A recent county-level analysis found that homeowners insurance premiums exceed property-tax bills in roughly two-thirds of U.S. counties and that combining homeowners insurance with the weather-related portion of auto insurance raises the share to about 75% of counties. The comparison, which uses county-average premiums and county-average property-tax bills, reports that household insurance costs have climbed substantially in the past decade after adjusting for inflation.
what the data show
The analysis reports these key measures:
- Homeowners insurance county averages rose about 45% over the past decade after inflation.
- Across counties, property insurance averages about 14% more than property taxes.
- Including only the weather-related portion of auto premiums, the combined insurance burden averages about 30% above property-tax bills.
- Typical hidden costs of homeownership — including insurance and other recurring expenses — reached $16,566, up 31.7% over five years.
Nebraska figures
For Nebraska specifically, the analysis found a 79% increase in county-average homeowners insurance premiums over the past decade after adjusting for inflation, a larger rise than the national county-average increase of 45% reported in the study.
“Avery daunting proposal for local government, local budgets,” Andrew John Stevenson, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, called the shift in federal disaster-recovery cost-sharing
The analysis also noted regional variation: the insurance-to-tax burden is greatest in the Southeast, where relatively low property taxes and hurricane exposure can leave insurance premiums two-and-a-half to four times a typical tax bill. In the Northeast, West and major metropolitan counties, higher property taxes reduce the relative share of insurance in overall housing costs.
federal shifts and local budgets
The study cites federal changes that are shifting a larger share of disaster-recovery costs to state and local governments. It reports that the federal government covered about 90% of recovery costs over the past two decades but that the division is moving toward an even split. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Andrew John Stevenson said the change would present a substantial challenge for local governments with limited capital.
The findings compare county-average premiums and tax bills and do not describe the circumstances of every household. The analysis highlights insurance as a growing component of the regular costs of homeownership and a factor that, in many counties, now exceeds property-tax obligations.
