Home insurance costs in N.J. and Pa. are below national averages but on the rise
With home insurance rates continuing to climb, “some homeowners are questioning whether they can continue carrying coverage,” said an insurance expert at LendingTree.
Being a homeowner is getting more expensive not only because of the rising costs of buying properties but also because of the rising costs of protecting them.
From 2020 to 2025, home insurance rates across the country increased by a cumulative 47%, according to an analysis by the online loan marketplace LendingTree. In 2024 alone, they rose by about 13%. They increased by 6% in 2025.
Last year, rates increased by 7.5% in New Jersey and just over 1% in Pennsylvania.
Homeowners are seeing higher prices because of more frequent and damaging severe weather events and rising costs of labor, materials, and repairs.
“Rising home insurance costs are forcing many homeowners to make difficult financial trade-offs,” Lindsay Bishop, an insurance expert for LendingTree, said in a statement. “That suggests affordability pressures are becoming severe enough that some homeowners are questioning whether they can continue carrying coverage at all.”
Nationwide, more than 12 million owner-occupied homes are uninsured, according to a LendingTree report from March. LendingTree called homes uninsured if owners spent less than $100 per year on home insurance.
Of the country’s 100 most populated metropolitan areas, the Philadelphia region ranks in the middle — 47th — when it comes to shares of uninsured homes. Roughly 203,600 homes, or about 12%, did not have insurance in 2024.
Nationally, the average cost of home insurance is $2,395 per year. But costs are lower in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The average cost is $1,449 in the Garden State and $1,712 in the Keystone State.
Costs vary by state because of their varying risks of severe weather.
Oklahoma, located in “Tornado Alley,” is the state with the highest average home insurance cost — $5,298 per year. Next is Nebraska, also in “Tornado Alley.” The average cost there is $4,956 per year.
Then comes Colorado, where homeowners pay an average of $4,310 per year. Colorado also was the state with the largest cumulative increase in home insurance costs from 2020 to 2025. The average rate more than doubled.
“States like Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Colorado experience greater damage from tornadoes, hail, wildfires, and severe storms,” Bishop said. “This leads to more frequent and expensive claims, so it’s unlikely that the gap between states will close dramatically unless the underlying risks change.”
