Home insurance deductibles compared
How much a higher deductible saves, how many claim-free years it takes to pay off, and what 2%, 5% or 10% hurricane deductibles cost in dollars.
3 minutes of reading | Statutes and tables to be re-checked by 2026-11-20
What the home insurance estimator does: 9 tools
- Home insurance estimator pick a state, set the rebuild cost and deductible by typing or by tapping the walls, door, window, roof and ground of a drawn house, see the price built step by step, check a quote you were given against it, and keep five versions side by side.
- State averages on a map the 2023 NAIC average premium for all 50 states and DC, in a sortable table with ranks and a state-to-state difference.
- Eleven countries compared the yearly premium in 11 countries on a world map, each marked as official, worked out from official totals or a comparison-site average.
- Deductible break-even how much a higher deductible saves, how many claim-free years it takes to pay back, and what a percentage hurricane deductible costs in dollars.
- NFIP flood premium path how a discounted flood policy climbs toward its full-risk price under the 18% yearly cap, and the gap above the federal limits.
- Wind mitigation saving (Florida) what a wind mitigation inspection could take off the hurricane part of a Florida premium.
- My Safe Florida Home grant check the 2026 conditions one by one, how the two-for-one match and $10,000 cap split the cost, your place in the statute's priority order and how fast your share pays back.
- Roof age and four-point rules (Florida) when an insurer can ask about roof age, when Citizens wants a four-point or roof form, and the cap on a separate roof deductible.
- New roof price and claim payout price a shingle or metal roof from your region, roof area and slope, then see what a storm claim pays on a replacement-cost or actual-cash-value policy.
A deductible is the part of each claim you pay before the insurer pays anything. Raise it and the premium drops, but you carry more of every loss. The question that matters is how long it takes for the yearly saving to add up to the extra amount you'd pay on one claim.
What a higher deductible saves, on average
| Deductible | Average yearly premium (Insurify) | Against $1,000 |
|---|---|---|
| $500 | $2,625 | +10% |
| $1,000 | $2,386 | – |
| $5,000 | $2,028 | −15% |
| $10,000 | $1,909 | −20% |
Insurify publishes this deductible table separately from its headline average ($2,772 on the how much page); the two come from different quote samples, so the $1,000 row here is not the same number as the headline.
Insurify's averages for one sample home, from its page updated on November 1, 2026 and read by us on 6 November; the link is on our sources page. Insurify publishes no $2,500 row, so for that step the calculator uses NerdWallet's finding that going from $1,000 to $2,500 saves about 9%, and interpolates between the points. Your insurer's own table may be steeper or flatter.
Note the shape: the first step up saves the most per dollar of extra risk. Going from $500 to $1,000 adds $500 of risk and, on these averages, cuts about $240 a year. Going from $5,000 to $10,000 adds $5,000 of risk to save about $120.
Break-even, worked through
The calculator divides the extra amount you'd carry by the yearly saving.
| Change | Premium now | Saving a year | Extra risk per claim | Break-even |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $500 → $1,000 | $2,400 | $218 | $500 | 2.3 years |
| $1,000 → $2,500 | $1,800 | $162 | $1,500 | 9.3 years |
| $1,000 → $5,000 | $3,000 | $450 | $4,000 | 8.9 years |
Homeowners don't claim often, so a break-even of two or three years is quick by most standards, provided the larger sum is there when you need it. Nine years is a closer call: it pays off only if you rarely claim and could find the larger sum the week after a burst pipe. A higher deductible also keeps small claims off your record, and a claim on record is one of the factors on the page about what raises a premium.
Percentage deductibles for wind and hurricanes
In much of the coastal South and parts of the Plains, the policy has two deductibles: a flat one for most claims and a separate one for wind, hail or hurricane damage, stated as a percentage of Coverage A. A 2% hurricane deductible on a $400,000 house means the first $8,000 of hurricane damage is yours.
| Coverage A | 1% | 2% | 5% | 10% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $250,000 | $2,500 | $5,000 | $12,500 | $25,000 |
| $400,000 | $4,000 | $8,000 | $20,000 | $40,000 |
| $600,000 | $6,000 | $12,000 | $30,000 | $60,000 |
Switch the calculator to More factors to see the amounts for your own dwelling limit.
Florida's rules on hurricane deductibles
Before issuing a homeowners policy, a Florida insurer has to offer hurricane deductibles of $500, 2%, 5% and 10% of the dwelling limit (s. 627.701(3), Florida Statutes, 2026 text, read November 6, 2026). The statute trims that list for dearer homes:
| Dwelling limit | What the insurer may leave out or swap |
|---|---|
| $250,000 or more | The $500 option need not be offered |
| $1 million to under $3 million | 3% may be offered in place of 2% |
| $3 million or more | The 2% option need not be offered |
The hurricane deductible applies once per calendar year to all hurricane losses under policies from the same insurer or group, not once per storm (s. 627.701(5)).
Florida also allows a separate roof deductible on some policies. Its cap and the losses it can't touch are set out, with a calculator, on the roof and four-point page.
Questions to ask before you raise it
- Is the change to the all-perils deductible, or the wind or hurricane one? The premium effect and the risk differ.
- Does your mortgage contract set a maximum deductible? Many lenders do.
- If you claim, can the deductible be paid from savings without borrowing?
- Will the insurer quote both options side by side? Their own figures beat any average.
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