This coverage is made possible through partnerships between Grist and WABE in Georgia, Blue Ridge Public Radio in North Carolina, Flatwater Free Press in Nebraska, Interlochen Public Radio in Michigan and WBEZ in Chicago. Reporters Jake Bittle, Emily Jones, Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, Vivian La, Anila Yoganathan, Katie Myers and Clayton Aldern contributed to this report.
In recent years, as the United States has suffered a series of damaging climate disasters, experts have warned that the nation is headed toward a homeowner’s insurance crisis. Insurance companies dropped hundreds of thousands of customers who live in areas vulnerable to hurricanes and wildfires, and numerous small insurers have gone bellyup after big disasters. This has led some to forecast that a broader market failure in disasterprone states is looming, or even a housing market collapse.
That has not happened yet. But in the meantime, insurance has gotten a lot more expensive — and the price hikes are not going anywhere. A new nationwide report from the insurance price comparison firm Insurify found that the average American homeowner’s insurance bill rose 12% last year, reaching $2,948 per year, and will rise another 4% this year.
