Rising Home Insurance Costs Hit Midwest Hardest Amid Surge in Severe Hail

A NerdWallet analysis of over 840 million home-insurance rate estimates—derived from insurers’ filed rating formulas—found that the typical U.S. homeowner’s premium rose 24 percent between early 2023 and early 2026. A homeowner with good credit, no claims and a 1984-built house would pay $496 more in January 2026 than in early 2023, bringing the median premium to $2,564, up from $2,068 in early 2023. All calculations span three dwelling-coverage levels ($300 k, $400 k, $500 k).

Newsweek

The Midwest experienced the steepest increases. Between 2023 and 2026, Wisconsin premiums jumped 40.9 percent, Michigan 29.9 percent, Iowa 27.7 percent, Minnesota 27.3 percent, and Indiana 27.2 percent—each outpacing the national average. By contrast, the Northeast rose 20.5 percent, the South 19.2 percent, and the West 16.4 percent.

Newsweek

NerdWallet’s review of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) storm-event data (2020-2025) links the Midwest surge to extreme weather. Severe hail events—hail >= 1 inch in diameter—rose 276 percent in Missouri and 258 percent in Illinois between 2023 and 2025, relative to the prior three-year period. Indiana saw a 183 percent increase. The concentration of hail spikes in the Midwest aligns with the region’s outsized premium growth.

Newsweek

Premium growth slowed after early 2025. Nationwide increases fell from 10.8 percent (2024-2025) to 4.6 percent (2025-2026). Eighteen states and Washington, D.C. recorded premium declines over the past year, including Alaska, New Mexico, West Virginia, Florida, Nevada, and Wyoming. The largest drops were in North Carolina (-9.6 percent), Rhode Island (-7.9 percent), and West Virginia (-7.6 percent). Analysts attribute the slowdown to a relatively calm 2025 Atlantic hurricane season and regulatory reforms in California and Florida aimed at stabilizing local insurance markets.

Newsweek

NerdWallet notes that the 2023-2024 double-digit premium hikes partly reflect a lag in insurers’ ability to pass higher reinsurance costs to policyholders. Reinsurers raised rates by 25-50 percent for carriers with clean loss histories and by 45-100 percent for those with recent large claims. Private insurers, still absorbing the cost of more frequent extreme events, could not immediately transfer these expenses, creating a delayed price impact. Continued climate-driven weather volatility and reinsurance market dynamics suggest that premium growth may remain uneven across states, even as overall rate acceleration eases.

Newsweek