Why is home insurance in Texas so expensive right now?

Texas has some of the highest home insurance costs in the country — about $3,899 a year for a home with $300,000 in dwelling coverage, roughly 61% above the national average (Bankrate, June 2026). The main drivers are rising rebuild costs, frequent North Texas hail, and more expensive reinsurance. It's a statewide market shift, not anything an individual homeowner did.

My home insurance went up a lot at renewal — is that normal?

Large increases have become common across Texas in recent renewal cycles. In Texas, a carrier must notify you at least 30 days before renewal if your premium is rising by 10% or more. A big jump is a good reason to re-shop the market rather than auto-renew, ideally across several carriers at once.

What should I do if I get a non-renewal notice in Texas?

A non-renewal isn't a cancellation — you're covered until your policy expires. Ask your carrier for the written reason, don't let your coverage lapse, and start shopping other carriers right away. Texas requires 60 days' notice on policies bought or renewed in 2024 or later (30 days for older ones), and an independent agent can re-market your home to multiple carriers before it ends.

How can I lower my home insurance without cutting coverage?

Re-shop the whole market, bundle home and auto (often $300–$800 a year for a Texas household), set your deductible to an amount you could cover out of pocket, insure to rebuild cost rather than market value, and claim credits for a new roof, impact-resistant shingles, or leak and alarm systems. An independent agent can run the market comparison in a single pass.

Should I switch home insurance companies or stay put?

Switch when your renewal is well above the broader market, your carrier's appetite for your area has cooled, or you've been non-renewed. Stay put when your coverage is strong and a cheaper quote would quietly remove protection you'd miss after a loss. Re-shopping tells you which it is — and sometimes the right answer is to stay.

Can an independent agent help after a rate increase or non-renewal?

Yes. An independent agency isn't tied to one company — it shops your home across multiple carriers at once to find the most competitive premium available, which is especially valuable in a hard market or after a non-renewal. Bome Home Insurance Group is an independent Texas agency serving the DFW area and clients statewide.

Texas Homeowners · Independent Agency

Why Your Texas Home Insurance Went Up — and What You Can Actually Do About It

Last updated: June 2026

If your Texas homeowners premium jumped at renewal, you didn't do anything wrong and you're not alone. Texas now has some of the highest home insurance costs in the country — about $3,899 a year for a home with $300,000 in dwelling coverage, roughly 61% above the national average (Bankrate, June 2026). Rates are climbing for reasons mostly outside any one homeowner's control: the cost to rebuild a home has risen sharply, North Texas sits in one of the most active hail corridors in the country, and the reinsurance that backs your carrier has gotten far more expensive. The good news is you have more options than the renewal letter makes it feel like — re-shopping the market, adjusting your deductible, bundling — and several can meaningfully lower what you pay without gutting your protection. Here's what's driving the increases, what to do if you've been non-renewed, and how to bring the cost down.

Why Texas home insurance rates keep climbing

Three forces are doing most of the work, in plain English:

Rebuild cost, not market value. Your policy pays to rebuild your home with today's materials and labor — and both have jumped. Even when your home's resale price dips, the cost to rebuild it usually hasn't, so premiums rise to keep pace.
Hail and severe storms. DFW averages several significant hail events a year. The June 2023 North Texas hailstorms alone drove an estimated $7–10 billion in insured losses, and 2024 through 2026 have each brought damaging hail across Denton and Tarrant counties. Roofs are the most-claimed part of a Texas home, and carriers price that risk in.
Reinsurance. Carriers buy their own insurance — reinsurance — to survive catastrophe years. That cost has risen worldwide, and it flows straight through to your premium.

None of these are about you personally. It's a statewide market shift, which is also why so many Texans have seen rate jumps and non-renewals at the same time, and why enrollment in the Texas FAIR Plan — the state's insurer of last resort — has climbed sharply as carriers tighten their appetite.

"My premium jumped $900 — is that normal?"

Unfortunately, increases of that size have become common across Texas over the last few renewal cycles, and a jump by itself doesn't mean you made a mistake or that your carrier did. One thing worth knowing: under Texas law, if a carrier is raising your premium by 10% or more, it has to notify you at least 30 days before renewal (TDI) — so a big increase shouldn't arrive as a total surprise. What it should be is a trigger to re-shop. A premium that's competitive one year can drift out of line the next as a carrier cools on your ZIP code or your roof's age. That's exactly where an independent agent earns their keep: we can run your home across multiple carriers in one pass and see whether a more competitive premium is available, instead of you calling one company at a time.

What to do if you get a non-renewal notice in Texas

First, breathe — a non-renewal is not a cancellation, and you're still covered until your policy's expiration date. Non-renewal simply means your carrier won't offer you a new policy when this one ends. Your rights in Texas:

Advance notice. If you bought or renewed your policy in 2024 or later, your carrier must give you at least 60 days' notice before expiration; policies from 2023 or earlier fall under the older 30-day rule (TDI). If proper notice isn't given, you may be able to require renewal.
A written reason. On request, your carrier must tell you why — and as of January 1, 2026, Texas law (HB 2067) strengthened that into a right to a specific, plain-language explanation (TDI Bulletin B-0012-25).
Claims protection. Texas limits how non-weather claims can be used against you: if you've filed two non-weather claims, the carrier must warn you you're at risk before a third can be used to non-renew (TDI). Weather claims like hail are treated differently.

What to actually do, in order:

Don't let it lapse. Your coverage runs to the expiration date — keep it active while you shop.
Ask for the reason in writing. Roof age, claims history, or risk scoring are the common ones. Knowing which lets you fix what's fixable.
Re-market right away. This is the heart of what an independent agency does — we have access to multiple carriers and can place your home with one whose appetite still fits, often before your current policy ends. The sooner you start, the more runway you have.
Document improvements. A new roof, updated wiring or plumbing, or a security or water-leak system can change a carrier's answer — bring proof.

How to lower your home insurance without gutting your coverage

You have more levers than most people realize. The honest ones:

Re-shop the whole market. Loyalty rarely gets rewarded in a hard market. Running your home across multiple carriers is the single highest-impact move — and it's exactly what an independent agent does in one pass.
Bundle home and auto. Most carriers reward keeping both with them — typically $300–$800 a year for a Texas household, and it usually tightens coverage gaps too.
Revisit your deductible. Raising your all-peril deductible lowers your premium — just keep it to an amount you could comfortably cover out of pocket. Note that wind/hail deductibles in Texas are often a percentage of your dwelling coverage, not a flat dollar amount, so know what yours is before a storm.
Insure to rebuild cost — not your mortgage or market price. Over-insuring wastes money; under-insuring is worse. The right number is what it would cost to rebuild your home today.
Ask about credits. A new roof, impact-resistant shingles, a monitored alarm, water-leak sensors, and updated systems can all earn discounts that aren't always applied automatically.

What we won't tell you is that we can guarantee a lower number — no honest agent can. What we can do is shop your home across our carriers and show you the most competitive premium available for your situation, then let you decide.

Should you switch or stay put?

Switching makes sense when your renewal jumped well past what the broader market is charging, when your carrier's appetite for your area or roof has clearly cooled, or when you've been non-renewed and simply need a new home for the policy. Staying put can be the right call when your current coverage is genuinely strong, your carrier has paid claims well, and a "cheaper" option would quietly strip protection you'd miss after a loss. The point of re-shopping isn't always to switch — it's to know. Sometimes the answer is a new carrier; sometimes it's better coverage for similar money; sometimes it's confirming you're already in a good spot. An independent agent can run that comparison across multiple carriers in one conversation, so the decision is informed instead of a guess.