Homeowners insurance in Illinois

Homeowners insurance is essential financial protection for Illinois residents, covering your home and personal property from everything from break-ins and theft to that unpredictable Midwestern weather. Most mortgage lenders will also require homeowners insurance throughout the duration of your mortgage term.

While the statewide average cost of homeowners insurance in Illinois is $1,773, bear in mind the cost of coverage will vary depending on your home type, location, claims history, and your policy deductible amount. Home insurance rates will also vary from company to company — the amount you’re quoted for a specific level of coverage might be vastly different from company A to company B. For that reason, it’s important to compare policies and rates from several insurance companies in the Prairie State.

To help simplify your shopping experience, Policygenius reviewed the five best homeowners insurance companies in Illinois offered through our website and calculated the state’s cheapest and most expensive cities for home insurance based on hundreds of submitted quotes.

Compare Illinois quotes here

In this article:

• The 5 best homeowners insurance companies in Illinois
• Average cost of homeowners insurance in Illinois by company
• Average cost of home insurance in Illinois by coverage amount
• Average cost of home insurance in Illinois
• Guide to homeowners insurance in Illinois

The 5 best homeowners insurance companies in Illinois

Before deciding on a homeowners insurance policy, it’s a good idea to do some background research on the company that will be insuring your home and assets. A great homeowners insurance company will have solid financial ratings, reliable customer service, affordable coverage, multiple policy options, and availability of discounts. Using that criteria, we determined the following five companies were the best homeowners insurance companies in Illinois. Read about our methodology here.

Best company for superior coverage: Hippo

From a coverage standpoint, few Illinois home insurance companies excel quite like Hippo. Hippo homeowners insurance includes all of the primary coverages you find in a standard home insurance policy: dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, personal liability, and medical payments coverage; as well as several coverage enhancements — like equipment breakdown coverage, service line coverage, water backup coverage, and computer coverage — that you usually have to add as an endorsement to your policy with most other companies. Hippo also has two additional tiers of coverage if you’re looking for higher coverage limits for your home office or personal liability.

Read our full review of Hippo here

Best company for policy discounts: Nationwide

In terms of cost-saving options, Nationwide bests most Illinois home insurance companies with its wide array of discounts. Enjoy a generous multi-policy discount if you bundle your home insurance policy with auto or another type of property insurance offered by Nationwide. Nationwide also offers discounts for securing and strengthening your home and roof from break-ins and bad weather. If you haven’t filed a claim in three years or if you recently purchased your home, that can also land you a reduced rate with Nationwide.

Read our full review of Nationwide here

Best financial ratings: Travelers

One important indicator of an insurance company’s ability to pay out claims in an effective and timely manner is their financial stability, and Travelers is among the highest-rated insurers in that area. With an A++ rating with A.M. Best, Travelers has the highest score a company can receive with the insurance company credit rating agency. Travelers also has high marks with Standard & Poors, which measures long-term financial stability, as well as Moody’s, which measures what the expected losses would be if a company were to go into default.

Read our full review of Travelers here

Best company for a cheap quote: Stillwater

Stillwater is one of the highest rated and most dependable companies we’ve reviewed, and it's also one of the most affordable. The average Illinois insurance quote with Stillwater is $1,523 for $100,000–500,000 in coverage, a couple hundred dollars cheaper than the statewide average of $1,773 for that coverage amount. Stillwater — along with Plymouth Rock, Travelers, and Hippo — is a go-to insurer if you’re an Illinois resident looking to save money on homeowners insurance.

Read our full review of Stillwater here

Best replacement cost policy: Safeco

If you’re looking for the best replacement cost coverage options for the structure of your home, Illinois homeowners should look no further than Safeco. The reputable insurer has four tiers of coverage, and all include the option for extended replacement cost, a policy add-on that increases your home’s coverage limits an additional 25% or 50% if rebuild costs exceed your dwelling coverage limit of liability. Safeco’s “Premier Plan”, its highest level of coverage, includes guaranteed replacement cost, which pays for a rebuild of your home regardless of the price. Homeowners in tornado-prone areas of western Illinois may want to consider this supplemental coverage.

Read our full review of Safeco here

Average cost of homeowners insurance in Illinois by company

When comparing insurance companies, Illinois residents may find that rates differ greatly from company to company for the same level of coverage. There are a couple reasons for this: The more expensive policy may provide more coverage add-ons in a basic plan than their competitors, or some companies may simply charge more for coverage in certain areas depending on their risk appetite.

After reviewing hundreds of quotes submitted with Policygenius, we found that Plymouth Rock is the cheapest insurance company in Illinois with a $1,344 average annual premium for $100,000–500,000 in coverage. MetLife is the most expensive with a $2,311 average annual premium.

Average cost of home insurance in Illinois by coverage amount

The average cost of homeowners insurance in Illinois will also differ considerably based on the amount of insurance you have for your home. Below is the average homeowners insurance quote for five different levels of coverage.

Average cost of home insurance in Illinois by city

Insurance companies will also price policies differently based on where you live. We found the city of Bolingbrook, Illinois to have the highest rate with a $3,175 average annual premium for $100,000–500,000 in coverage. The cheapest area on average is Bartlett with a $576 average annual premium.

We selected the 20 largest cities in Illinois by population where customers have submitted quotes with Policygenius. Quotes are based on a coverage amount between $100,000 and 500,000.

The cheapest cities for homeowners insurance in Illinois

The most expensive cities for homeowners insurance in Illinois

Guide to homeowners insurance in Illinois

Common causes of home insurance loss in Illinois

Illinois ranks fairly high nationally in terms of the number of tornadoes and related injuries, deaths, and property damage. Illinois averaged 54 tornadoes annually from 1991–2010, the 6th most in the country, by far the most in the Midwest and a higher annual average than tornado-prone states like Missouri and Alabama. Western Illinois sits right on the edge of Tornado Alley, so if you own a home in this part of the state, you’ll want to be sure your home is fully insured up to its rebuild cost. If your insurance company offers you the option of extended replacement cost dwelling coverage, you should consider this valuable coverage add-on in the event your home and community suffers catastrophic twister damage and rebuild costs skyrocket.

Does homeowners insurance cover flooding in Illinois?

Homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage in Illinois or anywhere else in the country. Illinois residents, especially those in communities on the Illinois River, should consider flood insurance to protect their home and personal belongings from flood-related damage. Flood insurance can typically be purchased through the same company that insures your home. Most flood policies are sold by private companies but serviced by the federal government via the National Flood Insurance Program. An NFIP flood policy can cover up to $250,000 for the structure of your home and up to $100,000 for personal belongings.

Illinois Department of Insurance

The Illinois Department of Insurance provides valuable resources for both first-time Illinois homeowners purchasing coverage for the first time and those who already have insurance but have questions related to their coverage or would like to file a complaint.

What if I can’t get homeowners insurance?

Homeowners insurance companies can cancel your insurance for a number of reasons — maybe you filed too many claims in a short period of time, maybe the insurance company no longer offers coverage where you live, or maybe they determined your home was too risky to insure after a recent inspection. If you’re struggling to find coverage, you can get last-resort coverage via an Illinois Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan. The Illinois FAIR Plan is a not-for-profit insurance association that provides basic coverage for Illinois Residents that are unable to get home insurance on the open market. To qualify for a FAIR Plan, you need to demonstrate that you’ve had at least three unsuccessful attempts to buy insurance from other companies.