While the average annual home insurance premium nationwide was $1,173 in the III’s most recent study, that ranged dramatically from place to place — from a low of $643 a year in Oregon to a high of $1,993 in Florida. If you live in an area prone to natural disasters, with a relatively high crime rate or located far from emergency services, you can expect to pay even more for your policy.
Even if you did your research when home shopping and chose a neighborhood with low or non-existent crime rates, you can never prevent all crime. Your home is stationary, but criminals aren’t. However, simple steps like adding an alarm system or deadbolts will not only make your home safer, it may also make it cheaper to insure.
You can control your personal claim history to some extent, but there’s less you can do about your location claim history. As seen on our interactive map, insurers charge a higher rate in states that are regularly victims of weather disasters. The same is also true of areas frequented by burglars.he same is also true of areas frequented by burglars.
