7% of Monthly Home Ownership Costs Going to Property Insurance

Homeowners in some of the biggest U.S. metros are paying up to 7% of their monthly home ownership costs for insurance, according to a new study.

Roughly $146 of the typical $2,077 monthly housing bill is dedicated to property insurance, the study from ValuePengiun shows. It examined monthly homeownership costs and monthly household income in the 50 largest U.S. metros.

Miami topped the list with 13.1% of monthly housing costs going towards property insurance, a $300.40 insurance spend out of the total monthly cost of homeownership of $2,292.70, according to the study.

Oklahoma City (13.0%) and Tampa (11.6%) followed with the highest percentages of insurance spend vs. homeownership costs.

The study attributes the spike of hurricanes in recent years as the cause of why prices are increasing. In 2024, Hurricanes Debby, Helen and Milton caused billions of dollars of destruction in Florida. The cost of property insurance across the U.S. rose to an all time-high in the first half of the year, particularly in states recently affected by climate-related disasters.

California metros had the lowest costs of property insurance. The study shows San Jose was the lowest with 3.5% of the $3,844.64 monthly cost ownership, followed by San Francisco at 4.3% of $3,597.99 and Los Angeles at 4.6% of $2,961.65.

“While this finding may seem counterintuitive given the state’s tendency toward powerful and destructive wildfires, it’s likely at least partially a result of the proportionally higher overall cost of homeownership in these cities,” the report states.

The three metros in California had the highest monthly homeownership costs in the ranking: San Jose ($3,844.64), San Francisco ($3,597.99) and Los Angeles ($2,961.65).

Miami also topped the list of uninsured homes, with 20.8% of homes going without insurance. In Tampa, 18.1% of homes did not have insurance, followed by Birmingham where 17.3% of homes did not have insurance.

Portland, Denver and Chicago had the lowest rate of uninsured homes. In Portland, 8.3% of homes were uninsured, followed by Denver (8.9%) and Chicago (9.4%).

According to the study, these metros have a low rate of uninsured homes because monthly household income is greater than that of the national average.

ValuePenguin analysts used the U.S. Census Bureau 2023 American Community Survey to determine monthly property insurance costs, homeownership costs and household income. The percentage of property insurance as a share of monthly homeownership costs was determined by dividing a metro’s average property insurance cost by its average homeownership cost. Owner-occupied homes with annual home insurance costs of less than $100 were classified as uninsured.