The most expensive states for car insurance

Where car insurance costs the most

The ranking on this page uses the NAIC's average expenditure: the total premium drivers paid for liability, collision and comprehensive coverage in a state, divided by the number of insured vehicles. It is the closest thing to a fair "what did drivers actually spend" figure across all states, because it is built from the premiums insurers actually wrote, not from sample quotes.

At the top of the ranking, the most expensive places to insure a car look like this:

Each of these has its own state guide with legal minimums and local rules: Florida, Louisiana, New York, the District of Columbia and New Jersey.

Where car insurance costs the least

At the other end, the least expensive states are mostly less urban than the most expensive ones, although there are exceptions:

See the guides for North Dakota, Maine, Idaho, Iowa and Hawaii.

Two things stand out when you put the tables side by side. First, the fault system does not decide the result: no-fault states appear at both ends, with Florida and New York near the top and North Dakota and Hawaii near the bottom. Second, uninsured drivers are only part of the story. New York has a relatively low estimated uninsured rate (8.6%) and still ranks near the top, while Florida and the District of Columbia combine high costs with high uninsured rates.

Why car insurance costs more in some states

Insurance prices are built mainly on what insurers expect to pay in claims. The NAIC lists a long set of factors that push a state's average up or down. Grouped together, they look like this.

Claim costs: medical bills, lawsuits and repairs

Bodily injury liability prices follow medical costs, lost wages and litigation costs, according to the NAIC. Property damage, collision and comprehensive prices follow the cost of vehicles, parts, labor, theft and storm damage. When any of these rise faster in one state than another, its premiums pull away. Nationally, the average collision claim reached $7,191 in 2022, and total liability losses were $120.5 billion in 2022.

Traffic, density and where people drive

The NAIC found that a few measurable traits move with state premiums: the share of people living in urban areas, miles driven per mile of highway, and disposable income per person. In its words, high-premium states tend to be highly urban, with higher wages and prices and heavier traffic. More cars in a small space mean more crashes, more theft and more claims. That fits the District of Columbia, where 100.0% of residents live in urban areas, and New Jersey, at 93.8%. It also helps explain why largely rural states such as Maine, where the urban share is 38.6%, sit near the bottom.

Hawaii is the reminder that no single factor rules. It is more urban than Louisiana, yet it ranks near the bottom while Louisiana ranks near the top.

State laws and required coverage

Each state decides what coverage drivers must buy and how injury claims work. No-fault states require personal injury protection, which adds a coverage that drivers in many other states can skip. Minimum liability limits differ, as do the rules insurers follow to file and change rates. Our post on no-fault vs at-fault states explains how these systems work. The NAIC also notes that some states have far more uninsured drivers than others, which raises the cost of protecting yourself against them.

Weather and theft

Hail, windstorms and flooding drive comprehensive claims, and theft rates vary a lot between states. A state with frequent storms or high theft will tend to have higher comprehensive premiums even if its drivers rarely crash.

What drivers choose to buy

The NAIC points out that averages rise when drivers in a state buy higher limits or insure more expensive cars. Its report measures how much people spend, not how much protection they get for the money. A state where many drivers carry generous limits and full coverage can look expensive simply because people buy more.

How fast car insurance costs are rising

The ranking is a snapshot, but the trend behind it matters just as much. The national average expenditure rose 13.99% in a single year, 2022-2023, and 19.24% over 2019-2023. The combined average premium rose 14.42% in 2022-2023 and 19.12% over 2019-2023. Over the same period, the number of insured vehicles grew by only 5.5%, so the total premium drivers paid grew much faster than the number of cars being insured.

For drivers, this means a bill that feels high may simply reflect the market everyone is in, not something about you. It also means renewal is a good moment to check whether your price is still competitive, because insurers do not all raise rates at the same pace.

Average expenditure vs combined average premium

The NAIC publishes two different averages, and they answer different questions.

• Average expenditure divides the total premium for liability, collision and comprehensive by the number of insured vehicles. The NAIC assumes every insured vehicle carries liability, but not every one has collision or comprehensive, so this figure reflects what drivers in the state actually spent on average.
• Combined average premium adds together the average price of each of the three coverages. It estimates what one policy with liability, collision and comprehensive costs, so it is closer to the price of "full coverage."

Example: imagine a state with 100 insured cars. All of them buy liability for $600. Sixty of them also buy collision for $500 and comprehensive for $200. Total premium is $60,000 for liability plus $42,000 for the extra coverages, or $102,000. The average expenditure is $102,000 divided by 100 cars, or $1,020. The combined average premium is $600 + $500 + $200, or $1,300. These numbers are made up to show the arithmetic.

That is why the combined premium is usually higher, and why the gap between the two can be large in states where many drivers skip physical damage coverage. Texas is a good illustration: its average expenditure was $1,428.94, but its combined average premium was $1,726.91, which places it noticeably higher in a ranking by combined premium than in the expenditure ranking. Neither figure is a quote. Your own premium depends on your car, your record and where you park it.

What the ranking means for your own price

A state average hides huge differences inside the state. Insurers price by ZIP code, age, driving record, vehicle and, in most states, credit. Two drivers on the same street can pay very different amounts. Our guides to ZIP codes, age and credit explain how each rating factor works, and the premium factors tool shows which ones matter most for you.

The ranking is most useful for three things: seeing whether your bill is in line with your state, understanding why moving can change your price, and spotting the kind of state-level costs no amount of comparison shopping will remove.

How to lower your car insurance cost in an expensive state

1. Compare quotes at every renewal. Prices for the same coverage vary between insurers. Our guide to shopping at renewal explains how to compare like for like.
2. Ask about every discount. Bundling, safe driving, good student and paid-in-full discounts can add up. See car insurance discounts.
3. Review your deductible. A higher collision and comprehensive deductible lowers the premium but raises what you pay after a claim. The deductible guide shows the trade-off.
4. Reconsider collision on an older car. If the car is worth little, the premium may not be worth it. Read more on collision coverage.
5. Check state low-cost programs. Some states run programs for low-income drivers. See low-cost state programs.
6. Try usage-based insurance. If you drive little or smoothly, telematics programs can lower your price.

Full ranking: average car insurance cost by state

The table ranks every state and the District of Columbia from the highest to the lowest NAIC average expenditure, with the combined average premium alongside. Each row links to that state's guide.

Ranked from highest to lowest average expenditure. Figures are yearly averages per insured vehicle, rounded to the nearest dollar, not quotes.