Best and Cheapest Homeowners Insurance in Minnesota

Minnesota boasts abundant natural beauty, with forests and lakes covering most of the state. The scenery comes at a price: severe winter weather. Blizzards and heavy ice and snow can cause serious damage to houses everywhere in the state. The best way to protect your property from the elements is with homeowners insurance.

Key Takeaways:

The average cost of home insurance in Minnesota is about $2,325 for $300,000 in dwelling coverage. This is about on par with the rates in the neighboring states of Michigan and nearby Illinois. 

This number is just an average, and your premium will vary based on many factors. For instance, if you have a larger, more expensive house, you’ll most likely pay more for insurance. Larger houses have higher replacement costs, which determines your dwelling coverage.

Look at the table below for average rates in the North Star State at several dwelling coverage levels and how it affects overall average annual premium.

Although Minnesota homeowners insurance rates will vary from house to house, the coverages you receive in your policy – no matter your provider – should largely stay the same. The most common type of homeowners insurance is the HO3 policy form, an open peril policy. The coverages in an HO3 form are:

Coverage A: Dwelling

Dwelling coverage financially protects the structure of your house and all its permanently attached components. This includes your roof, walls, floor, porches, and balconies. It also covers your foundation, electrical wiring, and more.

As we mentioned earlier, the amount of dwelling coverage you need is determined by your replacement cost. Note that replacement cost isn’t your home’s market value, but rather the cost to rebuild your home based on materials and labor.

Coverage B: Other Structures

Other structures coverage covers the features on your property not attached to your house, such as sheds, fences, detached garages, and pools. Your other structures limit is typically 10% of your dwelling coverage limit.

Coverage C: Personal Property

Personal property coverage is for your belongings. It covers your furniture, electronics, clothes, tools, jewelry, art, and more. Personal property coverage limits might be around 50% of your dwelling coverage limit, but you can easily adjust how much you need. Just note that raising your limit may prevent you from getting cheap homeowners insurance in Minnesota.

Coverage D: Loss of Use

Loss of use coverage applies if you’ve been forced to move out of your house due to damage from a covered peril. While your insurer is rebuilding or repairing your home, they can cover expenses you incur while displaced, like lodging, food, and gas, through loss of use coverage.

Coverage E: Personal Liability

Personal liability coverage shields your finances if you’re liable for someone’s injury. For example, if someone gets hurt on your property or your dog bites someone, they can sue you. Liability coverage can cover their medical expenses and your legal fees if needed. Liability limits commonly start at $100,000 and go up to $1 million.

Coverage F: Medical Payments

Medical payments coverage is similar to liability coverage but is only designed for minor injuries. Medical payments coverage limits are usually between $2,000-$5,000 roughly.

The best home insurance companies in Minnesota will have the coverage you need at a price that works for you. To find a good carrier at the right price, you must shop around for the best policy for you.

Here are a few ways to ensure you’re getting the best coverage for your needs:

Reassess your coverage periodically, such as every year. After you get a policy, you can’t quite set it and forget it. Your coverage needs can change over time, and sometimes, the average homeowners insurance in Minnesota just won’t cut it. Renovations can increase your replacement cost and render you underinsured if you don’t adjust your coverages to reflect the changes. 

Inflation and increased construction costs can also leave you short if you need to rebuild. Inquire about adding an inflation guard or ordinance or law coverage to your policy to avoid unexpected shortcomings during a claim.

Watch for exclusions. In Minnesota, many homeowners are surprised that their policy doesn’t cover property damage from sump pump backups by default. Your policy also won’t cover flood damage. 

Know your policy exclusions, and opt for additional coverage if you want. For example, you may purchase water backup coverage for sump pump, septic tank, and sewer failures. 

If you have especially high-value items, like art, jewelry, or memorabilia, consider looking into scheduled personal property coverage to insure them fully. The best homeowners insurance companies will be able to accommodate your needs.

The insurance companies with the most homeowners insurance policies in Minnesota are:

These insurers comprise over 75% of the insurance market in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. These companies are a good place to start comparing quotes, but it’s a good idea to get quotes from additional, national insurers like Progressive homeowners insurance in Minnesota, and some smaller regional insurers as well.

Ask your friends, neighbors, and relatives for insurance company recommendations. You can also look up company reviews and financial strength ratings. You can also get the help of an independent insurance agent to help in your search and compare policies for you.

Farmers, Travelers, and AAA offer some of the cheapest home insurance in Minnesota, based on our table below. Premiums are typically one of the most critical factors when comparing policies.

The table below shows rates from some of the state’s most well-known insurers. The average premiums below are based on policies with $300,000 in dwelling coverage.

As you can see from the table above, the cheapest Minnesota homeowners insurance companies are AAA, Travelers, and Farmers. Securing a cheap policy can be tough, but this table indicates that any of those three insurers may be a good place to start.

In contrast, Allstate Insurance in Minnesota has some of the highest rates, coming in at about 40% above the average rate in the state. Remember that the exact price of these plans will vary. There’s no guarantee that a plan will be a certain price until you get your quote. 

Several factors affect your Minnesota property insurance rates, and may prevent you from getting premiums in the ballpark of Maryland’s $2,325 average premium. Insurance companies analyze potential policyholders and their properties intently to verify that offering coverage is a good business decision on their part. They take many variables into account when binding your policy.

Some of the most important factors that affect your homeowners insurance in Minnesota estimate include:

The location of your home is a primary consideration in how much you pay for insurance. If your house is in an area with a lot of theft or property insurance claims from nearby properties, you’ll likely have higher premiums. Insurers also take into account your distance from a fire hydrant, the presence of flood zones, and more.

The age of your house is also crucial to carriers when determining your home insurance rates in Minnesota. Older houses often have more issues that can lead to claims from wear and tear over time. Everything has a lifespan. Older roofs, wiring, piping, siding, and more can weather, chip, crack and fade over time. Insurance companies are aware of these red flags and may want to inspect your property before giving you a policy.

The way your house was built influences your premium as well. For instance, frame homes tend to have higher premiums than masonry houses because wooden frame homes are more prone to weather damage, fire damage, and even dry rot. 

In fact, one of the main perils in Minnesota is hail damage. Hailstorms have wreaked havoc on the state in recent years, causing insurers to lose money in six of the past seven years. So, if your house is built with hearty materials that can mitigate hail damage, your insurer may offer you below-average premiums. You’ll know how your insurer feels about your home’s material when using a homeowners insurance calculator in Minnesota.

The size of your house is also a factor, as bigger, more expensive houses will need more coverage than small, simple homes. Thus, if you live in a big home, cheap home insurance in Minnesota may be a bit out of your reach.

Insurance companies will also look at your claims history before giving you Minnesota house insurance. During the quoting process, carriers will ask if you’ve filed home insurance claims in the last three to five years. 

They believe that someone who has filed one (or several) claims in the past is more likely to file another than someone who has never filed before. As a result, people with a colorful claims history tend to have higher premiums.

Since homeowners insurance doesn’t cover flooding, homeowners in the Land of 10,000 Lakes must bind a separate Minnesota flood insurance policy for coverage from this disaster. Luckily, here at Clovered, we can help you find exactly what you need. Use our free flood insurance quoting tool to find the policy that best suits your needs.

Every state has an insurance department that governs and works with the insurance companies in their area. The industry is monitored and inspected like all major industries are. Some relevant Minnesota homeowners insurance laws relate to carriers’ communication and coverage procedures.

For instance, once a policy has been in place for over 60 days, it can’t be canceled unless:

A policy cancellation is different than a policy renewal. A nonrenewal comes at the end of your policy term, while a cancellation would cut your policy short. If your insurer decides to non-renew your policy, they must give written notice at least 30 days before the end date. They may provide a 20-day notice if you haven’t been paying your premiums.

Laws in the state prohibit a carrier from overinsuring your house, which prevents you from paying higher premiums than necessary. But, you must typically cover your home for at least 80% of its replacement value. Thus, you can’t knowingly underinsure your house, either.

How long a claim takes will vary case by case since severity and complexity will vary depending on the damage and many other variables. But, Minnesota home insurance claim laws state that a carrier must acknowledge your claim within ten business days after receiving it. 

If you’re struggling to find homeowners insurance on the standard market, you may have one more option left. The Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plan is a government-backed plan that offers policies to homeowners struggling to find policies from standard insurers, either due to personal factors like a high credit score, or for living in a home susceptible to frequent and major damage. 

Using the FAIR plan should be a last resort, as these policies are often more expensive for less coverage. 

No, there is no overarching matching law in Minnesota. Matching is included in some policies, but the laws don’t always require it. Your policy language will determine the extent of matching in most cases.

When a policyholder suffers property damage, an insurance company typically fulfills its repairing duty by replacing damaged parts with new parts. But, when it comes to shingles or siding, sometimes an insurer may be unable to match the replacements with the undamaged, existing ones. 

Since an insurer’s duty is to repair things to how they were – not improve or upgrade property – the issue of getting new siding or shingles to match existing ones has come under scrutiny. Sometimes, a company will go the extra mile to match, even if it means replacing a whole roof or siding area when only one area is damaged, but it depends on your company.

You will need to look at your policy language to see a carrier’s procedures for matching. Ask your agent or provider directly early on so you’re not surprised if you need to file a claim.

If you’re looking for Minnesota home insurance quotes, Clovered can help. Clovered is an independent insurance agency born from the desire to help simplify the insurance process for all. Our quoting platform can help you get Minnesota home insurance quotes entirely online whenever you want from the comfort of your home.

If you need help or would rather speak with a trained professional to help you get a quote, you can reach our team of licensed agents during business hours at 833-255-4117. You can also email us at any time at agent@clovered.com.