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Family coverage through an employer cost an average of $26,993 in 2025, according to KFF’s Employer Health Benefits Survey. Workers paid $6,850 of that out of their paychecks, about 26% of the total. Employers paid the remaining $20,143. For single coverage the total was $9,325, and workers paid $1,440 of it, about 16%.
That split is the number to understand before open enrollment at work. Your paycheck deduction is not the price of the plan. It is your share of the price, and the share for family coverage is much larger than the share for covering yourself alone, in dollars and usually in percentage terms too.
Why the family share jumps
Covering one worker cost an employer about $9,325 in total. Covering that worker’s family cost about $26,993, close to three times as much. Employers typically cover a generous share of the employee’s own premium and a smaller share of the added cost for dependents. So the step from single to family coverage lands mostly on the worker. The average worker contribution of $6,850 a year works out to about $571 a month out of pay, before a single copay or deductible dollar. KFF also found the average general deductible for single coverage was $1,886 in 2025 among workers whose plan had one, so the premium share is only the first layer of cost.
Premiums rose 6% in 2025 for family coverage, after rising 7% in each of the two prior years. KFF notes the five-year increase in family premiums, 26%, roughly tracks inflation and wage growth over the same period, which is another way of saying the paycheck bite is not shrinking. Large employers in the survey pointed to prescription drug prices, hospital prices, and chronic disease care as the main forces pushing premiums up.
The comparison workers rarely run
If both spouses have access to employer coverage, run the numbers on splitting the family. One common pattern: each spouse takes single coverage through their own job, and the children go on whichever plan prices dependent coverage more reasonably. Another: one spouse takes the family plan while the other declines coverage entirely, which is worth checking whenever one employer subsidizes family coverage more heavily. A working spouse surcharge, where an employer charges extra when your spouse could have taken their own employer’s plan, can flip the answer, so read the enrollment materials for that line item.
Also compare against the marketplace with clear eyes. A worker whose employer offers coverage that meets the ACA affordability standard generally cannot claim premium tax credits for a marketplace plan, even if the family premium at work feels expensive. The affordability test is based on the employee’s share for self-only coverage, not the family price. The family glitch fix changed the rules for spouses and kids: family members are now judged on the cost of family coverage, so your dependents may qualify for subsidized marketplace coverage even when you do not. Our explainer on the family glitch fix walks through how that works, and our family health insurance budget guide helps you total premiums, deductibles, and routine care into one annual number.
What to check on your own offer
Pull three figures from your enrollment packet: your monthly contribution for family coverage, the deductible for the family tier, and whether your employer contributes to an HSA or HRA attached to the plan. Two offers with the same paycheck deduction can differ by thousands once the deductible and an employer HSA contribution are counted. For 2026, an HSA-qualifying plan must have a deductible of at least $1,700 for self-only and $3,400 for family coverage, and the family HSA contribution limit is $8,750. An employer seeding that account with $2,000 is quietly cutting your real cost by that amount.
If the family number at work is painful, you have more options than accepting it or going uninsured: split coverage between two employers, check the kids’ eligibility for subsidized marketplace plans or CHIP, and compare your spouse’s family tier. Start with the total annual cost of each combination, premiums plus likely deductible spending, and let that total decide.
