The Best and Cheapest Homeowners Insurance Companies in Texas
The Best and Cheapest Homeowners Insurance Companies in Texas
The average cost of home insurance in Texas is $2,451 per year. Amica is our top pick for the best Texas home insurance.
Find Cheap Home Insurance Quotes in Texas
In Texas, we found that the cheapest rate for a typical homeowners insurance policy was $2,030. However, price alone isn't enough to help you find the right coverage. Here's a list of our top insurer recommendations for the Lone Star State.
The best home insurer for most people: Amica Insurance
Our favorite overall home insurance company in Texas, and our recommendation for most people, is Amica insurance. At an average of $2,252 per year, Amica's rates are 8% below typical prices statewide, and the company has excellent customer service reviews: It received a perfect 5/5 customer satisfaction score from J.D. Power and has a nationwide complaint index from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) of just 0.24. This means Amica received fewer than one-quarter as many complaints as other companies of the same size.
Besides home insurance, Amica offers a range of other insurance products, including auto, motorcycle, life and umbrella insurance, and the company provides bundling discounts when you buy more than one type of policy. However, the company doesn't have as many wide-ranging endorsements as some competitors. If you're looking for a particularly niche type of endorsement or protection, you may need to go with an alternate pick.
The best home insurer for hurricane expertise: UPC Insurance
We recommend UPC for Texans who live near the Gulf of Mexico and want coverage from a home insurer who specializes in hurricanes and other coastal storms. UPC's realm of expertise is coastal areas, and they're well equipped to respond to hurricanes and floods, along with whatever else your home might experience. The company also had fairly competitive rates, with an annual insurance cost of $2,311 statewide — $140 less than the statewide average.
In addition to homeowners insurance, UPC also offers multiple forms of flood insurance. The most com includes policies from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which has its rates set by the government — and are therefore the same at every company. and private coverage through NFS Edge. The latter option may offer lower rates or more customized coverages than the NFIP, so homeowners who aren't satisfied with the standard offering should look at NFS Edge.
It's worth noting that UPC insurance has received more than seven times as many complaints as a typical insurer — its nationwide NAIC complaint ratio is 7.05. However, the vast majority of those complaints were filed in Florida, where complaints are much more common than other states.
Best for military families: USAA
Members of the military and their families should take a good look at USAA, which caters exclusively to them. Besides providing rates as low as $2,030 per year and great customer service, USAA has several military-specific perks that should appeal to people serving in the armed forces. For example, USAA's personal property coverage applies worldwide, even in war zones — most insurers carve out a special exemption for those dangerous areas. And people on active duty won't pay a deductible on USAA insurance claims on their uniforms.
USAA also has a very high financial stability rating, which indicates its unparalleled ability to meet claims demand in any economic or natural disaster scenario. It's received an A++ from A.M. Best, which is the highest rating the company gives out.
USAA also provides a wide variety of other financial services, such as auto insurance, credit cards, loans and bank accounts. However, you must either be a member of the military or have a family member who has joined USAA in order to apply.
Best for high-value homes: Chubb
We recommend Chubb Insurance for owners of high-value homes who need similarly high coverage limits on their policy. Chubb is well known for its excellent customer service, high level of financial strength and coverages tailored to high-value homes. For instance, Chubb policyholders can opt for cash settlements if their homes are completely destroyed. In other words, Chubb will just cut you a check and let you use the money however you want.
Chubb is the subject of very few complaints to the NAIC. This indicates that Chubb customers tend to be satisfied with the coverage and service the company provides.
We also found that Chubb's rates were very affordable — they were among the lowest we found for our sample property. However, it's worth noting that Chubb often imposes coverage minimums when selling insurance. You must buy a certain dollar amount of insurance (which Chubb doesn't publicly share) in order to take advantage of its generous coverage options.
The best-reviewed home insurance companies in Texas
When shopping for a home insurance policy, it's essential to balance finding the best price with dependable, attentive service. With the latter in mind, we collected the NAIC complaint indexes and A.M. Best financial stability ratings of the top companies in Texas.
A company's NAIC complaint index shows how many complaints it received relative to its nationwide market share. The average NAIC index is 1.0, and a lower score indicates fewer complaints.
A better A.M. Best financial stability rating means that the insurer is more likely to be able to withstand adverse economic climates, as well as meet demand during times when many claims are being made (such as after a hurricane or other widespread disaster).
Insurer | NAIC complaint index | AM Best financial stability rating |
|---|---|---|
| Allstate | 0.31 | A+ |
| Amica | 0.24 | A+ |
| AAA | 0.57 | A+ |
| Chubb | 0 | A++ |
| Farmers Insurance | 0.28 | A |
| Homeowners of America Insurance Co. | 1 | N/R |
| Liberty Mutual | 0.45 | A |
| Nationwide | 0.42 | A+ |
| Progressive | 0.35 | A+ |
| State Farm | 0.25 | A++ |
| Texas Farm Bureau Insurance | 0.32 | A |
| Travelers | 0.3 | A |
The cheapest options for homeowners insurance in Texas
We did a comprehensive analysis of the price of homeowners insurance for every ZIP code in Texas and found which insurers provide the lowest rates. For our sample property, Chubb and USAA offered the absolute lowest price, with annual averages of $1,436 and $2,030, respectively.
However, the average homeowner may have some difficulty purchasing coverage from these two companies, as Chubb mostly sells insurance to owners of high-value homes, and USAA is limited to people affiliated with the U.S. military. For those who can't take advantage of these companies' special prices, the cheapest options are Progressive and Nationwide.
The most common homeowners insurance perils in Texas
As the largest of the 48 continental United States, Texas faces a wide range of homeowners insurance perils. For homeowners living near the Gulf of Mexico, the primary regional risk is damage from hurricanes and other storms; meanwhile, homes further inland are susceptible to wildfires and tornadoes.
How hurricanes and tropical storms are covered by insurance in Texas
Homeowners who live near the Gulf Coast are at risk of their home being hit by a hurricane or other major storm, and there are two major insurance perils associated with coastal storms: wind damage and flooding. The good news is that damage due to wind is essentially always covered by homeowners insurance — if wind breaks a window or leads to your roof needing repair, your homeowners insurance will cover the costs.
However, damage due to flooding, whether from a hurricane or another source, is almost never covered by homeowners insurance. To protect your home against flooding, you must buy a stand-alone flood insurance policy. If your home is at risk of flooding, you have two main options for flood insurance: an NFIP policy backed by the federal government (with standardized rates and coverage levels across every insurer) or a completely private policy where rates and coverage options differ by company.
Until recently, private flood insurance policies were prohibitively expensive, but they've become much more competitively priced. We recommend getting quotes for both publicly backed and private flood insurance companies in order to find the lowest prices.
How wildfires are covered by insurance in Texas
Wildfires are a particular concern for the western parts of Texas, where conditions tend to be drier and more susceptible to fire. Fortunately, fire damage is almost always covered by homeowners insurance, so you'll be protected by your policy so long as you have an adequate dollar amount of coverage.
How tornadoes are covered by insurance in Texas
Tornadoes are a common occurrence in Texas, especially during springtime. While tornadoes generally don't cause as much widespread damage as a hurricane, tornadoes can often appear with little or no warning. This means you won't have much time, if any, to prepare before one forms. And once they've formed, tornadoes generally have a travel speed of around 30 mph but can move up to 70 mph in the right conditions. So if you're in an area where a tornado watch or warning has been issued, stay inside in a protected area until the danger passes.
Fortunately, from an insurance perspective, tornadoes are relatively simple to cover. Most tornado damage is due to wind, which is covered by homeowners insurance. Other sources of tornado-related damage, like hail, generally are included, but can vary by insurer and region; so double-check your policy to understand what perils you're protected from.
Texas homeowners insurance rates: City-by-city breakdown
In addition to a statewide price analysis, we also looked at the cost of homeowners insurance for the major cities in Texas. For every city with a population over 50,000, we calculated the typical price homeowners can expect to pay in that city, as well as how that price compares to the statewide average.
City | Average rate | % Difference from state average |
|---|---|---|
| Abilene | $2,767 | 4% |
| Allen | $2,613 | -2% |
| Amarillo | $2,985 | 12% |
| Arlington | $2,935 | 10% |
| Atascocita | $2,427 | -9% |
| Austin | $1,717 | -35% |
| Baytown | $2,742 | 3% |
| Beaumont | $2,399 | -10% |
| Brownsville | $2,321 | -13% |
| Bryan | $1,735 | -35% |
| Carrollton | $2,769 | 4% |
| Cedar Park | $1,678 | -37% |
On average, it costs much more to insure a home in Texas than in the rest of the country. Like other coastal states exposed to hurricane activity, Texas must cope with increased risk of wind damage. The potential for tornadoes and wildfires in the state also make it an expensive market for home insurance.
Methodology
For our analysis, we collected insurance quotes from 12 of the largest homeowners insurance companies that operate in Texas, for every ZIP code in the state. Our sample property is a 2,100-square-foot home built in 1986 with $172,200 of dwelling coverage. The companies we surveyed are:
- State Farm
- Allstate
- USAA
- Liberty Mutual
- Travelers
- Texas Farm Bureau Insurance
- Progressive
- Nationwide
- Chubb
- Amica
- AAA
- Homeowners of America Insurance Co.
- UPC Insurance
ValuePenguin's analysis used insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services. These rates were publicly sourced from insurer filings and should be used for comparative purposes only — your own quotes may be different.
Editorial Note: The content of this article is based on the author’s opinions and recommendations alone. It has not been previewed, commissioned or otherwise endorsed by any of our network partners.