverage.

[beardsicles]

Yeah, sounds right. The news should give a pretty good indication as to why.

Very dependent on state regulators in each state. Mine (not SF) has not gone up by a lot.

Yeah, but we've learned two things. One, insurers shift costs from highly regulated markets to less regulated markets. Someone in Oklahoma is probably subsidizing your insurance rate. Two, they just pull out of the market.

[invest4]

Insurance is a contract, represented by a policy, in which a policyholder receives financial protection or reimbursement against losses from an insurance company. The company pools clients' risks to make payments more affordable for the insured.

I have the recurring sense that some people do not fully recognize that insurance is shared and increased losses and their associated costs will impact all the policyholders…not just the individuals who file a claim.

Of course, people should shop around, but one can not simply escape it…unless you self-insure, which is high stakes gambling for most.

[RJC]

Been with Erie the last couple of years after being with Progressive and Geico. Barely any increases in both home and auto insurance.

I would give them a try.

[JD7]

My only experience with State Farm is auto insurance. I was hit from behind at a stop light by a driver with State Farm insurance. They tried everything possible to not pay me for a new bumper. They refused to even call it an accident instead it was an "encounter". I finally got them to pay for a bumper, but it should have been an easy decision on their part to pay. There was no way I could have been at fault.

[LilyFleur]

Yeah, sounds right. The news should give a pretty good indication as to why.

Very dependent on state regulators in each state. Mine (not SF) has not gone up by a lot.

Yeah, but we've learned two things. One, insurers shift costs from highly regulated markets to less regulated markets. Someone in Oklahoma is probably subsidizing your insurance rate. Two, they just pull out of the market.

Interesting research in the article. Thanks for posting the link.

[OldTucker]

My Home Owners policy with State Farm jumped approx 30% in June so I called our local agent for an explanation. By 5-6 weeks later he'd managed to get corporate to trim our increase to 15% instead of 30%. Much better by around $200.00.
My advice is to call your local he/she agent before switching to another insurance company - NOT the talking heads department at the 800 number. Let your local office, who genuinely appreciates your business, advocate/negotiate with corporate for you.

[delamer]

Our State Farm policy is up 16.5% over 2023.

We’re not happy about it, but that’s $20/month. So, for us, not worth shopping around.

[foamypirate]

Up 123% over the past 2 years here (Central Texas), and that's WITH shopping it around. Absolutely dreading February's renewal...

[lessismore22]

My Home Owners policy with State Farm jumped approx 30% in June so I called our local agent for an explanation. By 5-6 weeks later he'd managed to get corporate to trim our increase to 15% instead of 30%. Much better by around $200.00.
My advice is to call your local he/she agent before switching to another insurance company - NOT the talking heads department at the 800 number. Let your local office, who genuinely appreciates your business, advocate/negotiate with corporate for you.

Agents can't just change the premium. What changes did you make to the policy?

[Random Musings]

Yeah, sounds right. The news should give a pretty good indication as to why.

Very dependent on state regulators in each state. Mine (not SF) has not gone up by a lot.

I think that is the problem. CA, I believe, is one example of a state that has some sort of legislative caps which "force" the insurance companies to pass the burden to other states who don't do this, or to a lesser degree.

I'm surprised why it hasn't resulted in a class actions suit from other states.

RM

[OldTucker]

My agent didn't change my premium, please re-read my post. He was instrumental in getting corporate to lower my premium "increase" from 30% to 15%. Same exact coverage, policy, no changes whatsoever.

[doobiedoo]

From July 13, 2024:
"I'm in southern CA.
My home insurance renewal from State Farm was $7,535. That's up 82%!
2023-24 insurance was $4,138. [also State Farm]
2022-23 insurance was $3,456. [also State Farm]"

Here's the link for the rest of the story:
viewtopic.php?t=435544

[RetiredAL]

From July 13, 2024:
"I'm in southern CA.
My home insurance renewal from State Farm was $7,535. That's up 82%!
2023-24 insurance was $4,138. [also State Farm]
2022-23 insurance was $3,456. [also State Farm]"

Here's the link for the rest of the story:
viewtopic.php?t=435544

Adding to that authorized rate increase, State Farms still expects to reduce the number of policies in Calif by 1/3 thru them (SF) proactively non-renewing policies and by customer attrition.

Due to the difficulty in finding a policy from someone else, I'll bet a large percentage of that 1/3 will be SF saying not-renewal.

[talzara]

I think that is the problem. CA, I believe, is one example of a state that has some sort of legislative caps which "force" the insurance companies to pass the burden to other states who don't do this, or to a lesser degree.

I'm surprised why it hasn't resulted in a class actions suit from other states.

There is no basis for any lawsuit. Those states chose to deregulate their insurance markets. The other states didn't make them do it.

The United States cannot sue Germany for negotiating prescription drug prices nationwide, either.

[xerxes101]

I do not trust State Farm or any other insurance company for that matter to be in charge of estimating the replacement cost of my home because, guess what, they would estimate it in their favor (i.e., artificially high). This is an absolute conflict of interest IMO. The very fact that they offered OP an appraiser speaks to this fact as well because the appraiser is most likely on their payroll.

States need to step in and regulate these insurance companies closely. They are out of control in my opinion.

[PottedPlant]

Welcome to the real world.
Wait till next year.

For us, Homeowner' Insurance is $4769/yr for 2024 with AMICA (dividend version)
2023 $4303
2022 $3680
2021 $3298
2020 $3097
2019 $2986
2018 $2333
2017 $1736
2016 $1406
2015 $1209
2014 $1049

[doobiedoo]

Welcome to the real world.
Wait till next year.

Yeah, I actually considered going without homeowner's insurance this year.
I'll re-evaluate next year.

[Miakis]

Why don’t you go to an insurance broker (someone who quotes multiple companies) and see if they can find you a better rate?

There’s no loyalty discount for staying with the same company.

I got fed the same line from my old insurance company, Farmers. My rate went up 30% because of disasters outside my state. I’ve read about insurance companies pulling out of high risk states, so I wondered why I wasn’t doing business with one of those companies.

A broker cut my rate by about 40% by going with a different company. Same level of insurance. They shopped my car insurance and rental properties at the same time. Saved me a ton.

[v10]

Yeah, sounds right. The news should give a pretty good indication as to why.

Very dependent on state regulators in each state. Mine (not SF) has not gone up by a lot.

I think that is the problem. CA, I believe, is one example of a state that has some sort of legislative caps which "force" the insurance companies to pass the burden to other states who don't do this, or to a lesser degree.

I'm surprised why it hasn't resulted in a class actions suit from other states.

RM

I can confirm this is not how it works. Insurance carriers are certainly looking to exit CA, partly due to the regulatory burden as well as natural catastrophe exposure in both Wildfire and Earthquake, but there is no subsidization across states. Insurance carriers writing admitted homeowners business need to justify their premium rates based on specific state data. Insurance itself is regulated at the state-level so as an example, the Idaho Department of Insurance would simply not accept a rate filing if the data to support it was from California, which they know to be a much greater Homeowner's risk than Idaho.

[lthenderson]

Anyone else seeing something like this?

My increases over the 30 years I have been insured have always been even or less than inflation. But I specifically got this insurance policy because they only sell homeowners insurance in eight states, none of them states known for hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes or other types of national disasters. Pennsylvania is not a state they sell homeowners insurance in.

My advice would be to look for a regional insurance company instead of a national insurance company.

[talzara]

Why don’t you go to an insurance broker (someone who quotes multiple companies) and see if they can find you a better rate?

There’s no loyalty discount for staying with the same company.

There is for State Farm, which is writing the OP's homeowners insurance.

State Farm lets you keep the loyalty discount if you return within 3 years, so the OP should still shop around. If you don't like the new carrier, you can switch back.

[topper1296]

Been with Erie the last couple of years after being with Progressive and Geico. Barely any increases in both home and auto insurance.

I would give them a try.

Agreed. We also have Erie and ours hasn't gone up much either, however Erie only insures/operates in 12 states plus DC. They do not insure in states like CA with wildfire risk or FL with hurricane risk.

[mmcmonster]

Why don’t you go to an insurance broker (someone who quotes multiple companies) and see if they can find you a better rate?

There’s no loyalty discount for staying with the same company.

There is for State Farm, which is writing the OP's homeowners insurance.

State Farm lets you keep the loyalty discount if you return within 3 years, so the OP should still shop around. If you don't like the new carrier, you can switch back.

Yes, I have the loyalty discount. I also have the multi-line discount since my cars and term life and umbrella are with them. On the house I also got a discount by having a centralized alarm system covering fire and theft.

I'm reluctant to break up the coverage as it may save me a little on homeowners but cost more for other portions...

...and State Farm has been good with me. Easy to lower my life insurance needs. Not trying to oversell me on anything. Got into three minor car accidents (all the other drivers' faults) without any muss. And quick response when I call my local agent (usually able to help me while I'm on the phone, couple times needed to email forms to sign back and forth). One time I got into an accident at 6:30 on a Saturday morning. I texted pictures to the agent's cell phone. He called me back within the hour and made sure he kept in contact with me until I was okay.

[Miakis]

How much is the nice feelings at State Farm worth? Because every other insurer will also give you the multi-policy discount.

What would make it worthwhile? If you went to a broker and found out you were going to save $1000 per year? $2000? $3000?

Clearly, nice feelings only get a person so far when you might be paying 30-50% more than a competitor. Or… you’ll find out State Farm is competitive as well as nice, and you’ll feel good about staying with them.

[petras52]

My insurer, American National, raised home premium 75% for next year...no claim history...I ended up with Erie for much less than half the premium and similar coverage...

[Harri88]

+1 for Erie.

We had a similar experience with Farmers Insurance with rates jumping about 30%. We shopped around and ended up going with Erie around 18 months ago. Homeowners was 40% less for same or better and auto was 30% less. Home, auto and a 1 million dollar umbrella was less than just Homeowners at Farmers.

I see that they sell policies in North Carolina and Tennessee, so we could be in for a rate increase next year

[Ace300]

I was told many years ago by someone old and wise to be careful shopping around for insurance strictly on lower premiums because the real value of your insurer comes into view only when you have a claim.

I know I pay more for State Farm in some respects, but in my life I've probably had 6-7 insurance claims (all auto except for 1 homeowners) and the way State Farm has handled them and either got me whole, or paid out cash on a expedited basis, was exemplary and pretty hassle-free in almost every instance. I know this may not be everyone's experience, but I've also heard horror stories from friends and colleagues who've had claims with "lower-budget" carriers and had to navigate a gauntlet to make sure they were properly covered or represented. Of course YMMV, but this always comes into my mind anytime I am tempted to chase a lower premium.

[firebirdparts]

I have to think this is a direct result of what people are charging to do actual work, but you be the judge.

If you are charging $1000 a day for a laborer then yeah, it's gonna cost. If that's what I see in Appalachia, I can't imagine what the rest of you are seeing.

[TomWambsgans]

My umbrella premium (State Farm) went up by 64% this year.

[jadedfalcons]

National General went up just over 30% for me. I shopped around, but the difference was minimal against other companies, and, as luck would have it, I had a claim shortly before the renewal for a new roof (hail damage, and it was approved) so I figured it was a bad time to change companies.

First time in my life I've had a claim, and last fall I changed my deductible from $1,000 to $2,500 to "save money."

[neilpilot]

My umbrella premium (State Farm) went up by 64% this year.

...and mine increased 3%. Maybe your risk profile changed?

[angelescrest]

Anyone else seeing something like this?

Yes, tens of millions of people around the country—and these kinds of increases will continue for many more years to come as insurers find a new floor for their risk models.

[Horologium]

I just got off the phone with State Farm and they said it was due to a combination of replacement costs going up for everyone in my community as well as all the natural disasters all over the country taking a hit on State Farm in general.

I had homeowners with State Farm several years ago and they did the same thing to me (although my increase was not 27%! )

After I got the premium notice, I called my State Farm agent. He told me the increase was due to a hurricane in Florida. I said that I didn't think I should be paying for the impact of a hurricane 1,200 miles away from me. He said State Farm had to increase premiums across the country because the claims in Florida exceeded State Farm's allotted reserves for such losses. I replied that I didn't think I should be paying for State Farm's failure to establish adequate reserves to cover losses that they should have anticipated.

That was the end of that conversation. I dropped State Farm and went with another carrier. To my surprise, my agent contacted me and asked me why I canceled. Duh.

[pshonore]

Just got my USAA Homeowners renewal in CT. Dwelling value up by 21% (sounds about right), premium up by 12%. (I'm not complaining).Auto premium should be out in a few days

[TomWambsgans]

My umbrella premium (State Farm) went up by 64% this year.

...and mine increased 3%. Maybe your risk profile changed?

I did recently get a face tattoo...

[Pluto9th]

My increases over the 30 years I have been insured have always been even or less than inflation. But I specifically got this insurance policy because they only sell homeowners insurance in eight states, none of them states known for hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes or other types of national disasters. Pennsylvania is not a state they sell homeowners insurance in.

My advice would be to look for a regional insurance company instead of a national insurance company.

This is a great idea - a "SomeStates Insurance" rather than "Allstate", I should look into this. Out of curiosity, I asked perplexity.com "which insurance company sells homeowner's insurance in only 8 out of 50 states", and it came up with American Family Insurance ("American Family Insurance offers home insurance policies in only 18 states. While this is not exactly 8 states as mentioned in your query, it is the closest match among the information provided in the search results."). It also provided this interesting link: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/homeowne ... companies/, listing 8 companies, each with average premium for $350,000 of coverage (this is for me a nice point of reference, of course individual policies would vary a lot). I'm going to bookmark this BH thread as well as the Forbes page.

Per the Forbes page American Family covers Iowa but not Pennsylvania. Some companies in the Forbes 8 cover fewer states than American Family, but they do include Pennsylvania.

[InvisibleAerobar]

My increases over the 30 years I have been insured have always been even or less than inflation. But I specifically got this insurance policy because they only sell homeowners insurance in eight states, none of them states known for hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes or other types of national disasters. Pennsylvania is not a state they sell homeowners insurance in.

My advice would be to look for a regional insurance company instead of a national insurance company.

This is a great idea - a "SomeStates Insurance" rather than "Allstate", I should look into this. Out of curiosity, I asked perplexity.com "which insurance company sells homeowner's insurance in only 8 out of 50 states", and it came up with American Family Insurance ("American Family Insurance offers home insurance policies in only 18 states. While this is not exactly 8 states as mentioned in your query, it is the closest match among the information provided in the search results."). It also provided this interesting link: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/homeowne ... companies/, listing 8 companies, each with average premium for $350,000 of coverage (this is for me a nice point of reference, of course individual policies would vary a lot). I'm going to bookmark this BH thread as well as the Forbes page.

Per the Forbes page American Family covers Iowa but not Pennsylvania. Some companies in the Forbes 8 cover fewer states than American Family, but they do include Pennsylvania.

If rise in insurance premium is a big concern, American Family should be on the bottom of list of companies to consider.

I swapped to Erie after AmFam attempted to increase my auto rates at about 10% every six months, despite having a clean record. My current annual premium with Erie is about $200 more than what AmFam attempted to charge me for six months back in Spring 2023.

Erie also does business in only a limited number of states.

[illumination]

I guess I'm surprised that other people are surprised that inflation finds its way into insurance premiums. Car insurance has also gone through the roof.


I would say the biggest inflation I've seen over the last 4 years has been what contractors are charging. Easily doubled in my area pre versus post Covid. You want your home's roof replaced, the price has doubled.

[cubs1999]

This won't apply to OP as Shelter doesn't do business there but for others that want to get a quote from a company doing business in a limited number of states, Shelter is an option. December will be my second quote for renewal. We'll see if/when I'll eventually have to jump ship with them but after the first year for car insurance, the rate went up to what my lowest quotes were the previous year when I bought out a large number of quotes.

If I end up having to move, I could see myself using another company for a year or two and then going back for the low rates with all the new customer discounts I had with Shelter the first year.

As for Erie, I do hear that company mentioned positively here in several insurance threads. A friend just got the best quote with them for his two year old Corvette. It was half of what his previous company quoted him for his renewal.

[test123]

This is timely - I just today switched carriers and saved a substantial amount of money. Was with GEICO (auto) who uses liberty mutual to underwrite homeowners in Wisconsin.

My liberty renewal rate was 26% increase ( after 20% last year) . I shopped apples to apples with Hartford and progressive (who uses homesite to underwrite the homeowners) . Hartford homeowners was cheaper but auto was more.

Progressive combined auto/ home cost was 40% less than Geico/ liberty.

Painless to get pricing on the phone. You get docs emailed immediately and they take credit cards. I wish I would have done this last year. And I will defiantly do it again if future renewal rates are excessive.