Quick Answer

U.S. drivers spent an average of $1,281.92 per insured vehicle on car insurance in 2023, the most recent year published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners — up 19.2% from $1,075.08 in 2019. State averages run from $807.77 in North Dakota to $1,864.63 in Florida. The BLS price index for motor vehicle insurance has since turned down, falling 4.5% in the twelve months to July 2026.

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This page is a reference sheet for journalists, researchers and anyone writing about the cost of car insurance. Every figure below is read directly from a named primary source — a government agency, a regulator, or our own published research — and every source is linked with the date we accessed it. Where we have calculated something from two sourced figures, the sentence says so. Nothing here is estimated, modelled or rounded up from a number we did not read.

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What does car insurance cost on average in the United States?

American drivers spent an average of $1,281.92 per insured vehicle in 2023, 13.99% more than the $1,124.57 they spent in 2022. That is the countrywide average expenditure published in the NAIC 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report, a database NAIC compiles “to make information about cost factors in each state readily available to insurance regulators monitoring the market, and to the public.” The median state figure was lower, at $1,114.

NAIC publishes two national numbers and they are not interchangeable. Average expenditure is liability, collision and comprehensive written premium divided by liability written car-years, so it includes drivers who buy liability only. Combined average premium adds the three coverage-level averages together and therefore describes a policy carrying all three. Both are shown below.

Table 1. Countrywide auto insurance cost, 2023 (NAIC 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report)
Measure20232022Change
Average expenditure per insured vehicle$1,281.92$1,124.57+13.99%
Combined average premium per insured vehicle$1,438.60$1,257.31+14.42%
Liability average premium$736.65$660.60
Collision average premium$463.71$400.59
Comprehensive average premium$238.24$196.12

Source: NAIC, 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report (adopted December 2025, released 13 February 2026), Tables 1C, 2C, 3C, 4 and 5, and the report narrative on page 4. Accessed August 23, 2026. Percentage changes for expenditure and combined premium are NAIC’s own; median state figures are NAIC’s own.

Two further national figures from the same report are worth having on hand: the median state combined average premium was $1,268 in 2023, and countrywide average expenditure rose 19.2% over the five years from $1,075.08 in 2019 (calculated from Table 4).

How fast have car insurance prices moved — and are they falling in 2026?

Prices are falling now, after an exceptional run-up. The Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index for motor vehicle insurance stood at 856.080 in July 2026, down 4.5% from 896.018 a year earlier. Between July 2022 and July 2024 the same index rose 39.6%. Over the seven years to July 2026 it is up 50.5%.

Table 2. CPI-U, motor vehicle insurance, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted (1982–84 = 100), July of each year
MonthIndexChange vs prior July (calculated)
July 2019569.011
July 2020558.276-1.9%
July 2021567.463+1.6%
July 2022609.585+7.4%
July 2023717.799+17.8%
July 2024851.007+18.6%
July 2025896.018+5.3%
July 2026856.080-4.5%

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI series CUUR0000SETE, retrieved from the BLS public data API on August 23, 2026. Index values are BLS figures; the year-over-year percentages are calculated from those values. The series carries no value for October 2025 and no November 2025 observation at all; neither month is used above.

What does car insurance cost in each state?

Average expenditure ranged from $807.77 in North Dakota to $1,864.63 in Florida in 2023 — a factor of 2.31 between the cheapest and most expensive state, calculated from the two NAIC figures. The table also carries each state’s minimum liability limits, how NAIC classifies its liability-insurance requirement, and its vehicle theft rate, so a single row answers most of what a state story needs.

NAIC attaches an explicit warning to these comparisons: “Because of these differences, direct comparisons between state results should be treated with a high degree of caution.” State tort law, coverage mix, rate-filing law, traffic density and repair costs all differ, and none of them are held constant in the table. Six jurisdictions — Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Texas and Virginia — are classified in Table 41 as not compulsory in 2022, and 18 required personal injury protection (counted from Table 42). Read that classification carefully: NAIC does not define it in the table, and it is not a statement that those states impose no insurance requirement. Texas is marked “No” here while the Texas Department of Public Safety requires drivers to maintain motor vehicle liability insurance under Transportation Code Chapter 601, as the SR-22 section below sets out. For any single state, the authority is that state’s own insurance department or licensing agency.

Download this table as CSV (52 rows, including the countrywide total).

Table 3. Auto insurance cost, coverage law and vehicle theft by state
State Avg. expenditure 2023 Avg. expenditure 2022 Change 2019–2023 (calc.) Combined avg. premium 2023 Min. liability limits 2022 Liability classified compulsory by NAIC 2022 Thefts per 1,000 registered vehicles 2022
Alabama$1,081.24$966.10+16.6%$1,268.7125/50/25Yes2.09
Alaska$1,112.96$1,013.94+12.3%$1,262.4950/100/25Yes2.78
Arizona$1,344.24$1,154.50+26.2%$1,504.5925/50/15Yes3.17
Arkansas$1,050.52$926.47+16.7%$1,296.4625/50/25Yes2.47
California$1,225.02$1,086.60+16.5%$1,417.9415/30/5Yes6.14
Colorado$1,452.82$1,274.60+23.6%$1,655.3025/50/15Yes9.36
Connecticut$1,393.90$1,279.23+10.0%$1,508.2125/50/25Yes2.65
Delaware$1,462.03$1,296.14+13.6%$1,569.2125/50/10Yes4.03
District of Columbia$1,676.99$1,501.41+16.5%$1,818.2825/50/10Yes10.34
Florida$1,864.63$1,567.88+25.2%$1,993.8110/20/10Yes1.53
Georgia$1,555.10$1,345.38+23.0%$1,746.3225/50/25Yes2.55
Hawaii$888.07$843.84+5.8%$998.0420/40/10Yes4.89
Idaho$863.91$772.38+16.8%$981.0125/50/15No0.91
Illinois$1,153.11$993.88+22.6%$1,256.5825/50/20Yes3.54
Indiana$926.41$814.11+18.7%$1,031.8625/50/25Yes2.60
Iowa$872.61$776.66+23.2%$1,010.4020/40/15No1.46
Kansas$972.57$868.11+18.9%$1,181.6925/50/10Yes2.82
Kentucky$1,045.66$937.84+10.4%$1,208.2925/50/25Yes2.43
Louisiana$1,754.03$1,557.99+12.4%$1,982.6515/30/25Yes3.19
Maine$856.28$766.89+22.9%$926.0250/100/25Yes0.80
Maryland$1,476.78$1,281.25+19.9%$1,601.6330/60/15Yes3.00
Massachusetts$1,326.46$1,191.02+12.2%$1,413.4920/40/5Yes1.38
Michigan$1,444.01$1,339.53-3.6%$1,572.7750/100/10Yes2.95
Minnesota$1,103.05$961.76+23.7%$1,223.4830/60/10Yes3.03
Mississippi$1,199.52$1,060.90+22.7%$1,394.5225/50/25No2.26
Missouri$1,154.78$1,003.60+23.7%$1,322.5525/50/25Yes5.78
Montana$975.02$884.92+16.6%$1,183.6625/50/20Yes1.37
Nebraska$981.06$872.22+21.5%$1,183.8825/50/25Yes2.83
Nevada$1,461.54$1,291.11+13.1%$1,600.1225/50/20Yes6.04
New Hampshire$986.84$880.82+14.1%$1,032.0125/50/25No0.70
New Jersey$1,573.21$1,411.47+13.1%$1,693.3915/30/5Yes2.59
New Mexico$1,081.61$957.50+16.0%$1,301.1225/50/10Yes6.29
New York$1,752.55$1,548.26+21.2%$1,895.9925/50/10Yes3.19
North Carolina$925.08$839.28+22.7%$1,096.5630/60/25Yes2.42
North Dakota$807.77$729.28+14.8%$961.2825/50/25Yes1.91
Ohio$947.22$835.23+17.5%$1,037.6125/50/25Yes2.62
Oklahoma$1,083.97$958.51+18.6%$1,324.1525/50/25Yes3.97
Oregon$1,170.31$1,005.65+18.2%$1,268.4725/50/20Yes5.81
Pennsylvania$1,154.57$1,017.59+16.0%$1,273.4615/30/5Yes2.04
Rhode Island$1,539.65$1,422.82+11.4%$1,709.6925/50/25Yes2.24
South Carolina$1,367.39$1,205.00+22.6%$1,516.7125/50/25Yes2.61
South Dakota$936.84$823.25+25.7%$1,157.7025/50/25Yes1.80
Tennessee$1,049.80$924.10+21.4%$1,211.7225/50/25Yes3.91
Texas$1,428.94$1,232.79+24.9%$1,726.9130/60/25No4.35
Utah$1,168.93$1,024.11+22.5%$1,284.6025/65/15Yes2.58
Vermont$893.16$792.96+14.0%$957.8025/50/10Yes1.06
Virginia$1,114.46$949.76+29.8%$1,238.1330/60/20No1.86
Washington$1,152.50$1,048.33+7.9%$1,234.6825/50/10Yes6.56
West Virginia$1,062.98$952.67+13.2%$1,227.3925/50/25Yes1.04
Wisconsin$922.41$810.42+20.2%$999.9925/50/10Yes2.47
Wyoming$948.37$848.02+22.1%$1,180.0125/50/20Yes1.09
Countrywide$1,281.92$1,124.57+19.2%$1,438.603.47

Source: NAIC, 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report, Table 4 (average expenditure), Table 5 (combined average premium), Table 41 (liability insurance laws, 2022 column) and Table 35 (vehicle thefts per 1,000 registered vehicles, 2022 column). Accessed August 23, 2026. NAIC credits the theft counts to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports and the registered-vehicle counts to the Federal Highway Administration’s Highway Statistics. The 2019–2023 change column is calculated from NAIC’s own 2019 and 2023 figures. Limits are written bodily-injury-per-person / bodily-injury-per-accident / property-damage, in thousands of dollars. The compulsory column reproduces NAIC’s classification verbatim and is not a legal statement about any state’s requirements.

How much does the same driver pay at different carriers?

State and national averages hide the single largest lever a driver controls: which company writes the policy. Our own study of carrier pricing, Auto Insurance Quote Spread by City 2026, compared the cheapest and most expensive of the top ten carriers in twenty metros for one standardised driver profile and found the most expensive major carrier charging roughly two to four times the cheapest in the same market.

The figures below are our study’s own estimates, built from published state rate filings and comparative quote tools for a 35-year-old driver with a clean record in a 2022 Toyota Camry LE at full coverage. They are estimates of a standardised profile, not measured transaction prices, and they are not comparable with the NAIC figures above, which measure written premium across every real policy in a state.

Table 4. Estimated top-ten-carrier quote range for one standardised driver profile, selected metros
MetroMedian annual rate (est.)Cheapest carrier (est.)Most expensive (est.)Spread (est.)
Miami, FL$4,200$2,400$7,800$5,400
Detroit, MI$3,600$2,100$6,200$4,100
Los Angeles, CA$2,100$1,300$4,100$2,800
Dallas, TX$1,900$1,100$3,200$2,100
Phoenix, AZ$1,600$950$2,700$1,750
Raleigh, NC$1,250$750$1,900$1,150

Source: Dreamy Leads Research, Auto Insurance Quote Spread by City 2026. Estimated values for a standardised driver profile; see that study for the profile definition and its limits. Attribute to the study, not to NAIC.

What does full coverage cost compared with minimum coverage?

Adding physical damage cover to a liability policy nearly doubles the average bill. In 2023 the countrywide liability average premium was $736.65, collision added $463.71 and comprehensive added $238.24, for a combined average premium of $1,438.60. The two physical damage coverages therefore accounted for $701.95 of that total, calculated from NAIC’s own coverage-level averages.

Neither collision nor comprehensive is legally required. As NAIC puts it, “Physical damage coverages are not required by law; however, when a car is purchased with a loan, the lender will usually require that the borrower purchase collision and comprehensive coverages until the loan is repaid.” What is required is a state minimum liability limit, and those minimums are not close to uniform: Florida’s 2022 minimum was 10/20/10, California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania sat at 15/30/5, and Maine and Alaska required 50/100/25. Every state’s minimum is in the state table above.

Source: NAIC, 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report, Tables 1C, 2C, 3C, 5 and 41, and the Comprehensive section narrative on page 167. Accessed August 23, 2026.

How many drivers are uninsured or underinsured?

One in three. The Insurance Research Council’s study Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists: 2017–2023 found 15.4% of drivers countrywide uninsured in 2023 and 18.0% underinsured, a combined 33.4% — ten percentage points higher than in 2017, when the two rates were 12.6% and 10.6%.

  • Highest uninsured rate, 2023: Mississippi, 28.2%.
  • Lowest uninsured rates, 2023: Maine 5.7%, Utah 6.2%, Idaho 6.4%.
  • Underinsured rates ranged from 4.6% in the District of Columbia to 49.7% in Colorado.

That risk is priced back into everyone else’s policy through uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which NAIC includes inside the liability written premiums it reports.

Source: Insurance Research Council, Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists: 2017–2023 and its release of 17 February 2025. Accessed August 23, 2026. Coverage inclusion note: NAIC 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report, technical notes, page 9.

How often are claims filed, and what do they cost?

Claim severity is the number that moved. NAIC reports the average incurred loss per collision claim at $7,191.85 in 2022, against $5,123.04 in 2020 — a rise of 40.4% in two years, calculated from those two figures. Comprehensive severity rose from $1,743.11 to $2,350.10 over the same period. Frequency moved far less.

Table 5. Countrywide claim frequency and severity, total business (voluntary plus residual)
CoverageFrequency 2022 (claims per 100 earned car-years)Frequency 2020Severity 2022Severity 2020
Collision5.324.56$7,191.85$5,123.04
Comprehensive7.266.94$2,350.10$1,743.11

On the liability side, total liability incurred losses reached $120.59 billion in 2022, the loss ratio was 81.47%, and pure premium — incurred losses divided by earned exposures — was $573.05 per car-year. NAIC’s own release highlights the same movement: “Liability premiums grew 19% from 2019 to 2023, while the number of vehicles insured for the same period grew 5.5%.”

Source: NAIC, 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report, Tables 26B, 26C, 29D and 32D, and the NAIC release of 13 February 2026. Accessed August 23, 2026. Frequency, severity, loss ratio and pure premium are defined on page 3 of the report.

How many vehicles are stolen, and where?

The countrywide vehicle theft rate was 3.47 thefts per 1,000 registered vehicles in 2022, up from 3.13 in 2021 and 3.03 in 2020. NAIC tracks theft in this report precisely because, as it says, “Vehicle theft rates play a role in determining the cost of comprehensive auto insurance coverage.”

  • Highest theft rates, 2022: District of Columbia 10.34 and Colorado 9.36 per 1,000 registered vehicles, then Washington 6.56, New Mexico 6.29 and California 6.14.
  • Lowest theft rates, 2022: New Hampshire 0.70, Maine 0.80, Idaho 0.91 and West Virginia 1.04.

Source: NAIC, 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report, Table 35 and the Crime section narrative on page 186. Accessed August 23, 2026. NAIC credits theft counts to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports (2020–2022) and registered-vehicle counts to the Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics (2020–2022).

How dangerous are American roads right now?

Deaths are falling, and have been for three years. NHTSA records the fourth quarter of 2025 as the fifteenth consecutive quarterly decline in fatalities, a run that began in the second quarter of 2022, and projects 36,640 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2025, about 6.7% fewer than the 39,254 reported for 2024, even though vehicle miles travelled rose by roughly 29.8 billion miles, or 0.9%. The fatality rate fell to 1.10 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles travelled from 1.19 in 2024 — the second lowest in recorded history, behind the 1.08 rate of 2014. NHTSA projects decreases in 39 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

For the 2024 baseline year, IIHS puts the same 39,254 deaths at 11.5 per 100,000 people and 1.19 per 100 million miles travelled, with Mississippi the highest state on both measures (25.6 per 100,000 people; 1.81 per 100 million miles) and Rhode Island (4.7 per 100,000 people) and Massachusetts (0.59 per 100 million miles) the lowest.

Sources: NHTSA National Center for Statistics and Analysis, Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities and Fatality Rate in 2025 (DOT HS 813 800, April 2026) and Early Estimates by Sub-Categories in 2025 (DOT HS 813 829, July 2026); IIHS, Fatality Facts: State by state, 2024 data. Accessed August 23, 2026.

What is an SR-22, and how long does it last?

An SR-22 is not a kind of insurance. It is a certificate an insurer files with a state agency to prove a driver is carrying the liability coverage the state requires, and the filing period is set by state law, not by the insurer. Texas, for example, requires the certificate under Transportation Code Chapter 601 and specifies that coverage “must be maintained for two years from either the conviction date or when the judgment was rendered.” Texas drivers filing one must carry at least $30,000 bodily injury per person, $60,000 per crash and $25,000 property damage. If the certificate lapses, Texas warns that “your driving privilege and vehicle registration may be suspended.”

California runs a longer clock on a related requirement: after an insurance-related suspension, “proof of insurance must be filed and maintained with DMV for three years, per CVC §16430.” Because the period, the triggering offences and the minimum limits are all state-specific, the only reliable source for any single driver is that state’s own agency. Our plain-language explainers on what an SR-22 is and how SR-22 filings work cover the mechanics.

Sources: Texas Department of Public Safety, Financial Responsibility Insurance Certificate (SR-22); California DMV, Financial Responsibility (Insurance). Accessed August 23, 2026.

Methodology: how this page was built

Every number on this page was read from one of five primary sources or from our own published research, and each section names the exact table or page it came from. Nothing was modelled, interpolated or carried over from a secondary summary. Where two sourced figures were combined — a percentage change, a ratio, a subtraction — the sentence says “calculated” and both inputs are on the page, so the arithmetic can be checked.

  • Premiums, coverage law, claims and theft: NAIC 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report, adopted December 2025 and released 13 February 2026. The most recent premium year it publishes is 2023; the most recent loss year is 2022. That lag is inherent to the dataset, not a stale reading.
  • Price trend: BLS CPI-U series CUUR0000SETE, motor vehicle insurance, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted, retrieved from the BLS public data API.
  • Uninsured and underinsured drivers: Insurance Research Council, 2017–2023 study.
  • Crash risk: NHTSA early estimates for 2025 and IIHS state-by-state fatality facts for 2024.
  • Carrier-level quote spread: our own study, whose figures are estimates for a standardised driver profile and are labelled as such wherever they appear.

Deliberate omissions matter as much as inclusions. We do not publish a “national average full-coverage premium” framed as a NAIC figure, because NAIC does not publish that metric — it publishes average expenditure and combined average premium, both defined above. We do not publish a 2026 average premium, because no regulator has yet published one. Our editorial rules are set out in our editorial standards and our sourcing rules in our methodology.

Frequently asked questions

How much is car insurance per month on average?

NAIC reports a countrywide average expenditure of $1,281.92 per insured vehicle for 2023, the most recent year in its 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report. Divided across twelve months that is about $106.83 a month. NAIC defines average expenditure as liability, collision and comprehensive written premium divided by liability written car-years, so it is what drivers actually spent, not a quoted rate.

Which state has the most expensive car insurance?

Florida, at an average expenditure of $1,864.63 per insured vehicle in 2023, followed by Louisiana at $1,754.03 and New York at $1,752.55. NAIC cautions that direct comparisons between states should be treated with a high degree of caution, because state tort law, coverage mix and rate filing law all differ.

Which state has the cheapest car insurance?

North Dakota, at $807.77 per insured vehicle in 2023, followed by Maine at $856.28 and Idaho at $863.91. The gap between the most and least expensive state is 2.31 times, calculated from those two NAIC figures.

Is car insurance going down in 2026?

The measured price index is falling. The BLS consumer price index for motor vehicle insurance stood at 856.080 in July 2026 against 896.018 in July 2025, a decline of 4.5 percent over twelve months. That follows a steep run-up: the same index rose 39.6 percent between July 2022 and July 2024.

What percentage of drivers are uninsured?

The Insurance Research Council found that 15.4 percent of drivers countrywide were uninsured in 2023 and 18.0 percent were underinsured, so one in three drivers was one or the other. State uninsured rates ranged from 5.7 percent in Maine to 28.2 percent in Mississippi.

How much does the average car insurance claim cost?

NAIC puts the average incurred loss per collision claim at $7,191.85 in 2022 and the average comprehensive claim at $2,350.10. Collision claim frequency was 5.32 claims per 100 earned car-years and comprehensive frequency was 7.26 per 100 earned car-years.

How long do you have to carry an SR-22?

It depends on the state, because an SR-22 is a certificate your insurer files with a state agency rather than a type of policy. Texas requires the certificate to be maintained for two years from the conviction date or the date a judgment was rendered. In California, proof of insurance must be filed and maintained with the DMV for three years after an insurance-related suspension, per California Vehicle Code section 16430.

What is the difference between average expenditure and average premium?

NAIC calculates average expenditure as liability plus collision plus comprehensive written premium divided by liability written car-years, which assumes every insured vehicle carries liability but not necessarily physical damage coverage. Combined average premium instead adds the three coverage-level average premiums together, so it describes a policy that carries all three. That is why the countrywide combined average premium of $1,438.60 sits above the average expenditure of $1,281.92 for the same year.

How to cite this page

This page is free to reference and quote with attribution. Copy the snippet below into your article or resource page. Underlying data is in the state CSV; if you need a cut we have not published, ask us — we share it free.

Plain text: Dreamy Leads Research, “Car Insurance Statistics 2026,” published 23 August 2026, https://dreamyleads.com/insurance/car-insurance-statistics-2026. Underlying regulator data: NAIC 2022/2023 Auto Insurance Database Report; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics series CUUR0000SETE; Insurance Research Council; NHTSA; IIHS.