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A Rottweiler can cost you twice as much to insure as a Yorkshire Terrier. Same age, same city, same plan. The breed alone explains a gap of $500 or more a year, and if you are shopping for a dog right now, that difference is worth knowing before you fall in love with a puppy.
According to NAPHIA, the average US premium for accident and illness coverage is $62.44 a month for dogs in 2026. But that average blends a healthy two-year-old mutt in Arkansas with a nine-year-old French Bulldog in San Francisco. The moment you enter a breed, the numbers split wide open.
The most expensive breeds, ranked by premium
A widely cited AdvisorSmith survey asked 12 insurers for quotes on a 5-year-old dog with no pre-existing conditions, $10,000 in annual coverage, 70% reimbursement, and a $250 deductible, across 25 large US cities. Here is what came back:
- Rottweiler: $124 a month ($1,489 a year)
- French Bulldog: $111 a month ($1,328 a year)
- Boxer: $103 a month ($1,238 a year)
- Labrador Retriever: $85 a month ($1,022 a year)
- Golden Retriever: $83 a month ($994 a year)
- German Shepherd: $80 a month ($958 a year)
- Pembroke Welsh Corgi: $76 a month ($909 a year)
- Poodle: $75 a month ($899 a year)
- Beagle: $72 a month ($862 a year)
- German Shorthaired Pointer: $69 a month ($827 a year)
- Dachshund: $64 a month ($771 a year)
- Australian Shepherd: $59 a month ($706 a year)
- Yorkshire Terrier: $52 a month ($630 a year)
The gap between the Rottweiler and the Yorkie is $859 a year. That is not a rounding error. It is a second policy’s worth of premium, and it comes entirely from breed risk.
That survey is from 2021, so treat the dollar figures as directional rather than current. Vet costs have risen steadily since, and insurers price that in. But the ranking holds up in newer data too. Insurify’s analysis puts the Mastiff at the very top of the expense list at $2,546 a year, about $212 a month, followed by the Standard Schnauzer at $1,797 a year and the Parson Jack Russell Terrier at $1,610 a year. CoinLaw’s 2026 breed table shows French Bulldogs at $64 to $114 a month, Boxers around $100 to $103, and Rottweilers at $65 to $110.
Why some breeds cost so much more
Insurers are pricing the vet bills they expect to pay. Certain breeds predictably produce expensive claims, and the patterns are well documented.
Brachycephalic breeds like French Bulldogs, English Bulldogs, and Pugs are prone to breathing disorders, spinal issues, and skin conditions. A single airway surgery can run into the thousands. Large and giant breeds like Mastiffs, Great Danes, and Bernese Mountain Dogs face hip dysplasia, bloat, and heart conditions, and everything costs more at scale: anesthesia is dosed by weight, medication doses are larger, and surgery takes longer. Cancer-heavy breeds like Boxers and Golden Retrievers generate expensive oncology claims. We explain the mechanics of breed pricing in more detail here.
Shorter lifespans matter too. A Mastiff typically lives 6 to 10 years, and the breed’s concentrated health problems mean a large share of that life produces claims. Insurers price the expected lifetime cost of the breed into every monthly premium.
The cheapest breeds to insure
Mixed-breed dogs are consistently the cheapest to insure, typically 25 to 60% less than purebreds, because mixed genetics mean fewer predictable hereditary conditions. Smaller mixed breeds are the bargain of the market: less drug, smaller surgical field, fewer joint problems.
Among purebreds, small sturdy breeds tend to sit at the bottom of premium tables. In the AdvisorSmith data, the Yorkshire Terrier was the cheapest of the 15 surveyed breeds at $52 a month, and the Australian Shepherd was not far behind at $59. These are not claim-free dogs, but the claims they generate are usually cheaper to fix.
What you can actually do about breed pricing
You cannot change your dog’s breed, but you can change what breed pricing does to your budget.
First, shop early. A puppy of any breed qualifies for the lowest rates, and enrolling before any condition shows up means nothing gets excluded as pre-existing. Second, compare the deductible and reimbursement trade carefully for expensive breeds. On a breed that is likely to produce a big claim, a lower deductible often pays for itself. Here is how annual vs per-incident deductibles work. Third, if you are choosing between two breeds you like equally, run quotes for both before you commit. A $60-a-month difference is $7,200 over a ten-year dog.
For the broader market picture, see how much pet insurance costs in 2026.
