Home Owner

The decoder

The six coverages, and the list of exclusions

On your declarations page these are lettered A through F. Here they are in the order they matter, with the fine print behind each one.

Rebuilding the house itself

The structure — walls, roof, floors, built-in fixtures. This limit should equal what it would cost to rebuild, which is not the same as what you paid or what it would sell for.

Called: Coverage A, dwelling.
Rebuild vs market value: Market value includes the land, which does not burn down, and reflects location. Rebuild cost reflects labour and materials in your area today. In some markets rebuild cost is far above the sale price; in others, well below it.
The catch: Construction costs have moved sharply. A limit set when you bought may no longer rebuild the house. Ask whether your policy carries extended or guaranteed replacement cost, which pays a percentage above the stated limit if rebuilding runs over.

Your belongings

Furniture, clothes, electronics, kitchenware. Usually set automatically at a percentage of the dwelling limit rather than at what your things are actually worth.

Called: Coverage C, personal property.
Depreciated or not: Actual cash value pays what the item is worth now, after depreciation. Replacement cost pays what a new equivalent costs. The gap on a ten-year-old sofa is large. Check which one your policy uses — it is often an upgrade.
The catch: Sub-limits cap specific categories regardless of your overall limit — jewellery, cash, firearms, and collectibles are commonly capped at a few thousand dollars. Higher-value items need to be scheduled individually.

Somewhere to live while it is repaired

Hotel, rent, and the extra cost of eating out while your home is uninhabitable after a covered loss.

Called: Coverage D, loss of use, or additional living expense.
How much: Typically capped at a percentage of the dwelling limit, a fixed number of months, or both.
The catch: It pays the difference between your normal living costs and your temporary ones, not the whole hotel bill. After a widespread disaster, rebuilding queues can outlast the time limit.

If someone gets hurt or you damage their property

Legal defence and damages if a visitor is injured on your property, or you or a family member damages someone else's.

Called: Coverage E, personal liability. Coverage F, medical payments to others, pays small medical bills without anyone having to be at fault.
Typical limits: Often $100,000 to $500,000 by default, which is one of the least expensive limits to raise.
The catch: Business activity at home, certain dog breeds, trampolines, and pools are common exclusions or surcharges. If you want cover beyond the policy limit, that is a separate umbrella policy.

Detached structures on the lot

Garage, fence, shed, guest house. Covered under its own limit, separate from the house.

Called: Coverage B, other structures.
How much: Commonly set at around 10% of the dwelling limit by default.
The catch: A detached garage or a large fence can easily exceed the default. Structures used for business are usually excluded.

What is never covered

Flood and earthquake are excluded from every standard policy in the country. So is gradual damage — the slow leak, the worn roof, the pest problem.

Flood: A separate policy, through the National Flood Insurance Program at floodsmart.gov or a private flood insurer. Being outside a mapped flood zone does not mean you cannot flood; a large share of NFIP claims come from outside high-risk zones.
Earthquake: A separate policy or endorsement, with its own deductible, usually a percentage.
Maintenance: Policies pay for sudden and accidental damage. Wear, rot, mould from a long-running leak, and deferred repairs are the homeowner's responsibility, and a claim can be denied on that basis.

Work it out

The percentage deductible most people miss

Your policy may carry a flat dollar deductible for most claims and a separate percentage deductible for wind, hail, hurricane, or named storms. The percentage applies to your dwelling limit, not to the size of the damage — which is why it is so much larger than people expect. Check yours before storm season, not after.

What each deductible actually costs you

Both figures appear on your declarations page. The percentage one is often in a separate line or endorsement.

Your dwelling limit (Coverage A)

The rebuild figure on your declarations page, not your home's market value.

Your standard deductible

Wind, hail, or hurricane deductible — 2.00%

Commonly 1% to 5%, and higher in coastal counties. If your policy has none, set this to the lowest value and ignore the comparison.

Size of the damage you are imagining

Storm deductible in dollars: $8,0002.00% of your $400,000 dwelling limit.

Difference from your standard deductible: $7,000Extra cash you would need on hand if the damage is storm-related rather than, say, a kitchen fire.

On a $22,000 claim: —

Simplified: it assumes a replacement-cost settlement with no depreciation holdback and no sub-limits. Your actual settlement depends on your policy language and the adjuster's findings.

By the numbers

Same question, five different answers

These are all 2026 published national averages. They differ because each assumes a different amount of dwelling coverage — and dwelling coverage is the single biggest driver of premium. An average quoted without its coverage assumption tells you very little.

Published U.S. average annual homeowners premium, 2026
Source	Dwelling coverage assumed	Annual average	Relative scale
LendingTree	Not standardised across states	$2,395
NerdWallet	$400,000	$2,490
Insurance.com	$300,000	$2,543
Forbes Advisor	$350,000	$2,720
Insurify	$500,000	$4,416	Off the scale — higher coverage, different question

The Insurify figure is not an outlier so much as an answer to a different question: it prices $500,000 of dwelling coverage rather than $300,000. That single change moves the national average by roughly $1,900 a year.

Cheapest state

$659Hawaii, for $300,000 of dwelling coverage. Hurricane wind is a separate policy there, so the headline understates full protection.

Most expensive state

$7,136Florida, on the same basis — about eleven times Hawaii, for the same nominal coverage.

Homes with no cover at all

~14%Roughly 12 million U.S. homeowners went without insurance, per LendingTree analysis of 2024 data.

Rankings also disagree. Insurance.com puts Florida at the top of the cost table; LendingTree's analysis puts Oklahoma there at $5,298, with Nebraska and Colorado next. The states involved are consistently the ones exposed to hurricane, tornado, hail, or wildfire risk — the exact ordering depends on the methodology.

Explore

What actually moves your premium

Grouped by how much control you have over each one.

Where the house is. Catastrophe exposure is the largest single input. Distance to a fire station and to a hydrant, the local fire protection class, and the frequency of claims in your ZIP code all feed into the rate.

What it costs to rebuild there. Local labour and materials pricing, which has moved substantially and is a major reason premiums have risen faster than general inflation.

The legal environment. States with high litigation volume around property claims price that in for everybody.

Reinsurance costs. Insurers buy their own insurance. When that gets more expensive, it reaches your renewal even if nothing about your house changed.

Common questions

Questions people actually ask

Should my dwelling limit match what I paid for the house?

No. It should match what it would cost to rebuild. The purchase price includes land, which does not need rebuilding, and reflects location value. Depending on the market, rebuild cost can be well above or well below the sale price. Your insurer can run a replacement cost estimate, and it is worth revisiting after renovations or a stretch of high construction inflation.

Why did my premium rise when I have never made a claim?

Rate changes are filed with your state insurance department and apply to a whole class of properties. Catastrophe losses, rebuild costs, and reinsurance pricing in your region drive them. Your own claim-free record affects where you sit within the rate, not the rate itself.

Does my policy cover flood?

No standard homeowners policy in the United States covers flood. It is a separate policy, through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood insurer, usually with a 30-day waiting period before it takes effect. A meaningful share of flood claims come from properties outside high-risk mapped zones.

Is it worth claiming for smaller damage?

Run the arithmetic first. Subtract your deductible from the repair estimate and weigh what is left against the effect a claim may have on your renewal price and your eligibility with other carriers, which can persist for years. For damage close to the deductible, many homeowners pay out of pocket. That is a judgement about your finances, not a rule.

What if no insurer will cover my home?

Most states operate a residual market — a FAIR Plan, a windstorm pool, or a state-backed insurer of last resort — for properties that cannot get cover in the standard market. Coverage is typically narrower and more expensive. Your state insurance department can tell you what exists where you live; the state pages below link through.

Where these numbers come from

Sources

Premium averagesInsurance.com with Quadrant Information Services (March 2026); NerdWallet average homeowners insurance cost (2026); LendingTree State of Home Insurance 2026; Forbes Advisor average home insurance cost (2026); Insurify average cost of homeowners insurance (2026).
State high and lowInsurance.com, $300,000 dwelling coverage with a $1,000 deductible; LendingTree analysis of RateWatch from S&P Global for the alternative ranking.
Uninsured homesLendingTree analysis of uninsured homeowners, 2024 data.
FloodFEMA National Flood Insurance Program, floodsmart.gov.

The three surprises at claim time

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