Most Expensive States for Insuring a Home

Parts of coastal Texas and Mexico were treated to 15 inches of rain courtesy of Hurricane Dolly, a Category 2 storm that made landfall last month. Its 100 mile-per-hour winds made it the most powerful U.S. storm since Wilma, a Category 5 storm in 2005.

But compared with what's expected through the end of the year, Dolly looks like a light drizzle. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently announced that it expected three to six major hurricanes of Category 3 strength or higher before the end of the year. This will no doubt have homeowners in the Gulf Coast states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida checking their insurance plans.

As it turns out, wind and flood coverage in a hurricane zone doesn't come cheap.

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' most recent study of insurance premiums, drawn on 2005 data due to lags in state reporting, those four states rank among the nation's most expensive places to insure a home. Texans pay an average $1,372 in premiums, with Louisianans shelling out $1,144, and Mississipians and Floridians paying $939 and $929 a year.

Texas ranked as the state with most expensive insurance premiums, thanks to wind, rain, hail, tornados and hurricanes.

"Just about every type of peril is available here," says Texas Department of Insurance spokesman Ben Gonzalez. There is, however, one danger that no longer factors into the state's high insurance premiums: mold.

Back in 2001 and 2002, that wasn't the case. "There was a media frenzy about toxic mold, and the folks writing homeowners insurance got hit hard. It drove up premiums quite a bit," says TDI spokesman Jerry Hagins.

Now, if they could only bring hail and hurricanes under control as easily.

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