Homeowners Insurance in Gulf Shores, Alabama (2024)

With long, bright summers and mild, sunny winters, the weather in Gulf Shores, Alabama, doesn’t often disappoint. Year-round opportunities for boating, fishing, golfing and enjoying the beach attract many tourists on vacation and snowbirds seasonally.

According to a recent city survey, 92% of residents rated Gulf Shores as an excellent or good place to live. Also, satisfaction with the overall quality of city services is 27% above the U.S. average. 

What may not be so pleasing in Gulf Shores are its homeowners insurance rates. The city’s location on the Gulf of Mexico means it’s very open to hurricane damage, which drives up insurance premiums.

Keep reading to find out the average premiums from many insurance companies in Gulf Shores, their coverages, and the factors that affect rates.

In Gulf Shores, Alabama, homeowners insurance costs about $3,204 per year. Unfortunately, Gulf Shores has some of the highest insurance rates in Alabama.

However, this rate can vary considerably on whether your home has passed a wind mitigation inspection. Houses that have been proven to have effective wind mitigation in Gulf Shores have about 54% lower premiums on average.

We’ve gone in-depth on insurance rates in Gulf Shores. Look at our list of average rates from popular insurance companies in the city to get an idea of what to expect in premiums.

The rates in this article are sourced from the Alabama Department of Insurance, which provides real premiums from several companies in the state. These are average annual premiums for an HO-3 policy, which is the most common type of homeowners insurance plan.

At a glance, you can see that some companies, like Farmers and Safeco, are well above the city average. State Farm and Allstate had the lowest average premiums on our list. 

These averages are a good reference point, but in Gulf Shores, wind mitigation is a critical aspect of your home that influences insurance premiums. Since hurricane damage is such a high possibility on the Gulf Coast, insurance companies reward homeowners who protect their homes from potential storm damage. 

While hurricane damage is highly likely in coastal cities in Alabama, residents also experience extreme weather in the form of tornadoes and other storms. 

Needless to say, having a home protected against the elements is beneficial in more than one way. Let’s look at how home insurance rates in Gulf Shores vary on $150,000 houses with and without wind mitigation.

Premiums on homes without wind mitigation were much higher across the board than premiums on houses with wind mitigation. Farmers had the most drastic difference, with their premiums on homes with wind mitigation a whopping 94% lower. Every carrier’s premiums decreased (except Safeco) by thousands of dollars when accounting for wind mitigation,

On average, Farmers remained one of the most expensive on the list, but they were the most affordable on homes with wind mitigation. This detail is why it’s important to look beyond just the average premiums to get a complete picture of insurance rates in an area.

Another crucial factor in determining premiums is home value. Larger, more costly dwellings will almost always cost more to insure. Expensive houses have higher replacement costs, which raises insurance rates. Look at the premiums in Gulf Shores on $300,000 homes.

We listed some of the most well-known insurance companies in Gulf Shores, but over 20 insurers in total made premium filings with the state government in the city. 

Again, Farmers had the highest average premiums on our list for $300,000 homes, but they had the second-lowest premiums on $300,000 homes with wind mitigation. Allstate, State Farm, and Travelers remained affordable.

The best insurance company for you depends on many variables. You should consider their reputation for handling and filing claims. Maybe one company will offer an endorsement necessary for your home that other providers don’t have, such as water backup coverage or mold damage add-ons.

Insurance agents help with the decision of which provider to choose. Agents work to understand your exact needs and find coverage that’s right for you. They also provide customer service with maintaining your policy and claims help if you need to file one.

The best insurance agents aren’t tied to a single carrier. If you’re looking for coverage in Gulf Shores, we’d love to help. We’re Clovered, an independent insurance agency that partners with several of the top insurance companies in the nation. Our team of agents wants to help you find the coverage you need at the price you want. We can get you multiple quotes at a time, either entirely online or through speaking with a team member.

Home insurance policies in Gulf Shores cover more than just your house. The most common type of home insurance plan, called an HO-3 policy, contains several areas of coverage that can come in handy more often than you might expect. These coverages are:

Dwelling coverage is the part of your policy designed to cover the main structure of your house and its systems. This encompasses your roof, walls, floors, foundation, wiring, septic tank, and more.

As we alluded to earlier, the amount of dwelling coverage you’ll need in your policy is based on the value of your home. Insurers determine home value on either a market value or replacement cost basis.

Other structures coverage is for the features on your property not attached to your main home. These include sheds, fences, detached garages, detached carports, and more.

The amount of other structures coverage you have is usually between 5-10% of your dwelling coverage.

Personal property coverage covers your belongings in and around your property. These include clothes, furniture, electronics, art, jewelry, and more. If your items get stolen or damaged, your insurance company can reimburse you for them.

Also called loss of use coverage, this part of your policy comes into play when your home is rendered uninhabitable by a covered peril. When your insurance company begins to rebuild or repair your place, you’ll need to stay somewhere else. Under additional living expenses, your carrier can reimburse you for a hotel stay, food, gas, and more.

Liability coverage comes to your aid if someone suffers an injury for which you’re found liable. Your insurance company can cover your legal fees and the injured party’s medical bills. Home insurance policies normally come with at least $100,000 in liability coverage.

Medical payments coverage in home insurance plans is like liability coverage, but it’s only for minor injuries. Policies usually come with a few thousand dollars in medical payments.

Naturally, Gulf Shores’ proximity to the ocean leaves it vulnerable to flooding. This matters because home insurance doesn’t cover damage from floods.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) manages and updates countrywide maps that determine flood risks for properties everywhere. Lenders and insurance companies use these flood zone maps. If your house is in a high-risk flood zone, called a special flood hazard area, you must get flood insurance.

In Gulf Shores, for instance, most of the southern coastline of the city along the Gulf of Mexico is a high-risk AE flood zone. Additionally, there are flood zones where Bon Secour Bay winds inland just north of the city limits, and there are flood zones along Portage Creek.

Floods are the most costly natural disaster, and even if your home isn’t in a flood zone, you can still suffer flooding damage from heavy rains and other flash floods. To protect your home from floods sufficiently, you need flood insurance.

In addition to the variables that we’ve mentioned, there are many more things insurers take into consideration when determining premiums. Some of them are:

Despite all the information we’ve presented to you, getting a home insurance quote in Gulf Shores doesn’t have to be complicated. You can use our online quoting tool, which only requires answering a few questions about yourself and your property.

Clovered was built to simplify insurance. We want to help you find coverage. If you’d like to speak to an agent instead of using our proprietary online platform, feel free to call an agent on the phone at 833-255-4117 Monday through Friday during business hours. You can also email us at [email protected].