Utah homeowners are losing their insurance faster than anyone else in the country. New data shows the state's insurers declined to renew 4.45% of homeowners policies last year, roughly one in every 22 — the highest nonrenewal rate in the nation, ahead of California's second-place mark of 2.93%.
The figures, drawn from National Association of Insurance Commissioners data, were detailed by KSL News, which reported that Utah Insurance Commissioner Jon Pike described the situation as “kinda a perfect storm in Utah.” Pike pointed to a mix of forces squeezing the market at once: drought-fueled wildfire risk, inflation driving up rebuilding costs, and a wave of new construction in the wildland-urban interface, where homes meet undeveloped land.
A Perfect Storm, By the Numbers
Drought has led to more and stronger fires in Utah and across the West, Pike said, while inflation makes rebuilding homes after a loss more expensive than it used to be. At the same time, more homes are going up in the wildland-urban interface, putting more properties directly in fire-prone terrain insurers are increasingly wary of covering.
But Pike was careful to note that wildfire risk alone doesn't explain Utah's chart-topping number. Three large insurance companies pulled out of a specific segment of the state's homeowners market altogether, a move Pike said significantly skewed the statistics. Without those withdrawals, he said, Utah's nonrenewal rate would be much closer to normal.
Regulators Say Market Is Stabilizing
Pike acknowledged that many Utahns have been affected by nonrenewals, but he said he was not aware of anyone who had been unable to find replacement coverage. The Utah Department of Insurance says it is monitoring the trends, and department officials told KSL the market is actually beginning to stabilize.
The pain isn't confined to Utah. A national report from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners found that company-initiated nonrenewal rates climbed in every region of the country from 2018 to 2024, rising anywhere from 96% to 216% depending on the zone. The Western Zone saw its rate nearly triple, from 8.0 nonrenewals per 1,000 policies in 2022 to 25.1 in 2024 — the highest of any region, ahead of the Southeast's 22.0, the Midwest's 14.2 and the Northeast's 11.7.
Premiums Climbing Alongside Nonrenewals
Insurers reported nearly 2.02 million company-initiated homeowners nonrenewals nationwide in 2024, according to the NAIC's analysis of data collected through 2024. Premiums have risen in step: inflation-adjusted average homeowners premiums climbed between 18.3% and 43.3% across the country's regions since 2018, with the Western Zone again seeing the steepest increase.
Utah's own premium growth has outpaced most of the country. Homeowners insurance premiums in the state jumped 59% between 2021 and 2024, the sharpest increase among states listed in a report cited by CNBC.
How California's Situation Compares
California's experience offers a point of comparison, even as it trails Utah in nonrenewal rate. The state's FAIR Plan, its insurer of last resort for homeowners who can't find coverage elsewhere, had about 697,000 active policies as of June — up 157% since September 2022, according to CalMatters. The outlet also reported that California insurers have committed to writing roughly 12,189 new homeowner policies since January 2025 under the state's sustainable insurance strategy, a sign regulators there are trying to coax carriers back into a market many had been fleeing.
A separate analysis from Insurance Business magazine underscored just how quickly Utah's standing has shifted: the state ranked 17th worst in the nation for homeowners nonrenewals a year earlier, and now sits at No. 1, according to Insurance Business magazine. For now, Utah regulators are watching closely, pointing to early signs of stabilization even as the state sits atop a list no one wants to lead.
