Homeowners Insurance in Gulf Shores, Alabama (2025)

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.

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 premiums.

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

Homeowners insurance costs about $4,159 per year in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on average, which is more than double the state average. Unfortunately, Gulf Shores has some of the highest insurance rates in Alabama.

One of the primary reasons for the city’s high premiums is its location on the Gulf Coast, which leaves it vulnerable to hurricane damage. Insurers account for the risk of paying out hurricane-related claims by charging higher rates.

These averages are a good reference point, but in Gulf Shores, wind mitigation is a critical aspect of your home that influences insurance premiums. This rate can vary considerably depending on whether your home has passed a wind mitigation inspection. 

Houses that have been proven to have effective wind mitigation in Gulf Shores can have their insurance rates halved. Premiums on homes without wind mitigation are much higher across the board than premiums on houses with wind mitigation. 

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

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.

The best insurance company for you depends on many variables. In addition to seeking out the best prices, you should consider company 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.

State Farm, Allfa, and Allstate are the largest home insurance companies in Alabama, but nearly 150 providers were listed in the state’s annual market share report of writing companies, so there are plenty to choose from. It’s crucial to shop around to find the best rates, customer service, and more.

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 including 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 by 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 agent@clovered.com.