Contributing Writer, Business & Finance, updated June 14, 2026
How This Number Is Built
The tool prices your home on rebuild cost, not market value, because that is what your insurer actually cares about. A house worth $600,000 on the market might cost only $350,000 to rebuild from the ground up, and that rebuild figure drives the dwelling coverage line. We then apply a state catastrophe factor for hurricane, tornado, and wildfire exposure, and adjust for deductible and coverage tier.
What Sets Your Home Insurance Rate
The biggest levers are where you live, how much your home costs to rebuild, and what perils your policy covers. State matters more than almost anything else: Florida, Oklahoma, and Louisiana regularly run 1.5 to 2 times the national average because of hurricane and tornado exposure, litigation costs, and the rising price of reinsurance. According to the Insurance Information Institute, citing a May 2025 NAIC study, the national average homeowners premium was $1,569 in 2022, the most recent year with published data, and that figure masks wide state variance. Texas, Kansas, and Colorado are climbing fast as storm losses mount. Oregon, Utah, and Hawaii still run below average.
After state, the deductible is your next-biggest lever. Moving from a $500 deductible to a $2,500 deductible can cut your premium by 8% to 15%. The coverage tier matters too: an HO-5 broad form that covers your contents on an open-perils basis costs more than a basic named-perils policy, but it pays in far more situations without a coverage fight.
Home age and construction type matter to underwriters as well. A 1960s house with original wiring and galvanized plumbing costs more to insure than a 2015 build with modern systems. Some carriers add surcharges for knob-and-tube wiring or a roof older than 20 years.
The 80% Rule You Need to Know
Most insurers require you to carry coverage equal to at least 80% of full replacement cost. If you fall below that threshold and file a partial loss claim, the insurer calculates your payout proportionally, not dollar for dollar. On a $350,000 rebuild home, the minimum covered under the 80% rule is $280,000. Insuring for less than that means you absorb part of every partial loss yourself, even before the deductible.
Calculator methodologyHome Insurance Reference Data
The dwelling and liability constants below are documented in full, alongside all eight other tools on this site, in the 2026 Insurance Needs Formulas Reference.
| Component | How it prices |
|---|---|
| Dwelling coverage | Rebuild value × 0.6% × deductible factor × coverage factor × state factor |
| Liability portion | $320/yr × state factor |
| Default profile result | $2,420/yr ($201.67/mo) |
Default profile: $350,000 rebuild value, standard deductible, coverage, and state. Every constant and the downloadable CSV are on the reference page above.
Also renting out a unit or own investment property?
Landlord and homeowners policies differ from what a tenant needs.
Send tenants to their own estimate Check umbrella liability pricing