Contributing Writer, Business & Finance, updated June 18, 2026
What Actually Sets Your Premium
Term life is the simplest kind of life insurance: you pay a level monthly premium for a set number of years, and if you die during that term the policy pays a death benefit. This tool prices that premium from the four things underwriters weigh most: your age, the coverage amount, the term length, and your health, with a separate multiplier for smoking.
Carriers price term life on mortality risk. Age is the biggest factor, followed by health tier, which they sort into bands like preferred plus, preferred, standard, and substandard after reviewing your history and, often, a medical exam. Smoking can roughly double or triple the rate because it raises mortality risk that much. For context on coverage types and how policies work, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners publishes consumer guides worth reading before you buy.
Premium Cost By Term and Health Tier
A longer term costs more per month than a shorter one because the insurer guarantees the rate over more years, and health tier compounds that effect. A preferred-plus 20-year policy and a standard-tier 30-year policy on the same person can differ by two or three times in monthly cost. Run both scenarios above before picking a term length, since the gap tends to surprise people the first time they see it side by side.
Things To Know Before You Buy Term
A common starting point for coverage is 10 to 12 times your annual income, then adjusted for your mortgage, other debts, and future costs like childcare or college. The estimate above scales with the coverage amount you pick, so you can see how moving from $500,000 to $1,000,000 changes the monthly cost before you commit. Compare at least three carriers, since term rates for the same person can differ by a wide margin.
Calculator methodologyLife Insurance Reference Data
The age and health rate table this calculator runs is documented in full, alongside eight other tools, on the 2026 Insurance Needs Formulas Reference.
| Component | How it prices |
|---|---|
| Base rate | $3.60 per $100k, plus (age − 25)^1.78 × $0.02 per $100k |
| Smoker multiplier | Roughly 2 to 3× the nonsmoker rate |
| Default profile result | $265/yr ($22.10/mo) |
Default profile: $500,000 coverage, 20-year term, age 35, preferred health, nonsmoker. The full rate table, with every exponent and multiplier, sits in the CSV linked above.
Insuring a car too?
Auto premiums use a completely different rate structure than health-based life pricing.
Estimate your auto premium instead