For +/- 200,000 California Residents, Allstate Premiums Are About To Rise By An Average Of 34% [View all]

California insurance officials have approved Allstate’s request to raise insurance rates for homeowners by an average of about 34 percent. It’s the largest premium hike of any major carrier in the past three years — and the latest gut punch for residents as the state continues its ongoing push-pull with insurance companies over how much people should pay to live in wildfire-prone areas.

The Allstate rate changes, which will go into effect in November, will hit about 200,000 households across a range of regions, from coastal communities such as San Mateo and Santa Barbara counties, to inland areas such as Fresno. About 5,000 households will see their rates increase by more than 100 percent. Pockets of homeowners will have to pay much more: Five homeowners in Central California’s Mariposa County will have to pay about 203 percent more for their premiums, while another resident in the same county will see theirs spike by 385 percent, filing data shows.

Two out of 178 or so people in the tiny community of Snelling, Calif., will see a 232 percent increase. In Sonoma County, which has seen some of the state’s most destructive fires, rates will rise by an average of 164 percent. About 2,000 policyholders, however, will see their rates drop by almost 60 percent, according to the data.

This hike is far from a sudden move and reflects how the state’s insurance department has been trying to balance keeping carriers from ditching or not expanding coverage for residents while enabling them to charge more for climate change-related costs. Like other disaster-prone states, California, one of the world’s largest insurance markets, has been reeling from a growing crisis over coverage. In the past year or so, seven out of the state’s top 12 carriers, including Allstate and State Farm, pulled back coverage, blaming wildfires, the rising costs of such threats and state regulators’ refusal to approve rate hikes. They have claimed that homeowners’ premiums do not match the risk they face and have pressured the state’s insurance department to make some big changes.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/08/29/california-insurance-wildfires-allstate/