For years, homeowners insurance was the kind of bill most people glanced at and paid. That era appears to be over. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in March 2026 found that 71% of U.S. homeowners say their premiums have risen in recent years, with 42% calling the increase substantial. Among those paying more, 57% say they have made financial sacrifices to keep coverage in place, cutting back on everything from vacations to home repairs.
The findings, published in May 2026, put hard numbers on something millions of households already feel: protecting a home is getting meaningfully more expensive, and the burden is not landing equally.
The national picture and where it hurts most
A Government Accountability Office audit found that the average homeowners premium rose roughly 3% in real, inflation-adjusted terms between 2019 and 2024 nationwide. That headline number sounds manageable until you zoom in. In areas with high exposure to hurricanes, wildfires, or flooding, the GAO documented increases of 25% or more over the same five-year window. The audit also flagged a growing affordability gap: premiums as a share of household income have climbed fastest for lower- and moderate-income families, the people with the least room to absorb a bigger fixed cost.
States like Florida, Louisiana, California, and Texas sit at the center of the crisis. According to state regulatory filings and insurance department reports, Florida’s property insurance market has weathered multiple insurer insolvencies and waves of nonrenewals, pushing tens of thousands of homeowners onto Citizens Property Insurance, the state-backed insurer of last resort. In California, the FAIR Plan, a similar backstop, has seen its policy count surge as private carriers pull back from wildfire-prone communities. Both programs were designed as temporary safety nets, not primary markets. Their rapid growth signals that the private insurance system is under structural stress.
Why premiums keep rising
No single villain explains the trend. Several cost pressures are hitting at once, which is part of what makes the increases so persistent.
Research summarized in an October 2024 National Bureau of Economic Research digest ties a significant share of premium growth to rising disaster risk. By comparing areas with different levels of exposure to wildfires, hurricanes, and floods, economists found that insurers are building a larger risk premium into policies as weather-related losses mount. In plain terms, living in a zip code with a higher probability of a catastrophic event now costs more to insure, even after controlling for other local factors.
Climate risk is not the only driver. Rebuilding costs have jumped as well. Lumber, roofing materials, and construction labor all saw sharp price spikes during and after the pandemic, and those costs feed directly into what insurers expect to pay on claims. Reinsurance, the coverage that insurance companies themselves buy to spread catastrophic risk, has also grown more expensive globally. Carriers pass a portion of that cost to policyholders.
Some homeowners in the Pew survey pointed to insurer profits as a factor. That claim is difficult to evaluate without company-level financial disclosures specific to homeowners lines, and the publicly available data neither confirms nor rules it out. What is clear is that cost pressures are converging from multiple directions simultaneously.
The sacrifices households are making
Pew’s 57% sacrifice figure covers a wide range of cutbacks. Some respondents reported canceling or scaling back vacations. Others said they had delayed home maintenance or repairs, a choice that can create its own financial risk when deferred work leads to bigger, costlier problems later. Still others said they had reduced spending on other household needs or taken on additional debt to cover premiums.
The survey does not break out exact percentages for each type of sacrifice, so it is not possible to say precisely how many households skipped a trip versus how many postponed a roof repair. But the breadth of responses makes one thing clear: for many families, higher insurance is not just an annoyance on a billing statement. It is actively reshaping how they allocate money.
The GAO’s affordability findings reinforce that picture. When premiums grow faster than incomes, something else in the budget has to give. For households already stretched by elevated grocery costs, higher mortgage rates, or rising childcare expenses, an insurance increase can be the line item that forces a visible, painful tradeoff.
What homeowners can do right now
The structural forces behind rising premiums are largely outside any individual homeowner’s control. But several steps can help blunt the impact on your next renewal:
- Shop around every year. Rates vary significantly between carriers, and loyalty discounts rarely keep pace with competitive quotes. Getting at least three quotes each renewal cycle remains one of the most reliable ways to avoid overpaying.
- Raise your deductible strategically. Moving your deductible from $1,000 to $2,500 can lower your annual premium noticeably. Just make sure you have enough in savings to cover the higher out-of-pocket cost if you need to file a claim.
- Ask about mitigation credits. Many insurers offer discounts for wind-resistant roofing, updated electrical or plumbing systems, security systems, or brush clearance in wildfire zones. The savings vary by state and carrier, but they can be meaningful.
- Review your coverage for accuracy. Make sure your dwelling coverage reflects your home’s actual replacement cost, not its market value. Overinsuring wastes money; underinsuring creates a dangerous gap you may not discover until you file a claim.
- Bundle policies. Combining home and auto insurance with the same carrier often triggers a multi-policy discount of 5% to 15%.
- Check state resources. If you live in a state with a FAIR plan or other insurer-of-last-resort program, understand what it covers and what it does not before you need it. Some state insurance departments also maintain rate-comparison tools that can simplify shopping.
What the data cannot tell us yet
The Pew survey is a credible snapshot of how homeowners perceive and respond to rising costs, but it measures self-reported experience, not verified billing records. A homeowner who upgraded coverage or added a finished basement might attribute the entire bill increase to insurer pricing when part of it reflects expanded protection. That does not undermine the core finding that most people feel squeezed; it means the 71% figure is best understood as a measure of lived experience rather than an actuarial audit.
Regional detail is also limited. The GAO confirms that disaster-prone areas bore the steepest increases, but its publicly available summaries do not include a state-by-state table or income-bracket breakdown detailed enough for readers to benchmark their own situation precisely.
And the trajectory remains uncertain. If disaster losses continue to grow, reinsurance stays expensive, and rebuilding costs do not retreat, the upward pressure on rates is unlikely to ease on its own. Some states are pursuing regulatory reforms, from tightening insurer solvency requirements to expanding mitigation incentive programs, but those efforts are uneven and still in early stages.
A fixed cost that no longer feels fixed
Seven in ten homeowners say their insurance costs have gone up. More than half of those affected say they have changed how they spend money as a result. And the forces driving premiums higher, from climate-fueled disasters to construction inflation to pricier reinsurance, show no clear sign of reversing.
The data from Pew, the GAO, and academic researchers all point in the same direction: this is not a temporary spike confined to a few unlucky zip codes. It is a broad, structural shift in what it costs to own and protect a home in the United States. And it is hitting hardest where households can least afford it.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
