Homeowners Insurance in Tampa, Florida (2024)

With beautiful white-sand beaches just a short drive from the city center, numerous professional sports teams making waves in their leagues and so much more, it’s easy to see why Tampa is the largest city on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Like every other Florida city, Tampa faces the same destructive perils as every other city in the state, including hurricanes, tornadoes, water damage and countless other unexpected and unpredictable perils.

Those new residents flocking to the city in droves must invest in Tampa homeowners insurance to protect their biggest investments from all those perils and more to get their fair share of sunshine, palm trees and clear Bay waters.

Let’s take a look at what homeowners insurance in Tampa covers, how much it is and other important factors you’ll need to make a decision on your next insurer.

For a $150,000 house, the average homeowners insurance cost in Tampa, Florida is $3,610 per year from the state’s top insurers. However, Tampa’s real estate market is toward the upper end of the spectrum, so the average homeowners insurance cost in Tampa, Florida for a $300,000 home is $6,541 per year and $9,379 per year for a $450,000 home.

Florida is known for having some of the most expensive homeowners insurance in the country. Tampa keeps with that trend, and even exceeds it a bit, with average costs tipping the scale well over the state’s average for $300,000 homes.

Let’s take a look at a breakdown of average costs of homeowners insurance in Tampa so you can get a better idea of which companies are providing the best rates in your area.

The premiums displayed in this article were obtained by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation. They represent the most recent rate filings from the state’s largest insurers and can be utilized as an average of what Floridians can expect to pay for homeowners insurance each year. The example premiums are based on a policy for a Florida masonry home with a $500 non-hurricane deductible, a 2% hurricane deductible and no claims in the past three years.

One major determinant of your premiums is how your home stands up to hurricane-force winds. Florida homeowners who have wind mitigation features on their homes will often see considerably lower premiums than those without preventative measures.

Let’s check out the factors insurers use when accounting for wind mitigation in their premium consideration.

Now, let’s see some numbers that reflect these considerations. First, we’ll look at the average premiums on houses valued at $150,000. 

The average cost of home insurance in Tampa is a bit above the national average and so is the city’s housing market. But you may be hard-pressed to find a house inside the city limits for $150,000, so we’ve broken down the average costs for a $300,000 house and a $450,000 house, which are closer to the going rate in Tampa.

In May 2024, the average home sale price in Tampa was about $263,000. So, many residents can expect to pay premiums between those shown for $150,000 homes and $300,000 homes. 

Part of the reason for expensive homeowners insurance in Tampa is due to its location on the Gulf and the atmosphere that comes along with it. Not only is Tampa one of the most hurricane-prone areas in Florida, but it’s also widely known as the lightning capital of the world.

Lightning is the culprit of many house fires in the area, but there are a few ways you can protect your house against damage from lightning, including fires. But many other factors have a direct and indirect correlation to the cost of homeowners insurance in Tampa.

Even though the aforementioned items factor into your home insurance premiums, they have a relatively small impact compared to your policy’s maximum coverage limits and overall deductible amounts.

Since Tampa is prone to hurricanes, which are covered by homeowners insurance, homeowners in Tampa must have a hurricane deductible on their homeowners policy. Instead of a set dollar amount like a normal deductible, a hurricane deductible is a set percentage of your policy’s dwelling coverage.

So homeowners with a $300,000 house and a 5% hurricane deductible must pay $15,000 toward damages for a hurricane claim before insurance steps in to pick up the policy’s maximum coverages. The lower your hurricane deductible, the less you must pay if your home sustains hurricane damage, but the more your monthly premiums will cost.

We’ve talked about hurricane deductibles, how they work and how they impact your homeowners premium, but let’s get to the exact coverages you have in your Tampa homeowners insurance policy.

Dwelling coverage, or Coverage A, helps you protect the elements that make up the structure of your home from damage caused by a covered peril. This may include your walls, foundation, flooring, fireplace, and much more.

Other structures coverage, or Coverage B, covers the components of your property that aren’t attached to your main home from damage caused by a covered peril. This may include structures like a detached garage, shed, carport, fence, or even a pool.

Personal property coverage, or Coverage C, covers all the items you store on your property should they sustain damage caused by a covered peril. This may include things like your favorite reclining chair, your lawnmower, the fancy pizza oven you got for your birthday, and much more. 

Loss of use coverage, or Coverage D, helps you pay for expenses you may incur if your home becomes uninhabitable due to a covered peril. It may help you pay for things like gas, groceries, or even temporary housing.

Personal liability coverage, or Coverage E, may help you if you’re considered liable for a guest’s injuries on your property or for damage to someone else’s property. You may be able to use this coverage for medical expenses or legal fees.

Medical payments coverage, or Coverage F, can be used to cover a guest’s medical expenses should they suffer a minor injury on your property, like a broken arm or a cut that required stitches from an overly ambitious tree-climbing competition.

It’s also worth noting that the coverage type you choose on your dwelling and personal property coverage will have an effect on your premiums.

For dwelling coverage, you can choose between market value coverage or replacement cost coverage. The former covers just your home’s value and the latter covers the cost to repair or rebuild your home if it were damaged by a covered peril.

Personal property coverage comes in the form of actual cash value or replacement cost coverage. The former takes depreciation into account and the latter reimburses you for the amount you initially paid. It’s always more expensive to replace items for the purchase cost, so replacement cost coverage will increase your premiums.

The best home insurance companies in Tampa in terms of average premium costs are Citizens Property Insurance and Tower Hill. At Clovered, we partner with Citizens and many other insurers so we can bring our customers the best homeowners insurance policies at the best prices in Tampa.

While Tower Hill operates like the insurers you’re used to, Citizens Insurance is a bit different, as it’s a government-backed, non-profit insurer. Citizens is typically used as a last resort for homeowners who can’t afford the premiums available on the standard market. While generally touted as an affordable option, recent changes from the company’s board of governors may result in a 14% rate increase for policyholders in the coming months.

With Clovered’s easy-to-use online quoting tool, getting a Tampa home insurance quote is easier than ever! Simply input a few details about your home, answer a couple of questions and let our intuitive platform do the rest.

Since we partner with multiple insurers in the Tampa area, we always have the best policies at the best prices, so you can find a policy that fits your needs — and your budget. Once you’re finished with the quoting process, which only takes a few minutes, our quoting tool will find a few policies that fit your needs and suggest them.