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Homeowners insurance in Texas costs $3,969 a year on average for a policy with $350,000 in dwelling coverage, according to ValuePenguin’s Texas home insurance analysis, which makes Texas the fifth most expensive state in the country for home insurance. The same coverage costs $3,694 a year in ValuePenguin’s national rate table, and $4,582 a year in Insurance.com’s 2026 analysis for $300,000 in dwelling coverage. The datasets disagree because they measure different homes, but they agree on the direction: Texas is expensive, and the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive quote in the state can run to thousands of dollars a year.
Texas rates have climbed about 57 percent over the last five years, driven by hail, hurricanes, and the 2021 winter freeze, and the state now sits roughly two-thirds above the national average. This guide compares the datasets, breaks the cost down by city and by coverage level, names the cheapest carriers, and shows what actually moves a Texas premium.
How much is homeowners insurance in Texas in 2026?
The average cost of homeowners insurance in Texas is $3,969 a year, or about $331 a month, for $350,000 in dwelling coverage, according to ValuePenguin’s Texas page. ValuePenguin’s national rate table puts the Texas average at $3,694 a year for the same coverage with a $1,000 deductible, a difference that reflects different sample dates and quote sets rather than a real price change. Insurance.com’s 2026 analysis, using $300,000 in dwelling coverage, puts the Texas average at $4,582 a year, against a national average of $2,872 a year. A third dataset, TrueRateGuide, puts Texas at $3,890 a year for a $300,000 HO-3 policy, while NerdWallet’s 2026 figures put Texas near $4,915 a year. The honest answer is a range, roughly $3,700 to $4,900 a year for a typical policy, with the exact number depending on the home, the city, and the carrier.
| Source | Texas average per year | Dwelling coverage | National average in same dataset |
|---|---|---|---|
| ValuePenguin, Texas page | $3,969 | $350,000 | Not stated |
| ValuePenguin, national table | $3,694 | $350,000 | $2,151 |
| Insurance.com, 2026 | $4,582 | $300,000 | $2,872 |
| TrueRateGuide, 2026 | $3,890 | $300,000 | $1,915 |
| NerdWallet, 2026 | $4,915 | Standard policy | Not stated |
Do not average those figures. Each dataset uses a different sample home, a different set of carriers, and a different date, and averaging them would produce a number no dataset supports. The useful fact is the range and the ratio: Texas runs about two-thirds above the national average in the ValuePenguin data and about 60 percent above it in the Insurance.com data. A Texas homeowner who is quoted $4,500 a year for a $300,000 policy is being quoted roughly the state average, not an outlier price.
How much is home insurance in Texas by coverage level?
The coverage level moves the premium more than any other single choice. Insurance.com’s 2026 state table prices a Texas policy at $3,294 a year for $200,000 in dwelling coverage, $4,582 a year for $300,000, $5,733 a year for $400,000, $7,858 a year for $600,000, and $11,506 a year for $1 million. ValuePenguin’s Texas page prices the same ladder at $2,519 a year for $200,000, $3,969 a year for $350,000, $5,135 a year for $500,000, and $9,004 a year for $1 million. The two ladders differ by a few hundred dollars at each rung, which is the same dataset spread seen in the averages, but the shape is identical: doubling the dwelling coverage roughly doubles the premium.
| Dwelling coverage | Insurance.com per year | ValuePenguin per year |
|---|---|---|
| $200,000 | $3,294 | $2,519 |
| $300,000 | $4,582 | Not published |
| $350,000 | Not published | $3,969 |
| $400,000 | $5,733 | Not published |
| $500,000 | Not published | $5,135 |
| $600,000 | $7,858 | Not published |
| $1,000,000 | $11,506 | $9,004 |
The dwelling limit should track the cost to rebuild the house, not the price you paid for it and not the market value of the land. A $350,000 house on a $150,000 lot needs about $350,000 in dwelling coverage only if the rebuild cost is $350,000, and in a hot construction market it may be more. Underinsuring to save premium is the most expensive mistake in this guide: after a total loss, the carrier pays the limit, and the gap comes out of your savings. Overinsuring wastes premium every year. Get a rebuild estimate from your insurer or a local contractor and set the limit to that number.
Which Texas cities cost the most, and which cost the least?
Corpus Christi is the most expensive major city for homeowners insurance in Texas, at $5,842 a year, according to ValuePenguin. Houston averages $5,067 a year for $350,000 in dwelling coverage. Waco averages $2,943 a year, which is about 20 percent below the state average. The pattern is coastal and storm exposure: Gulf Coast cities face hurricane and storm surge risk, and their premiums reflect it, while inland cities with lower hail and wind exposure run cheaper. The same house can cost nearly twice as much to insure on the coast as it does in central Texas.
The cheapest carrier in the state is Mercury, at $1,453 a year on ValuePenguin’s Texas page and $1,254 a year in its national cheap-companies table, which is 52 to 76 percent below the Texas state average depending on the home and the coverage. Texas Farm Bureau also prices well below average, with rates 31 to 54 percent cheaper than the state average, though it more than doubled its home insurance rates between 2021 and 2025. State Farm is the cheapest major carrier nationwide at $1,514 a year, and it is the cheapest in 17 states, but Texas is not necessarily one of them. The carrier ranking changes by city, which is why the city matters as much as the state. Our state comparison of homeowners insurance costs in Georgia shows the same pattern in a different state, where storms and roofs drive the price, and our Florida rates by county show how far apart two counties in one state can sit.
Why is Texas home insurance so expensive?
Three perils do most of the damage. Hail is the first: Texas leads the nation in hail claims, and a single hailstorm can produce thousands of roof replacements in one metro area. Hurricanes are the second: the Gulf Coast faces storm surge and wind, and the 2021 winter freeze showed that a third peril, extreme cold, can produce burst pipes across the whole state at once. Insurers price all three, and they price the roof twice: once for the hail risk and once for the age of the roof itself. Our guide to whether homeowners insurance covers roof replacement explains how roof age and storm rules interact, and our guide to how roof age affects rates covers the premium side of the same question.
Construction costs are the other driver. Rebuild costs rose sharply after 2021, and a policy written for a $300,000 rebuild in 2021 may need $400,000 in 2026. Carriers pass that through as higher premiums, and many Texas policies now carry a percentage wind and hail deductible, often 1 or 2 percent of the dwelling limit, instead of a flat $1,000 deductible. A 2 percent deductible on a $350,000 home is $7,000 out of pocket after a hailstorm, which is a different number from the $1,000 most buyers assume. Check the deductible on your declarations page before you assume the policy works the way you think it does.
How to lower a Texas homeowners premium without losing cover
Start with the carrier, because the spread is the widest lever. Mercury’s $1,453 a year against the $3,969 state average is a gap of more than $2,500 a year for the same coverage, and Texas Farm Bureau’s discount is nearly as large. Get quotes from at least five carriers on identical limits, and include the regional carriers that do not advertise nationally. Then look at the roof: a new roof, a hail-resistant roof, and a roof under 10 years old each earn a better rate than an old roof, and some carriers will not write a policy at all on a roof over 20 years old.
Raise the deductible if you can afford it. Moving from a $1,000 deductible to a $2,500 deductible typically cuts the premium by 10 to 20 percent, and the percentage wind and hail deductible is a separate number that deserves its own look. Bundle home and auto with the same carrier for a discount that usually runs 10 to 25 percent. Add monitored smoke alarms, a security system, and storm shutters or impact-resistant windows where the carrier credits them. And check the dwelling limit every renewal: if the rebuild cost fell, the limit should fall with it, and if it rose, the limit should rise before a loss, not after. For a national baseline to compare against, our guide to average homeowners insurance costs in 2026 covers the country as a whole, and the difference between a condo policy and a house policy matters for buyers choosing between the two.
A worked example: the same house in Houston and Waco
Take a $350,000 home with a 10-year-old roof, a $1,000 deductible, and a clean claims history. In Waco, the ValuePenguin average is $2,943 a year, and a Mercury quote could come in near $1,211 a year, the carrier’s Waco average. In Houston, the average is $5,067 a year, and the same Mercury policy would cost materially more than it does in Waco, because the hurricane and flood exposure is higher. The house is the same. The city is the difference, and the gap is more than $2,000 a year.
Now add a 2 percent wind and hail deductible to the Houston policy. On a $350,000 home, that is $7,000 out of pocket after a hailstorm, against a $1,000 flat deductible on the Waco policy. The Houston homeowner pays more premium and more deductible for the same storm. The fix is not to drop the cover but to price it: get the hail-resistant roof credit, raise the flat deductible to $2,500 if the savings justify it, and quote the regional carriers that price Houston more aggressively than the national names. A Texas homeowner who re-quotes every renewal and checks the roof credit every year can realistically cut $1,000 or more off the state average, which is the single biggest saving available in this guide.
Key takeaways
Homeowners insurance in Texas averages roughly $3,700 to $4,900 a year for a typical policy, depending on the dataset, against a national average of about $2,150 to $2,870. Corpus Christi and Houston are the most expensive major cities, Waco is about 20 percent below the state average, and Mercury is the cheapest carrier in the state at roughly $1,250 to $1,450 a year. Hail, hurricanes, and rebuild costs are the drivers, and the percentage wind and hail deductible is the number most buyers miss. Quote five carriers on identical limits, check the roof credit, and re-quote every renewal.
Frequently asked questions
How much is homeowners insurance in Texas per month?
About $308 to $331 a month for a policy with $350,000 in dwelling coverage, based on ValuePenguin’s Texas averages of $3,694 to $3,969 a year. Insurance.com’s figure for $300,000 in coverage works out to about $382 a month. The monthly number depends on the dwelling limit, the city, and the carrier.
What is the cheapest homeowners insurance in Texas?
Mercury is the cheapest in Texas, at $1,453 a year on ValuePenguin’s Texas page and $1,254 a year in its national cheap-companies table, which is 52 to 76 percent below the state average. Texas Farm Bureau is also well below average, with rates 31 to 54 percent cheaper than the state average. The cheapest carrier for your house depends on your city and your roof, so quote both.
Why is homeowners insurance so expensive in Texas?
Hail, hurricanes, and the 2021 winter freeze drive the price, along with rising rebuild costs. Texas rates rose about 57 percent over the last five years, and the state is the fifth most expensive in the country. Gulf Coast cities cost the most: Corpus Christi averages $5,842 a year and Houston $5,067 a year, against $2,943 a year in Waco.
Does homeowners insurance in Texas cover hail damage?
Yes, a standard HO-3 policy covers hail damage to the roof and the structure, subject to the wind and hail deductible, which is often 1 or 2 percent of the dwelling limit rather than a flat $1,000. A 2 percent deductible on a $350,000 home is $7,000 out of pocket. Roof age matters too: an old roof may be covered at depreciated value rather than replacement cost.
How much dwelling coverage do I need in Texas?
Enough to rebuild the house at current construction costs, which is usually close to the market value minus the land value. Insurance.com prices a Texas policy at $3,294 a year for $200,000 in dwelling coverage, $4,582 for $300,000, $5,733 for $400,000, and $11,506 for $1 million. Underinsuring saves premium now and costs far more after a total loss.
Should I raise my deductible to lower my Texas premium?
It usually helps: moving from a $1,000 deductible to $2,500 typically cuts the premium by 10 to 20 percent. Make sure you can afford the higher amount after a loss, and check the separate wind and hail deductible first, since that is the one that applies after the storms Texas actually gets.
