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Renters Insurance Cost Guide
State-by-state figures sourced from a single internally-consistent Insurance.com 2026 dataset.
Renters insurance is inexpensive almost everywhere, but "inexpensive" still varies by more than 3x from state to state at the exact same coverage level.
Data sourced from Insurance.com
What the "average" renters insurance cost actually hides
Quoted at a consistent tier, $40,000 in personal property coverage and $300,000 in liability, the same policy costs as little as $136 a year in WY and as much as $504 a year in LA, roughly a 3.7x difference for identical coverage.
A single national average number would flatten out that spread and mislead anyone checking whether their own quote is reasonable.
This state table is deliberately drawn from one internally consistent source rather than mixed across aggregators, since a cross-check during research found the same state, Louisiana, quoted anywhere from $325 to $579 a year depending purely on which site's own underlying coverage-tier assumptions were used. Mixing sources like that would compare incompatible methodologies rather than real state differences.
What actually drives the state-to-state gap
Local risk factors explain most of the spread: theft and burglary rates, how expensive water and fire damage claims tend to run in that state, local litigation costs for liability claims, and how much competition exists among insurers writing renters policies there.
States with more frequent severe weather, more urban crime exposure, or fewer competing insurers tend to land at the expensive end, while less densely populated states with lower claim costs tend to land at the cheap end.
How raising your coverage actually changes the price
Personal property coverage is the bigger cost lever. Raising it costs roughly $3.93 per additional $1,000 of coverage, so moving from $20,000 to $40,000 in coverage adds about $79 a year nationally.
This rate is applied uniformly across every state as a disclosed assumption, since no state-specific property-coverage curve is published anywhere.
Liability coverage, by contrast, is a comparatively cheap upgrade. Moving from $100,000 to $300,000 in liability protection adds only about $18 a year nationally, roughly $9 per additional $100,000.
Given how little that costs relative to the protection it adds, there is rarely a good reason to carry the bare minimum liability limit on a renters policy.
To see your own state's cost at a custom coverage level, the renters insurance cost calculator runs the full state-by-state and coverage-tier math directly.
Why renters insurance is worth carrying regardless of state
Even at the expensive end of this range, renters insurance remains one of the cheapest ways to protect against a real financial loss. A landlord's own policy covers the building, not your belongings, and it carries no liability protection for you personally if a guest is injured in your unit.
Given how little liability coverage costs to raise, carrying more than the state-minimum-style bare limit is usually a small added cost for a meaningful amount of protection.
Frequently asked questions
How much does renters insurance cost on average?
It varies a lot by state, but at a consistent $40,000 personal property / $300,000 liability coverage tier, the national range runs from about $136/year in WY up to $504/year in LA, roughly a 3.7x spread for otherwise identical coverage.
Why does the same coverage cost so much more in some states?
Local factors drive most of the gap: theft and burglary rates, the cost of water and fire damage claims, litigation costs for liability claims, and how much competition exists among insurers in that state.
States with more frequent severe weather or higher urban crime rates tend to sit at the expensive end.
How much more does raising my personal property coverage cost?
Roughly $3.93 per additional $1,000 of coverage, based on Insurance.com's published tier data. Raising your coverage from $20,000 to $40,000, for example, adds about $79 a year nationally. This is applied uniformly across states as a disclosed assumption, since no state-by-state property-coverage curve is published.
Does raising my liability coverage cost much more?
Surprisingly little. Moving from $100,000 to $300,000 in liability coverage adds only about $18 a year nationally, roughly $9 per additional $100,000. Liability is a minor cost factor next to personal property coverage, which makes raising it a comparatively cheap way to add meaningful protection.