Best Cheap Homeowners Insurance in Illinois

Illinois is the sixth-most populous state in America and the most populous in the Midwest. Although defined by the hub that is Chicago, over one-third of the state’s residents live outside of the Chicagoland metropolitan area.

No matter where you live in Illinois, you need homeowners insurance to protect your property.

Key Takeaways:

The average cost of homeowners insurance in Illinois is about $2,501 per year for $300,000 of dwelling coverage. Homeowner insurance costs vary from state to state, neighborhood to neighborhood, and even house to house. 

It’s difficult to give one overall average rate for homeowners insurance. Instead, we gave averages based on your dwelling cost, which is roughly the replacement cost of your home. Below are the average homeowners insurance rates in Illinois for different levels of dwelling coverage.

While homeowners insurance premiums are largely based on how much dwelling coverage you have, you’ll probably want to know what does home insurance cover in Illinois besides your dwelling. No matter what company you get your plan from, your policy will contain these six areas of coverage:

Coverage A: Dwelling — Dwelling coverage financially safeguards the physical structure of your house. This includes the structural components of your roof, walls, windows, balconies, pipes, air conditioner, wiring, and more. 

Coverage B: Other Structures — Other structures coverage covers features on your property that aren’t attached to your main dwelling. This includes fences, sheds, gazebos, decks, and detached garages, if applicable. The average homeowners insurance in Illinois will contain an other structures limit of 10% of your dwelling coverage.

Coverage C: Personal Property — Personal property coverage protects your belongings in and around your property. This includes furniture, clothes, small appliances, electronics, art, and more. If your items get stolen or damaged from a covered peril, your insurer will reimburse you through personal property coverage.

Coverage D: Loss of Use — Loss of use coverage is a part of your policy that covers expenses if you’re forced to move out of your home if it suffers damage that makes it uninhabitable. While your insurance company works on repairing or rebuilding your house, they can cover your food, gas, lodging, and more through loss of use coverage.

Coverage E: Personal Liability — Personal liability coverage protects your finances in case someone suffers an injury you’re found liable for. For example, you could be liable if a visitor slips by your pool or your dog bites them. If an injured guest tries to sue you for damages, liability coverage can cover their medical expenses and your legal fees.

Coverage F: Medical Payments — Medical payments coverage is like liability coverage on a smaller scale. Liability coverage will come into play for major injuries, while medical payments coverage is designed for minor injuries only.

The best policy for your needs will have all these coverages at a price that works for you. You need the right type of homeowners insurance for your dwelling, which is likely an HO-3 policy. Then, you need to select one of the best homeowners insurance companies in Illinois that offers the right coverages and endorsements for your protection.

There are different types of home insurance plans. The most comprehensive is an open-peril policy. They cover the greatest number of potential sources of damage, called perils. The most common type of open-peril policy written by Illinois homeowners insurance companies, which is also the most common type of homeowners insurance written, is known as the HO-3 form.

You can get a cheaper, less thorough plan for your property called an HO-1, HO-2, or DP policy, but these often won’t be sufficient for mortgage lender requirements, and they exclude major areas of coverage that HO-3 policies have. Also, the average rates we break down later are for HO-3 policies.

If you’re looking for insurance on a non-standard home, like mobile home insurance in Illinois, you may be looking at a different policy with different coverages to meet your home’s needs. For example, mobile and manufactured homes in Illinois use an HO-7 policy.

An HO-3 policy has the coverages you need and options for several optional endorsements and other add-ons you might want for your property.

To see how these coverages make up your policy exactly, take a look at this sample Illinois homeowners insurance calculator for a $200,000 dwelling below.

Illinois home insurance companies will calculate your dwelling coverage necessity on a house-by-house basis. They will use information you provide, public property records, third-party data, and more to determine the replacement cost of your house. You must insure your house for at least 80% of its replacement cost – a rule that all insurers have.

Many of your policy’s coverages are then derived from your dwelling coverage. For instance, your other structures limit is 10% of your dwelling coverage. So, in our example, the other structures limit of $20,000 is 10% of the dwelling limit of $200,000.

Carriers usually start off giving you a personal property limit of about 50% of your dwelling limit. This may be more or less than what you need depending on how much stuff you own, and you should be able to change your desired amount of personal property coverage easily should you desire cheap home insurance in Illinois.

Loss of use coverage is often about 20% of your dwelling coverage. This should be sufficient, but you can consult with your provider if you want to change this.

Liability and medical payments aren’t so closely tied to your dwelling coverage. Carriers typically have a minimum option of $100,000 of liability coverage, but they will recommend more, with a common option being $300,000. Medical payments coverage limits will vary anywhere between $2,000 to $5,000. 

Increasing your liability limits increases your premiums much less than raising any property coverages in your policy. Since liability and medical payments coverage are so easily adjustable, insurers recommend higher limits just to be safe.

The top homeowners insurance companies in Illinois will be the carriers with the coverage you need at a price that works for you. Since prices will vary by insurer, you’ll need to compare several options before you can say you have found the best one. 

The largest home insurance companies in Illinois are:

State Farm is the largest home insurer by far in Illinois. The company was founded in the state over 100 years ago and has grown into the largest insurance company in America. They have over one-third of the market share in Illinois. While the State Farm increase of 2024 in Illinois left homeowners paying an average of 12.3% more than the year prior, the insurer remains a top choice in the state.

It’s hard to recommend one of these, or any insurer in the state, as the best insurance company in Illinois without knowing your personal situation. You’ll want to compare customer service, user experience, and financial rating in addition to rates to decide which is right for you.

Your choice for home insurance may also vary depending on what else you own that can be insured. For instance, if you have a car, you can bundle your home and auto insurance for additional savings. You should then be on the lookout for the best home and auto insurance companies in Illinois that boast a great bundling discount.

You can also bundle other types of insurance, such as boat or RV, with your homeowners insurance. You may or may not see bundling options with a carrier when getting quotes online, so be sure to ask the company directly before you bind if you want to know.

According to our analysis, Allstate, State Farm, and USAA are some options for cheap homeowners insurance in Illinois. We used an average premium of $300,000 for dwelling coverage, so you may pay slightly less or more depending on how much insurance you need.

As you can see from the data we collected, many companies in Illinois offer rates below the state average of $2,501 annually for $300,000 in dwelling coverage. While Country Financial, American Family, and Farmers insurance in Illinois have the highest costs from the rates we collected, each company comes in below average. 

Of the cheaper companies, Allstate insurance in Illinois looks to be the cheapest, with an average rate nearly 40% below the state average. While these rates reflect just that, averages, they are telling of the premiums you may be in for with these insurers. 

While the rates from these insurers are below the state’s average rate, it’s important to note that the state’s average rate is comparatively high and is set to continue to increase. In 2024, the average Illinois homeowners insurance rate increase was about 23% up from the year prior, due to climate risks, inflation, and other factors. This increase has left many homeowners scrambling for answers and solutions.

Insurers calculate your premium based on the risk level of your property. To determine your property’s risk, insurers that provide property insurance in Illinois will look at the following details of your home:

Generally, providers view older homes as more significant risks. They tend to have more issues that can cause property damage and lead to a claim, such as a leaking roof or failing air conditioner. Their dated construction may also mean that they aren’t up to the latest building and safety codes, which means they might not survive severe weather as well. As a result, older homes aren’t known to have the cheapest home insurance in Illinois.

Additionally, brick homes are sturdier and more resistant to fire damage than wooden frame homes. Insurers consider this, too, which often results in brick homes having lower rates.

Your home’s location is also crucial in risk evaluation. Providers consider your distance from a fire hydrant when determining rates (closer is better). They will also look at your flood zone, nearby sinkhole activity, and more.

Certain features of your home can also influence your premiums. Having unique or ornate construction that is hard to replicate will raise your replacement cost and, thus, your premiums. Also, certain “attractive nuisances” like pools, trampolines, and playground equipment on your property can increase your risk and raise your rates. 

Technically, you don’t need flood insurance in Illinois but it is a wise investment you can make in your home’s safety. Since flooding isn’t a covered peril on homeowners insurance, those who want protection against the event must bind a separate Illinois flood insurance policy. 

Whether it’s caused by harsh winters, intense summer storms, or heavy rains off of Lake Michigan, a flood insurance policy is your best defense against such damage. Those interested in a policy can bind one through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) or a private insurer. 

No, homeowners insurance isn’t required by law in Illinois, but your mortgage lender will require you to get a policy before giving you a loan. If you don’t have a mortgage, you won’t have anyone stipulating your property insurance needs.

Since mortgage lenders put down large amounts of money on your property, they want you to carry a home insurance policy to protect their investment. If your home gets destroyed by an act of nature, your lender wouldn’t want to lose the money they put down. Instead of recouping their investment from you, they can be reimbursed through your home insurance policy. 

The same goes for you. With a policy from one of the best house insurance companies in Illinois, your carrier can foot the costs of rebuilding your home after damage from a covered peril, so you don’t have to worry about repair costs.

If you’re buying a house with a mortgage in Illinois, you need homeowners insurance at closing, and you may be paying your premiums through an escrow account. If you don’t maintain coverage for the life of your loan, your lender can force-place insurance on you. Force-placed coverage is expensive. Avoid it by paying your premiums on time.

If you’re unable to bind a policy with a standard insurer, like Liberty Mutual in Illinois, you may have to look elsewhere for your coverage. This is where the Illinois Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plan comes in – a state-mandated form of property insurance for those who can’t get a policy on the standard insurance marketplace.

While a FAIR plan may be available to you, it should be considered a last-resort. These plans are generally less comprehensive than the policies offered on the standard insurance marketplace and aren’t considered Illinois cheap insurance options. They should only be considered if you can’t find another carrier.

Homeowners insurance will only cover your primary residence that you live in most of the year. Some homeowners in Illinois have multiple houses. These people need to get separate insurance on a secondary home in Illinois.

Insurance on a second home is slightly more expensive than your primary home since your second home will be unoccupied for part of the year, making it riskier. The chances of a break-in or damage going undetected for long periods are higher.

You’ll need either another home insurance policy, short-term rental insurance, vacant home insurance, or landlord insurance on a secondary home in Illinois, depending on whether or not you rent it out.

Every state government regulates its insurance companies to some extent. We’ve outlined some important Illinois homeowners insurance regulations below.

A unique requirement in Illinois is that home insurance companies must provide coverage for mine subsidence. Illinois produces great amounts of coal, and abandoned, underground coal mines can sometimes cause the ground to sag or collapse. This is called mine subsidence.

Mine subsidence coverage in Illinois home insurance is included by default in every policy in 34 counties, but you can choose to reject it if you don’t want it.

The law also states that a company has 15 working days to communicate with you after you send them something, such as a claim. There are also timelines regarding when they need to investigate a claim and acknowledge liability, but there is no deadline for how long a claim can take due to its potential complexity.

You should always research and shop around when looking for your policy so you can differentiate between the best and worst homeowners insurance companies near Illinois.

Clovered was built to make shopping around easy. Using our online quoting tool, you can quickly compare Illinois insurance quotes from the top providers in the state.

Clovered is an independent insurance agency that’s helped over 30,000 policyholders find and maintain coverage. If you need help with our online platform, or if you’d rather get your Illinois home insurance quote with a person, one of our licensed agents would be happy to help. 

You can contact us on the phone at 833-255-4117 during business hours or email us at agent@clovered.com. We’d be happy to help you with your home insurance quote in Illinois.