NEW REPORT: Colorado Communities Are Priced Out of Disaster Protection as State’s Affordability Crisis Intensifies
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2026
Contact: contact@insurancefairnessproject.com
NEW REPORT: Colorado Communities Are Priced Out of Disaster Protection as State’s Affordability Crisis Intensifies
Today, the Insurance Fairness Project released a new report on Colorado’s home insurance crisis, showing how rapidly rising Colorado insurance costs are outpacing national trends, putting pressure on household budgets, and pricing some homeowners out of protection entirely.
Once considered a relatively affordable market, Colorado now ranks among the most expensive states for homeowners insurance. The report outlines the key cost drivers, market dynamics, and risk factors shaping Colorado’s home insurance landscape, and how they compare to national trends.
Some key findings from the report:
Coloradans now spend about 4.6% of their income on homeowners insurance, underscoring how coverage is consuming a big chunk of household budgets in an already expensive housing market.
As of 2026, Colorado is ranked as the 8th most expensive state for home insurance and rates have more than doubled between 2020 and 2025.
Colorado homeowners now pay an average $3,412 per year (about $284/month) for a standard policy covering a $300k home dwelling coverage. This is well above the national average of $2,424 per year (about $202/month).
Colorado’s uninsured rate (9.7%) is lower than the national rate of around 13.6%, but it is growing amid the state's escalating wildfire, hail and severe weather risks.
Those with poor credit scores in Colorado can pay much higher premiums (around $6,570/year), about 57% more than good-credit homeowners.
“Colorado families are being priced out of the very protection they need to survive the next wildfire or hailstorm,” said Nova Dugan-Mezensky, a spokesperson for the Insurance Fairness Project and a Colorado resident. “When premiums double in just five years and now consume nearly 5% of a household’s income, that’s a warning sign. If this trend continues, more families will be forced to go without coverage, and entire communities will be left more financially vulnerable after disasters.”
When families go underinsured or uninsured, they find it difficult or impossible to recover after an extreme weather event hits.
“Starting over from scratch after a disaster is overwhelming. The insurance process alone was retraumatizing. I was underinsured, asked to inventory everything I lost when I couldn’t even emotionally access it. My family was scattered. My son lost his friends. I had just gone through a divorce. It was loss on top of loss,” said Ainsley, a survivor of the Marshall Fire, interviewed by Extreme Weather Survivors.
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The Insurance Fairness Project is an information hub dedicated to offering insights into the home insurance crisis, exploring its drivers and highlighting solutions alongside issue experts and community advocates.
