Insurance rates and gender
Gender as a rating factor in car insurance has a long and varied history. Many people don't even realize that gender plays a role in how much they pay for car insurance at all.
Historically, the difference in pay between men and women is a fairly small percentage of the total, so it often goes unremarked. For example, the current averages are $2,184 for men and $2,151 for the annual premium. That works out to men paying only $33 more for the year or about 1.5% more.
That said, the difference varies significantly based on where you live, and it also changes: Back in 2018, when we looked at the data, we found that women paid more than men in half of U.S. states. The number of states where women paid more has doubled since 2016. Now, we seem to be seeing the reverse.
Government regulators have generally accepted gender-based pricing because insurers have been able to show risk correlated with gender. For example, male teen drivers are statistically far more likely to crash and file claims than female teens, so they should have to pay more for insurance. That said, considering gender as a rating factor is outlawed in seven states: California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Let's dive into how gender as a rating factor varies across the country and some of the things that impact it.
Men Now Pay More Than Women in the Majority of States
Back in 2018, when we did another deep dive analysis, women paid an average of $10 more nationally for car insurance. Now, in 2025, they pay about $33 dollars.
However, as explained above, this makes a big difference based on where you live. Below, you can see what men and women pay on average for a 6-month policy in each state.
What's interesting here is that these numbers have not dramatically changed. Men, and particularly male teenagers, consistently have shown increased risk for insurance companies. Yet, previously, women were paid more than men in half of all states.
The current numbers with women paying less in the vast majority of states are more in line with what we would expect a rating factor to show: those who present a lower risk to insurers do see some savings.
Why Is Insurance Getting Cheaper for Women? Why Now?
So if women have always demonstrated a lower risk than male drivers, why haven't they always historically paid less? There has been substantial investigation into this topic by many state insurance regulators with unclear answers. This is in part why some states have outlawed gender being considered as a rating factor all together.
Another possible contributor to this market correction is credit scores. As mentioned above, personal rating factors aren’t looked at independently, but are combined as a whole when considering the amount a person will pay for car insurance. Credit score is another rating factor that has an impact on car insurance rates where the difference between a poor credit score and an excellent one can change your auto insurance rates by as much as 114%.
Back in 2018, men’s credit scores were on average about 10 points higher than women’s, whereas today they are nearly identical.[5] This change in credit score then might be a contributing factor to women now paying less. Of course, it’s impossible to look at credit and gender as independent rating factors because the states that outlaw gender from being considered in determining insurance pricing, also outlaw credit
Is Gender Still Relevant in Car Insurance Pricing?
While the majority of states still allow price differences between men’s and women’s car insurance, the practice has become increasingly controversial.
Who’s for it?
Car insurance companies have generally argued in favor of keeping gender as a rating factor because, they say, it helps them more accurately price risk.
Insurers consider gender in combination with many other risk factors (like what kind of car you drive and your years of driving experience) when pricing insurance. When states prohibit rating factors like gender, it doesn’t mean the extra cost insurers charge certain groups disappears. It just gets distributed differently.
In California, for example, Department of Insurance analysis shows that eliminating gender could give the riskiest group — young male drivers with fewer than three years of driving experience — a 5 percent break on their insurance costs while less-risky young female drivers could end up paying more.
Who’s against it?
Consumer advocates, however, have become increasingly vocal about the cost disparities highlighted in this report and by previous consumer studies. They argue that if gender were strongly tied to how likely men and women are to file a claim, we’d see more consistency across insurers and locations. They say that wildly varying rates are unfair and that it’s time for men and women to pay the same.
Consumers concerned about the impact of their gender on their car insurance costs can shop around for an insurance company that doesn’t consider gender when setting rates — or one that rates their gender more favorably.
Industry trade groups have disputed previous consumer studies showing that women are charged more than men, but they have not shared alternate data or explained why female drivers may see higher prices in some states.[4]
Methodology
Data for over 32 million car insurance rates was used to examine how gender impacts 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 or a 30-year-old female 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