High-risk, high-cost: Insurance hotspots
Consumers have faced increasing challenges around all types of insurance in recent years, from increasing costs to difficulty finding coverage. Inflation, natural disasters and economic conditions have all contributed to these issues. However, some areas have fared worse than others in the current insurance environment.
That's why we used four different data points related to various types of property insurance. Here are the categories we analyzed:
- Dropped coverage: We found the states in which one or more insurers have dropped coverage due to increased natural disasters.
- Natural disaster risk index score: We looked at each city's FEMA risk score for all types of natural disasters.
- Auto insurance price increases: We found the states that experienced the biggest price increases on auto premiums between 2023 and 2024.
- Percentage of housing units in floodplains: We calculated the percentage of occupied housing units in each state that are located in floodplains.
So, which cities have the worst insurance environments? It may not be a surprise that California cities dominate much of the list, but you'll also find several cities you may not expect to be at higher risk for insurance issues.
Methodology
The Zebra pulled four data points to analyze the top 50 MSAs in the U.S. by population, related to insurance. State data was substituted for certain categories.