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2017 Auto Insurance Rates by State (updated)

Written by Michele Wilmonen. Posted in Rates, Research Last Updated: 08/13/2017

How the crime rates, number of uninsured motorists and the weather in your state can determine your auto insurance premiums – plus car insurance rates by state.

Moving this car to a different state will change its insurance premium

This vehicle will see a change in its insurance premium if it moves from one state to another.

The price of auto insurance is determined by many different factors. It can go up or down depending on your age, driving record, credit score, the type of car you drive and also your gender. But, did you know that how much you pay for car insurance also depends on where you live?

When an insurance company sends a request for the base premium for a state or specific area to the state Insurance Commissioner, they are using the statistics of claims filed or potential for claims being filed in a location. They want to make sure that they are not going to pay out more in claims payments then they are going to be collecting in premium. So if a certain location has a higher chance of having a claim, they want to make sure that they are charging a high enough premium.

Crime Rates

The crime rate in your state can have an impact on your insurance premium, specifically car thefts and vandalism. If you live in a state where you have a higher chance of getting your car stolen or damaged, the higher your insurance premiums will be to offset the claim payout of having to fix or replace your vehicle.

Liberal Monetary Awards

We have all see commercials for personal injury lawyers advertising their services to obtain financial compensation for those that have been injured in an accident. The high awards that these lawyers get for their clients end up increasing the premiums for everyone.

In the states that have judges that award higher monetary compensation and also have more lawyers advertising their services to help obtain these high awards, like Louisiana, they see the highest premium increases due to this factor.

Weather

You never know when Mother Nature is going to get ugly and cause damage. Statistically there are states, such as Oklahoma, that have a higher chance of seeing this happen than others and insurance companies keep track. States that are in “tornado alley”, flood prone states and severe weather states all have their premiums increased to compensate for the likelihood of a weather related claim.

Uninsured Drivers

Even though there are laws protecting those of us that are insured from them, uninsured drivers are everywhere. Not only are they a higher danger to us on the road, they are also one of the causes of our increased auto premiums. Because a driver that is not insured has no insurance company to pay for the damages that they cause, the victim’s uninsured motorist or collision coverage has to pick up the bill. This uncompensated claim payout then is spread out through all of that insurance companies customers for them to pay for in the form of higher premiums. Statistically some states have higher numbers of uninsured motorists driving up insurance premiums.

State by State Case (2017 updated)

While the insurance premiums can even vary within a specific state due to all of the above factors, there isn’t the room or the time to cover every single town and city across the nation. So instead we have provided the chart below for you to compare where your state stands in average premium rates.

National average $1,318
1 Michigan $2,394
2 Louisiana $1,921
3 Connecticut $1,897
4 Rhode Island $1,848
5 Florida $1,840
6 DC $1,696
7 California $1,673
8 Wyoming $1,538
9 Delaware $1,526
10 Texas $1,506
11 Oklahoma $1,476
12 Georgia $1,440
13 Arkansas $1,409
14 New Jersey $1,375
15 West Virginia $1,369
16 Kentucky $1,365
17 New York $1,352
18 Colorado $1,351
19 Arizona $1,348
20 Nevada $1,342
21 Maryland $1,327
22 Mississippi $1,326
23 Pennsylvania $1,313
24 Oregon $1,308
25 Hawaii $1,294
26 North Dakota $1,291
27 South Carolina $1,286
28 Massachusetts $1,242
29 Minnesota $1,241
30 Alabama $1,226
31 Montana $1,217
32 Washington $1,216
33 New Mexico $1,201
34 Kansas $1,192
35 Tennessee $1,186
36 Illinois $1,159
37 Wisconsin $1,154
38 Alaska $1,132
39 New Hampshire $1,124
40 Nebraska $1,112
41 Missouri $1,107
42 Utah $1,068
43 South Dakota $1,058
44 Virginia $1,040
45 Indiana $1,021
46 Iowa $1,017
47 North Carolina $1,010
48 Vermont $948
49 Idaho $942
50 Ohio $919
51 Maine $864

 

Most Expensive States , Least Expensive States (2011 data)

Most Expensive States

1. Michigan, $2,541

2. Louisiana, $2,453

3. Oklahoma, $2,197

4. Montana, $2,190

5. Washington, D.C., $2,146

6. California, $1,991

7. Mississippi, $1,896

8. New Mexico, $1,896

9. Arkansas, $1,836

10. Maryland, $1,807

11. North Dakota, $1,794

12. Connecticut, $1,786

13. Rhode Island, $1,747

14. Wyoming, $1,714

15. Hawaii, $1,707

16. South Dakota, $1,707

17. Georgia, $1,670

18. New Jersey, $1,663

19. West Virginia, $1,633

20. Kentucky, $1,629

21. New York, $1,627

22. Minnesota, $1,614

23. Washington, $1,584

24. Missouri, $1,563

25. Indiana, $1,518

26. Colorado, $1,508

Least Expensive States

1. Vermont, $995

2. South Carolina, $1,095

3. Maine, $1,126

4. Wisconsin, $1,128

5. Tennessee, $1,146

6. Ohio, $1,152

7. North Carolina, $1,154

8. Iowa, $1,179

9. Virginia, $1,237

10. Utah, $1,272

11. Arizona, $1,280

12. Illinois, $1,290

13. Nevada, $1,300

14. Oregon, $1,306

15. Alabama, $1,306

16. Idaho, $1,325

17. Massachusetts, $1,328

18. New Hampshire, $1,334

19. Alaska, $1,454

20. Kansas, $1,461

21. Pennsylvania, $1,468

22. Nebraska, $1,470

23. Florida, $1,476

24. Delaware, $1,489

25. Texas, $1,492

Data courtesy of Insure.com

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Michele Wilmonen

Michele's first introduction to insurance was working for a major insurance company as a file clerk and a mailroom supervisor in a regional office. She learned insurance directly from underwriters and claims adjusters from questions and also watching them do their job. Since then, she's earned a number of insurance certifications from the Insurance Institute of America and also a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho. She blogs at Car Insurance Guidebook.

Reviews (2)

  • Lori

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    I moved from California to Oregon and my rates went up. Perfect credit history and driving record. Been driving 25 years. Single female. Oregon is flawed and insurance is included.

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    • Michele Griffin

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      That is interesting that the rates went up when you moved out of California. Keep in mind though that insurance has a lot of different factors to it and the first thing that came to mind is that the area that you lived in while you were in California could have been rated as a safer area insurance wise than the place you are now at in Oregon. This does not mean that this is what is going on, but it is a possibility.

      If you had to change the insurance company that you were with when you moved, this may have removed any longevity discounts you were getting also. I would sit down and compare the last declarations page that you were sent when you lived in California with your new one in Oregon and see if you can see any discounts missing or any other changes. I would also start calling around to different insurance agencies to get some quotes to make sure that the higher insurance is the same for your whole area and not just specific to the company that you are with.

      Reply

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