The rising tide of insurance costs in 2025
Car insurance is a critical financial safeguard that protects you in an accident, theft or other unexpected disaster. But this protection comes at a cost, and it's different for everyone.
Rising car insurance rates affected many Americans in 2024 and will likely continue to do so in 2025. These price increases are driven by factors such as increased claims, frequent natural disasters and changing insurance regulations.
The Zebra is the nation’s leading insurance comparison site and an independent source for auto insurance quotes, industry research and educational resources for consumers. Our Auto Insurance Trends Report explores rates across all 34,500 U.S. ZIP codes over the past decade to identify trends and critical factors impacting rate changes and what that means for 242 million U.S. drivers in 2025.
Overall — and there are some significant variations based on location, which we’ll dive into below — the average driver in the U.S. is paying $2,189. That’s a nearly 19% increase over the previous year. Over the past 10 years, there has been an overall increase of 78%!
Which states pay the most for car insurance?
As mentioned above, where you live is one huge part of why you pay what you do. Some states are seeing bigger changes than others. Here are some quick facts:
- The states with the highest annual premiums are Florida, Louisiana and Missouri. All three have an average rate of over $3,000 a year! Florida, in particular, has an average rate that’s 50% over the national average.
- Vermont is the state with the lowest average premiums, which is 50% lower than the national average.
- 33 states and DC now pay an average of more than $2,000 a year in auto insurance premiums.
You can look into the individual factors to see why each state has such a variation.
Let’s take Florida as an example. Florida has the highest rates for insurance, which makes sense when you consider factors like severe weather threats, high incidence of car theft (Florida has the third highest rate in the nation), and high rates of uninsured drivers.[3] These factors serve to make Florida a fairly high-risk state for insurers. Additionally, no-fault laws in Florida — which mean that each driver’s insurance pays for their expenses regardless of fault in the accident — have also led to higher insurance rates overall.
Where is insurance rising the most?
If you live in a higher-risk state, you are probably somewhat used to higher insurance prices. What really gets you is how much it continues to increase in your state. As you can see, there’s a considerable variation in those increases as well.
Michigan is the only state to see a decrease in the average amount people pay for car insurance in the past year. Washington, D.C., saw the single biggest jump in car insurance prices from 2023 to 2024, with a whopping 81% increase in a single year. Other states that saw big increases (more than 50%) include Maryland, Texas, Missouri, Washington and New York.
1. Age
Age is a very important rating factor, especially if you’re a new driver. Insurance companies charge significantly more for teenagers than any other group. You will see significant savings as you get older and more experienced behind the wheel.
Compared to the national average rate of $2,189, teens on their own policy can pay a whopping 198% more!
2. Gender
In seven states — California, Michigan, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Montana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — gender cannot be used as a rating factor in determining insurance rates. However, in most other states it does have an impact. Interestingly, it depends on where you live. In some states, men pay more; in others, women pay more. Nationally, the average tips slightly toward men paying more, but the difference is a nominal 1.53%.
3. Credit
Your credit score is another rating factor that is only considered in certain states. California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Michigan have banned insurance companies from considering credit scores when pricing auto insurance. For those states that do consider credit, it can make a big difference. Raising your credit score by just one tier can reduce your insurance cost by an average of 17%.
4. What You Drive
The vehicle you drive will also have a big impact on how much you pay for car insurance. More expensive models also often translate to more expensive insurance, as the parts and repairs will be more expensive. The age of the vehicle will also be a factor. New cars are generally more expensive than older vehicles because they cost more to repair or replace. Insurers also account for variations from one model year to the next. Specific model years may be more prone to crashes, thefts or expensive repair costs than others, which can impact the cost to insure the vehicle.
And of course, one of the things that will affect your car insurance prices that you are no doubt familiar with…how you drive. More on that below.
How violations affect insurance rates
As you know, violations and accidents will cause your car insurance rates to increase. Insurers typically consider these violations on your record for up to three years after the incident. The impact of these insurance penalties can often be more than the traffic fine itself.
The traffic violation with the single biggest impact on car insurance rates is leaving the scene of an accident — a “hit and run.” Drivers charged with this crime can expect to pay, on average, 95% (or $2,000+) more per year for car insurance.
It’s worth noting that much like insurance in general, these penalties also vary significantly by state. You can find more details about how violations affect insurance prices in your state here.
Here's how much common traffic violations will cost you (in terms of insurance rise) in your state:
How to lower your insurance rate
To sum up, insurance rates, for a number of reasons, are going up in 2025. While you can’t counteract the larger forces behind these trends, there are things you can do individually to improve your own rates.
While 2025 may not look like it will see significant drops in insurance prices (and likely quite the opposite), you can take control this year by staying up-to-date on industry trends and looking for new opportunities to save with your current carrier or by switching.
Methodology
The Zebra’s 2025 Auto Insurance Trends Report analyzes over 32 million car insurance rates to examine how dozens of trends and risk factors affect insurance pricing nationwide.
The auto insurance rates displayed throughout this page come from The Zebra’s Dynamic Insurance Rating Tool. This proprietary insurance premium estimator uses the most recent rate filings across the United States at the ZIP code level to provide the most recent and up-to-date rate data. This data comes from Quadrant Information Services, which sources the most recent and approved rate filings across insurance companies in every state from S&P Global.
Rates are based on a sample driver profile — a 30-year-old single male driver with a Honda Accord and full coverage at these levels:
- $50,000 per person/$100,000 per incident for bodily injury liability
- $50,000 per incident for property damage liability
- $500 deductibles for collision and comprehensive coverage
To provide insight to consumers on how specific personal factors (like age, location and coverage level) can affect your premium, this base profile is then adjusted for different factors commonly used by insurance companies.