Illinois Homeowners Face Near-Record Insurance Rate Hike

State Farm rolls out 27% increase in July and August, prompting governor to call for legislative intercession.

Chris Schafer
Written byChris Schafer
Chris Schafer
Chris SchaferDeputy Managing Editor, News and Marketing Content
  • 15+ years in content creation

  • 7+ years in business and financial services content

Chris is a seasoned writer/editor with past experience across myriad industries, including insurance, SAS, finance, Medicare, logistics, marketing/advertising, and many more.

Featured in

media logomedia logomedia logomedia logo
Evelyn Pimplaskar
Evelyn PimplaskarEditor-in-Chief, Director of Content
  • 10+ years in insurance and personal finance content

  • 30+ years in media, PR, and content creation

Evelyn leads Insurify’s content team. She’s passionate about creating empowering content to help people transform their financial lives and make sound insurance-buying decisions.

Featured in

media logomedia logomedia logo
MacKenzie Korris
Reviewed byMacKenzie Korris
MacKenzie Korris
MacKenzie KorrisInsurance Copy Editor

MacKenzie Korris is an insurance copy editor with a producer’s license for property and casualty insurance in Missouri. He has years of experience in print and digital media, and strives to craft actionable, inclusive copy that fosters smart decision-making through reader autonomy. He has a journalism degree from Saint Louis University.

Published | Reading time: 2 minutes

Advertiser Disclosure

At Insurify, our goal is to help customers compare insurance products and find the best policy for them. We strive to provide open, honest, and unbiased information about the insurance products and services we review. Our hard-working team of data analysts, insurance experts, insurance agents, editors and writers, has put in thousands of hours of research to create the content found on our site.

We do receive compensation when a sale or referral occurs from many of the insurance providers and marketing partners on our site. That may impact which products we display and where they appear on our site. But it does not influence our meticulously researched editorial content, what we write about, or any reviews or recommendations we may make. We do not guarantee favorable reviews or any coverage at all in exchange for compensation.

Why you can trust Insurify: Comparing accurate insurance quotes should never put you at risk of spam. We earn an agent commission only if you buy a policy based on our quotes. Our editorial team follows a rigorous set of editorial standards and operates independently from our insurance partners. Learn more.

Share

Home insurance in Illinois is about to get much more expensive for about 1.5 million State Farm customers. The insurer is raising its property insurance rates by 27%, effective Aug. 15 for existing customers and July 15 for new customers.

The increase is one of the largest recorded in state history.

State Farm filed the rate increase with the state’s Department of Insurance in June, citing extreme losses related to severe weather events in the state. In Illinois, insurance companies can file paperwork for a rate increase and implement the increases without state approval.

The insurer is also requiring policyholders to carry at least a 1% wind/hail deductible. That means a homeowner with $500,000 in coverage would need to pay $5,000 out of pocket before their policy would pay for hail or wind damage.

Insurer points to high losses from hail and wind

In its filing, State Farm stated that Illinois suffers more hail damage than any other state besides Texas.

“Over the last several years, our catastrophe provision has proven to be inadequate when compared to our actual catastrophe loss experience,” State Farm wrote in the filing. “While there is volatility associated with extreme weather events, our Illinois catastrophe losses have exceeded the year’s catastrophe provision in 13 of the last 15 years, signaling the provision used in rating has been insufficient in recent history.”

State Farm’s filing “raised serious questions as to whether their specific rate increases were based solely on Illinois experience,” the Illinois Department of Insurance said. The department is requesting more information from the company to justify the increase.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker echoed similar concerns. Illinois policyholders should not be paying increased rates to “protect beach houses in Florida,” Pritzker told the Insurance Journal.

State Farm has called such allegations “factually incorrect.”

Impact on State Farm policyholders in Illinois

The overall 27% rate increase will translate to an average hike of 28% for homeowners, nearly 14% for renters, and 11% for condominium and unit owners. It will also require the 1% wind and hail deductible for all policy renewals.

Pritzker challenged State Farm’s rate filing as “unfair and arbitrary.” And while insurance regulators have asked for more justification, there may be little they can currently do to block the rate increase.

The department told the Chicago Tribune that current insurance laws don’t give it the authority to approve or reject rate changes.

Other Illinois insurers raising rates as well

State Farm isn’t the only insurer raising rates in Illinois. Allstate raised its home insurance rates by 14% in February, affecting roughly 248,000 policyholders. 

Allstate had also previously raised its rates by nearly 13% in 2024. State Farm increased rates by 12% last year.

State Farm reports it paid out $1.26 for every $1 collected in 2024.

What’s next? Rates are still higher in other parts of the country

Despite aggressive rate hikes from some of the state’s largest insurers, Illinois’ average home insurance rate sits at $3,402 per year, according to Insurify data. This is slightly below the national average of $3,520.

Residents of Florida and Louisiana pay the highest annual home insurance rates in the nation, at $15,460 and $13,937, respectively.

Illinois also pays a lower average rate than border states Iowa ($3,825) and Missouri ($3,641), but rates are higher in Illinois than in Wisconsin ($2,050) and Indiana ($2,766).

Methodology

Insurify data scientists analyzed rates from more than 180 home insurance companies sourced directly from Insurify’s partner companies and Quadrant Information Services. Rates span all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and quote averages represent the mean price for a given coverage level and geographic area. To ensure data reliability, only insurers meeting minimum quote thresholds were included in the analysis.

Unless otherwise specified, quoted rates reflect the average cost for homeowners with no prior claims and good credit with a home construction year of 1980. The default coverage assumptions include:

Default Coverage Assumptions

  • Dwelling coverage: $300,000
  • Deductible: $1,000
  • Personal property limit: $25,000
  • Liability limit: $300,000

Additional data points beyond these default values are sourced from Insurify’s proprietary database. Rates are updated monthly.

Chris Schafer
Chris SchaferDeputy Managing Editor, News and Marketing Content

Chris is Insurify’s Senior Editor for home insurance. He’s a seasoned writer/editor with past experience across myriad industries, including insurance, SAS, finance, Medicare, logistics, marketing/advertising, and many more. He is passionate about breaking down complex subject material to make important information accessible to everyone. 

Chris began his career as a journalist, managing two weekly newspapers, then moving into marketing and content marketing roles. Before joining Insurify, Chris served as the content strategy manager at Siteimprove and as the content manager at Brandpoint, where he managed a team of content creators. 

Away from work, Chris is an active hockey player and proud father of two rambunctious little girls. Chris holds a Bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in mass communications from the University of Minnesota. 

Evelyn Pimplaskar
Edited byEvelyn PimplaskarEditor-in-Chief, Director of Content
Evelyn Pimplaskar
Evelyn PimplaskarEditor-in-Chief, Director of Content
  • 10+ years in insurance and personal finance content

  • 30+ years in media, PR, and content creation

Evelyn leads Insurify’s content team. She’s passionate about creating empowering content to help people transform their financial lives and make sound insurance-buying decisions.

Featured in

media logomedia logomedia logo
MacKenzie Korris
Reviewed byMacKenzie KorrisInsurance Copy Editor
MacKenzie Korris
MacKenzie KorrisInsurance Copy Editor

MacKenzie Korris is an insurance copy editor with a producer’s license for property and casualty insurance in Missouri. He has years of experience in print and digital media, and strives to craft actionable, inclusive copy that fosters smart decision-making through reader autonomy. He has a journalism degree from Saint Louis University.