Best homeowners insurance in Louisiana for 2025

Compare the best homeowners insurance companies in Louisiana

Finding homeowners insurance in Louisiana presents unique challenges. From hurricanes to heatwaves and other extreme weather, the state faces one of the highest levels of risks for homeowners. This makes finding coverage, and — particularly affordable insurance options — a potentially difficult task. Choosing the best homeowners insurance in Louisiana requires careful consideration of various factors to ensure optimal coverage and peace of mind. 

Based on Bankrate's analysis, the carriers below offer a mix of competitive rates, robust coverage, several discounts and high financial strength ratings. While customer satisfaction scores from the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Home Insurance Study are mixed, these companies are a good place to start gathering quotes.

The top 4 home insurance companies in Louisiana

Additional Louisiana home insurance companies to consider

Encompass

Louisiana Farm Bureau

How Bankrate chose the best home insurance companies in Louisiana

To find the best homeowners insurance in Louisiana, we first obtained current premium information from Quadrant Information Services. After analyzing the data, we also considered each company’s coverage offerings, discounts and third-party metrics from agencies like J.D. Power and AM Best. A company’s performance in each of these categories determined its Bankrate Score. The better it scored in each category, the higher its overall Bankrate Score for a maximum score of 5.0 points.

Cheapest home insurance companies in Louisiana

Due to its high hurricane risk as well as its risk from severe convective storms, Louisiana homeowners insurance tends to be on the pricier end of the spectrum. A hurricane can completely devastate a home, which makes for a costly payout for an insurance provider. To help mitigate these potential losses, home insurance companies typically charge higher premiums. Although it’s a little harder to find cheap home insurance companies in Louisiana, shopping around and comparing multiple quotes can help you hone in on a good deal.

How to get cheap home Louisiana insurance 

Although average Louisiana home insurance rates are well above the national average, homeowners may still be able to save by being strategic with their insurance shopping. The following strategies may help you find lower rates in the Pelican State.

• Compare quotes: It's often beneficial to obtain quotes from multiple insurance companies, as rates could vary significantly for identical coverage. By evaluating several quotes and discounts, you may find a more cost-effective premium for your needs. Remember to use the same coverage types and policy limits when requesting quotes to make a fair comparison.
• Bundle your policies: If you are happy with the company that carries your car insurance, you might consider purchasing your home insurance coverage from the same carrier. Most insurers offer a sizable discount to policyholders who purchase more than one insurance product from them.
• Increase your deductible: Although most insurance professionals recommend exploring other savings strategies before adjusting your deductible, increasing your deductible might result in lower premiums. However, it's advisable to maintain a deductible amount that's manageable for you in case of a claim. Louisiana homeowners should be aware of the separate deductibles for standard home damage and hurricane windstorm damage related to named tropical cyclones.

Best home insurance discounts in Louisiana

Discounts may be one of the best ways to save money on your Louisiana homeowners insurance. Almost all insurers offer at least a few discounts, and many of them are not hard to qualify for. You may want to review your policy each year to see if there are any additional savings opportunities you qualify for. Some of the most common discounts include:

How to save on home insurance policy renewals in Louisiana

Your policy’s renewal date can be an excellent time to take advantage of more savings opportunities. Consider the following strategies to lower your rate:

• Prevent damage: By Louisiana state law, insurance companies are required to offer discounts to homeowners who install damage mitigators like hurricane shutters, hurricane braces or secondary water barriers (to name just a few) and to those who retrofit their homes to comply with updated Louisiana construction codes. Retrofitting an entire home can be costly, but installing some smaller upgrades could help you save money long-term.
• Improving your credit: We know that improving your credit doesn’t happen overnight, but taking small steps to improve your credit between renewal dates can help you lower your premium. Insurers view policyholders with strong credit histories as less likely to file claims based on actuarial data, and tend to offer better rates as a result.
• Improve your roof: A roof is a home’s first line of defense against windstorm damage. Having a strong roof over your head not only gives you peace of mind but could also earn you a home insurance discount. Many of Louisiana’s state-approved hurricane mitigation efforts pertain to roofs: roof bracing, roof-to-wall strengthening, roof deck attachment and roof covering. These could all help you secure a lower rate.

How much is home insurance in Louisiana?

The average home insurance cost in Louisiana is $4,135 per year for $300,000 in dwelling coverage, which is nearly 84 percent more than the national average of $2,242 per year. The higher cost may be attributed, in part, to the state’s coastal positioning. This leaves it vulnerable to widespread damage caused by hurricanes and tropical storms, and its lower elevation makes most of the state prone to severe flooding.

Average Louisiana homeowners insurance premiums are higher than in surrounding states. Texans pay an average of $3,983 per year for the same coverage amount, and homeowners in Mississippi pay an annual average of $3,339. In Arkansas, the average cost for a policy with $300K in dwelling coverage is $3,151 per year.

Louisiana homeowners insurance rates by city 

The average cost of your home insurance policy is likely to differ from the statewide average since it is impacted by a range of personal considerations, including your home's age, the materials it's made from and even your credit rating. As you can see from the tables below, location also plays a significant role, with coastal regions that are routinely in the path of hurricanes generally showing higher average rates than those further inland, where damage from storms may be less likely or severe.

*Rates are for $300,000 in dwelling coverage.

What does home insurance cover in Louisiana?

Since 1851, when records were first kept, Louisiana has experienced 63 Category 1 to 5 hurricanes, putting it solidly in third place behind Florida's 120 and Texas's total of 64. If you’re a Louisiana property owner, storm warnings, flooding and high winds have likely caused distress more than once. To help you understand what additional coverage you may need for these events, it’s helpful to understand what standard policies already cover:

• Tornadoes: If a tornado blows through town, your home insurance policy should cover your dwelling, personal property and other structures.
• Hurricanes: Hurricane coverage is a bit tricky. The wind and hail damage from a hurricane are typically covered, but that damage may be subject to a separate deductible. According to Louisiana law, hurricane and named storm deductibles are between 2 and 5 percent of the total dwelling coverage limit. Flood damage that results from a hurricane is not covered unless you have a separate flood endorsement or policy.
• Fire: Your dwelling and personal property are both usually protected from unintentional fire damage.
• Explosion: Explosions in or around your home are generally covered.
• Lightning: If lightning strikes and causes a power surge or fire, your home insurance policy should give you some coverage.
• Extreme cold: Although Louisiana winters are pretty mild, if a cold snap causes a pipe to burst and damage your belongings, it should be covered by your home insurance policy.

Additional types of home insurance in Louisiana

In addition to the standard home insurance coverage types, you may want to purchase optional coverage to increase your financial protection. Some coverage types that Louisiana homeowners might want to consider include:

• Flood insurance: The most common type of home insurance policy — called an HO-3 — does not include coverage for flood damage. For this, you would need a separate endorsement or policy specifically for flood-related damage. Many flood policies are provided by the federally backed National Flood Insurance Program, although you may be able to work with your regular insurer or another private company to purchase flood coverage. If you live in a flood zone, flood insurance may be required by your mortgage lender. To find out more about the risks to your property from floods, you can enter your address in FEMA's Flood Map Service Center.  
• Water backup coverage: If water damages your home after backing up in a sewer or drain line, you will need this endorsement to have insurance coverage. This type of damage is common in basements or crawl spaces but can occur anywhere. It may also be caused by sump pump failure or a power outage.
• Equipment breakdown coverage: This optional coverage may not be available from every company, but provides coverage for damage to (or the breakdown of) your home’s mechanical systems, like your air conditioner and water heater.
• Windstorm coverage: While coverage for hurricanes and windstorms are included in most standard homeowners policies, there may be some caveats. Depending on the severity of a tropical system and whether it becomes a “named storm,” some companies may have a percentage-based deductible rather than a specified dollar amount. This means that your deductible would be a percentage of your dwelling limit, typically ranging from 2 to 5 percent. Just one windstorm deductible is assessed per hurricane season, even if you sustain losses from multiple named storms. Additionally, if your home is in a particularly high-risk area and you are having a difficult time finding insurance, you may be able to opt for coverage from the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, which is a FAIR Plan intended for temporary coverage while you look for a permanent solution.

Common Louisiana home insurance problems

Louisiana has seen its share of home insurance woes. Its position along the Gulf Coast and its low-lying southern border makes the state prone to hurricanes. However, costly storms are not the only thing that plagues the Louisiana home insurance industry:

• Difficulty securing coverage: Following a slew of hurricanes from 2020 to 2021, several Louisiana home insurance companies have been declared insolvent, voluntarily withdrew from the market or stopped writing new business. Louisiana homeowners have fewer options when it comes to home insurers, which makes it all the more difficult to lock in coverage.
• High rates: Louisiana home insurance is undoubtedly expensive. As long as hurricanes and severe convective storms continue to bombard the state, high home insurance costs will continue to plague Louisiana homeowners.
• Expensive last-resort plan: Similar to Florida, Louisiana has a government-backed Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan carrier. It is meant to act as a last-resort, short-term solution for homeowners who cannot find insurance in the private market. But following the home insurance exodus, an increasing number of homeowners are obtaining coverage through Citizens. As a result of the plan growing at a rapid pace, Citizens implemented a 63 percent rate increase beginning January 2023. However, in July 2024, the state paused the premium surcharge through 2027.

Frequently asked questions

Our 2025 Bankrate Score considers variables our insurance editorial team determined impact policyholders’ experiences with an insurance company. These rating factors include a robust assessment of each company’s cost of coverage, product availability, financial strength ratings, online capabilities and customer and claims support accessibility. We grouped these factors into three essential categories — cost and ratings, coverage and savings, and support — which we then weighted in a tiered approach.

Bankrate Scores 

Each category was assigned a metric to determine performance, and the weighted sum adds up to a company’s total Bankrate Score — out of 5 points. Our scoring model provides a comprehensive view, indicating when companies excel across several key areas and highlighting where they fall short.