Covering Home Insurance

Across the nation, homeowners are facing soaring insurance costs — or the loss of coverage altogether — as extreme weather becomes more frequent and intense due to climate change.

After a record 28 weather and climate disasters that cost $1 billion or more throughout the US in 2023, insurers lost money on homeowners coverage in more than a third of the country . In response, major insurance firms pulled out of states in 2024, citing “an increased lack of profitability.”

This issue, highlighted during the presidential debate earlier this month, comes as climate change–driven disasters are on the rise. From more intense hurricanes in the Southeast, destructive wildfires out West, and more frequent destructive hail and extreme wind events in the Midwest, some parts of the US are now “essentially uninsurable. ”

Stories We Like

• After highlighting a Virginia Beach homeowner who lost coverage, WTKR follows up on his long journey to finding insurance in an area facing more flooding due to climate change.
• As the home insurance market collapses across the US, WWNO/WRKF’s podcast ‘Sea Change’ explores ground zero for this climate-driven crisis: Florida.
• In Colorado, CBS News speaks to a community whose insurance premium have tripled as climate change fuels more severe wildfires, wind, and hail storms in the state.
• Louisiana’s “business-friendly” answer to this issue? Repealing laws which protected homeowners from rate hikes and coverage cancellation. Floodlight news investigates.
• In Florida, where home insurance costs upwards to $4,000 annually, WFTS highlights a discussion among lawmakers and residents to curtail rising insurance costs.
• In the aftermath of severe storms that devastated homes in Wisconsin, WSAV emphasizes how climate change is impacting what insurance companies cover.

Key Facts and Visuals

• Explore how your area’s rising insurance costs compare to the rest of the nation with the New York Times interactive map based on data from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
• Dive into the data behind the “billion dollar disasters” found in the latest Congressional Budget Office report .
• See how home insurance policy rates have changed in data highlighted by the Bipartisan Policy Center .
• The New York–based nonprofit First Street, which reports on climate risks, recently found that insurance rates on a quarter of all homes in the US are currently underpriced and likely to rise.

Before We Go…

The next Locally Sourced will highlight flooding. Reported stories about flooding and climate change? Send them to us at local[at]coveringclimatenow[dot]org. We’d love to consider them for the next edition of Locally Sourced and our media trainings and social platforms.

Want more tips on how to localize the climate story? Check out CCNow’s recent webinar, “Telling the Climate Story Locally .”

The Climate Station is a free-of-cost training program from Covering Climate Now that equips local TV station newsrooms in the United States, including journalists, producers, and meteorologists, to cover climate news more effectively. For inquiries, please email Elena González at elena[at]coveringclimatenow[dot]org.

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