Best homeowners insurance in New Jersey 2024
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BLUEPRINT
Updated 5:06 a.m. UTC July 1, 2024
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Selective Insurance has the best homeowners insurance in New Jersey in 2024, based on its below-average home insurance rates and low level of consumer complaints to state insurance departments. Progressive also gets 5 stars in our evaluation of rates and consumer complaints.
The best homeowners insurance in New Jersey
- Selective Insurance: Best home insurance in New Jersey.
- Progressive: Excellent for affordable home insurance.
- State Farm: Best for home and auto bundling.
- USAA: Best home insurance for military community.
- Chubb: Best home insurance for customer satisfaction.
Why trust our homeowners insurance experts
Our team of home insurance experts has decades of experience as licensed property and casualty experts, insurance editors and consumers. We approach home insurance analysis as if we were shopping for ourselves or our family members, focusing on rates, coverage upgrades and consumer complaints.
Using a data-driven methodology, we evaluate hundreds of home insurance products, analyze thousands of data points and rate each insurer to help you find the best home insurance product for your situation. Advertisers never influence our editorial content. You can read more about our methodology below.
- 72 New Jersey home insurance rates reviewed.
- 18 New Jersey home insurance companies evaluated.
- 5 levels of fact-checking.
Top-rated homeowners insurance in New Jersey
Cheapest homeowners insurance companies in New Jersey
Based on our analysis of rates, the cheapest homeowners insurance company in New Jersey is Selective Insurance.
Here’s the average cost of homeowners insurance in New Jersey by company, for a policy with a $350,000 dwelling coverage limit.
| COMPANY | AVERAGE ANNUAL RATE | AVERAGE MONTHLY RATE | LEARN MORE | |||||
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 Selective Insurance | $483 | $40 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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| $513 | $43 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | ||||||
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 NJM | $565 | $47 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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 Cumberland | $596 | $50 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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 Preferred Mutual | $701 | $58 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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 Franklin Mutual | $770 | $64 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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 Tower Group | $773 | $64 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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| $784 | $65 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | ||||||
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| $878 | $73 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | ||||||
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 Philadelphia Contribution | $884 | $74 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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| $885 | $74 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | ||||||
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 Narragansett Bay | $909 | $76 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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 Kingstone | $982 | $82 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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 Hanover | $1,341 | $112 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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 Foremost | $1,573 | $131 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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 Palisades | $1,584 | $132 | Compare Rates Compare rates offered by participating partners | |||||
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How much does homeowners insurance cost in New Jersey?
A home insurance policy in New Jersey with $350,000 in dwelling coverage costs an average of $968 per year. How much you pay will depend on factors such as:
- Build materials of your house.
- The age of your house and roof.
- The deductible you choose.
- Your claims history.
- Your ZIP code.
How much dwelling coverage you buy will greatly affect how much you’ll pay for home insurance in New Jersey. You should get enough dwelling coverage to cover the full cost of rebuilding your house back to its prior condition after a covered disaster, like a house fire.
Confused by coverage limits? How much home insurance coverage you need
Home insurance in New Jersey compared to other states
Here’s how much home insurance costs across the U.S. for a policy with $350,000 in dwelling coverage.
Tips for buying home insurance in New Jersey
When considering insurers, these tips can help you get the best home insurance in New Jersey at a reasonable price.
- Check financial strength ratings. Your policy is only as good as your insurer’s ability to reimburse you when you file a claim. See what the major credit rating agencies say about the carrier’s financial strength. Some home insurance companies in New Jersey make our rating of the best home insurance companies, where financial strength is factored in the rating.
- Get competing quotes. Compare home insurance quotes from multiple home insurance companies in New Jersey to see how much coverage you can get for a price you’re comfortable paying. Ask each insurer for the same amount of coverage and deductible so you can make accurate comparisons.
- Ask about add-on coverage. For an additional cost, insurers typically offer coverage against certain excluded problems, such as sewer and sump pump backup. They’ll also provide higher single-item limits for valuables like jewelry and antiques. Extended replacement cost coverage is another valuable addition that increases your claim payment if it costs more than expected to rebuild your home.
How to save on homeowners insurance in New Jersey
As a New Jersey homeowner, you have several options for saving money on your home insurance rates.
New Jersey home insurance discounts
Homeowners insurance companies in New Jersey offer all kinds of discounts for taking steps to protect your house against damage to reduce your chances of needing to file a claim. Here are some discounts offered by many home insurance companies in New Jersey.
- Backup power: Having a whole-house generator that can keep your home powered during an outage may lower your rates. Being able to keep the lights on and the furnace running can prevent damage from theft and freezing pipes.
- Impact-resistant windows and storm shutters: These upgrades can be costly, especially on a larger home, but they can fortify it against hurricane-force winds and may earn you some insurance savings.
- Loyalty: Earn a discount for staying with the same company from year to year.
- Mature homeowner: If you’re at least 55 years old, you may qualify for some savings.
- Multi-policy: If you bundle your home and auto insurance with the same company, you may be able to lower your premiums.
- New home: Your home may qualify for a discount if it was built in the last decade or so.
- Nonsmoker: Since smoking can increase the risk of a fire starting in your home, you may enjoy a discount if you don’t smoke.
- Protective device: Burglar and fire alarms, especially ones that report to a local or central police or fire station, can reduce your premiums. So can indoor sprinklers, deadbolts and leak-detection devices.
Raise your deductible
Your deductible is the amount subtracted from your claim payout. The higher your deductible, the less likely you are to file a claim, so raising your deductible from $1,000 to $2,000 could lower your premiums. However, that means you’ll get a lower payout in the event of a claim.
Common natural disasters in New Jersey
Natural disasters can be a nightmare for homeowners, especially those who are underinsured. Knowing what risks you face can help you better prepare for and insure against them.
Floods and mudflows
Floods pose a major threat to your property. Heavy rains can happen anywhere, and when they do, they can overwhelm storm drains and other infrastructure, leading to floods and mudflows even in places that don’t normally experience them.
Many parts of New Jersey are at risk of flood damage. You can purchase flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), a FEMA-backed organization, or buy private flood insurance, to insure this risk.
Hurricanes and storms
Hurricanes can damage and destroy houses through high winds, as well as storm surges and intense rains that cause flooding. Recent examples include hurricanes Sandy and Ida.
Your homeowners insurance does cover wind damage, but you may have a separate and higher deductible for hurricane claims.
Nor’easters
Nor’easters bring wind, rain, snow and large waves, most often from September through April. These slow-moving storms can be as damaging as hurricanes. Blizzards and heavy snowstorms can damage roofs, trees and powerlines with the weight of snow and ice.
Earthquakes
New Jersey isn’t especially prone to earthquakes, though the northeastern part of the state has higher seismic activity than the rest of the state. Since homeowners insurance doesn’t cover earth movement, you’ll want to consider earthquake insurance if you’re concerned about your risk.
Home insurance coverage considerations in New Jersey
When purchasing your home insurance policy, here are some things you may want to ask your agent or broker about.
- Hurricane deductible. If you live in a coastal area, you may have a separate hurricane deductible for any hurricane-related claims. This deductible may be a percentage of your coverage rather than a dollar amount. It may also be higher than your usual home insurance deductible.
- Underground oil tanks. Many of New Jersey’s older houses have steel heating oil tanks buried on the property. These tanks can leak and cause environmental contamination costing tens of thousands of dollars to remediate. Some insurers may refuse to write policies on properties that have these tanks. Others may add a surcharge. Find out whether your policy includes or offers oil tank pollution liability coverage and what the coverage limit is.
- Extended or guaranteed replacement cost coverage. When there’s a natural disaster, the demand for construction and rebuilding can go up, and prices can surge. To make sure you have enough coverage if this happens, ask about these optional coverage upgrades. Extended replacement cost will increase your dwelling coverage limit by 10% to 50%. Guaranteed replacement cost ensures your house will be rebuilt regardless of coverage limits.
- Flood insurance. Since homeowners insurance doesn’t cover flooding, purchasing flood insurance from the NFIP or a private carrier can be a smart move. Your mortgage servicer may also require it.
- Umbrella insurance. You may want higher personal liability coverage to protect your assets in case of a lawsuit. Umbrella insurance provides this coverage, usually in million-dollar increments and at very affordable rates.
Methodology
Our insurance experts evaluated 18 insurers to determine the best homeowners insurance companies in New Jersey based on the availability of new policies and reinsurance, average home insurance rates for New Jersey homeowners and consumer complaints against each company using the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Complaint Index. Each category was assigned a different weight, adding to a score of 100.
- Rates: 75 points. Our home insurance experts analyzed home insurance rates from Quadrant Information Services. The average rates are based on policies with dwelling coverage of $200,000, $350,000, $500,000 and $750,000. The homeowner profile was a 40-year-old female with a good credit score and no claims history.
- Personal property coverage: 50% of dwelling coverage limit.
- Other structures coverage: 10% of dwelling coverage limit.
- Loss of use coverage: 10% of dwelling coverage limit.
- $500 deductible.
- Liability insurance: $100,000.
- Medical payments coverage: $1,000.
- Consumer complaints: 25 points. We collected complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), which shows the volume of home insurance consumer complaints against each company to state insurance departments.
Best homeowners insurance in New Jersey FAQs
If your homeowners insurance company sends you a cancelation or nonrenewal notice, you will need to act quickly to find coverage through another company.
Within 60 days of issuing a policy, the insurer can cancel it for any reason not prohibited by law. Cancellation can be effective in as few as 10 days once the insurer mails the cancelation notice.
New Jersey law requires insurers to give consumers at least 30 days’ notice for nonrenewal. Nonrenewal can only happen on your policy’s regular expiration date and is based on a business decision by the insurer to stop offering coverage to a group of policyholders.
New Jersey does not require you to carry homeowners insurance. If you don’t own your house free and clear of a mortgage, though, your loan servicer will require it. It can also require you to carry flood insurance if federal flood maps place your home in a high-risk flood zone. Your limits for both policies will need to be high enough to pay to completely rebuild your home.
Home insurance in New Jersey costs an average of $968 per year for a home insurance policy with a $350,000 coverage limit. How much you’ll pay for homeowners insurance in New Jersey depends on a variety of factors, such as:
- Building materials.
- The age of your house.
- The age of your roof.
- Your claims history.
- Your ZIP code.
According to our analysis of rates and customer complaints, Selective Insurance offers the best homeowners insurance in New Jersey. Progressive also scores five out of five stars in our rating of the best home insurance companies in NJ.
No, state law in New Jersey does not require any special homeowners insurance coverage. However, if you live in an area that’s high risk for flooding, your mortgage lender may require you to purchase flood insurance.
No, New Jersey does not require you to purchase flood insurance by law, but your mortgage lender might. Home insurance doesn’t cover flood damage, so if you want to financially protect your property in the event of flooding in New Jersey, you’ll need flood insurance.
No, wind insurance isn’t required by law in New Jersey. However, depending on your insurer and where your house is located, a hurricane deductible may be applied to your claim. In New Jersey, hurricane deductibles are triggered when the National Weather Service determines there are sustained winds of 74 mph or up. Hurricane deductibles are typically set at a percentage of your dwelling coverage limit, usually between 1% and 5%.
Live in a high-risk area? What you need to know about hurricane insurance
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