Homeowners Insurance in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina (2024)

While Hilton Head Island is widely known as one of the best places to vacation in South Carolina, attracting more than 2 million visitors per year, it’s still home to about 40,000 full-time residents. Those residents get to live in one of the most tropical places in the Palmetto State, but it comes with the yearly threat of severe-weather storms.

Those severe-weather storms, like hurricanes and tornadoes, are the proprietors of why Hilton Head homeowners insurance is more expensive than the state’s average. We’ve taken a deep dive into what homeowners on the island can expect to pay per year in many different circumstances. Let’s take a look.

The average cost of homeowners insurance in Hilton Head is about $2,360 for a $200,000 house and $3,618 for a $350,000 house, which are both above the state average rates of about $2,256 and $3,544 annually.

Hurricane vulnerability, fewer competing insurers in the area, and the steadily increasing cost of construction are among the factors that make Hilton Head insurance premiums higher than most places in South Carolina.

We took some of these factors and more into consideration when we were compiling the data, which is required to be sent to the South Carolina Department of Insurance for insurance companies writing at least $1 million in premiums. So here are the numbers at a glance, and we’ll break them down even further later in the article.

The rates in this article are sourced from the South Carolina Department of Insurance. The top 25 insurer groups by national premium volume were required to submit their annual rates, while other companies opted to do so voluntarily. The sample rates are for a homeowner with no insurance claims in the past five years and an average credit score.

As you can see, Universal Property & Casualty (UPCIC) and Allstate lead the way when it comes to the cost of homeowners insurance in Hilton Head, each tipping the scale at less than $1,000 per year for premiums.

UPCIC dominates in the area, setting the average homeowner back less than $500 for a $200,000 house and less than $800 for a $350,000 house. Clovered is one of few Hilton Head insurance agencies licensed and appointed to write insurance for UPCIC, so you can get a quote in minutes through our online quoting platform, which compares policies and prices from some of the top home insurance companies in the city.

Hilton Head Island homeowners insurance prices also fluctuate according to how new or old your house is. The general rule of thumb, due to updated building guidelines over the years to help mitigate damage from severe-weather storms, is that older homes are riskier to insure because they’re more likely to sustain damage.

Let’s take a look at the average premiums you can expect to pay — incorporating a few important factors that have a direct impact on the bottom dollar of home insurance premiums.

There aren’t too many $200,000 single-family houses remaining on Hilton Head Island, so we also broke down the numbers for houses worth $350,000.

It’s important to note these numbers are direct representations submitted by insurers to the department of insurance. For an example rate for higher-value homes, you can multiply the property value. For instance, if your home is worth $525,000, simply multiply the average premium for a $350,000 house by 1.5 to get your average premium.

While the numbers won’t directly correlate, it will give you a somewhat accurate representation of what you can expect to pay. But let’s take a look at the in-depth numbers we’ve compiled for $350,000 houses.

While there are many Hilton Head insurance agencies to choose from when purchasing your next policy, only Clovered has both relationships with the top insurers on the island and a proprietary online quoting software designed to get you the best policy at the best price.

Also, since we’re owned by the same company that owns Universal Property, we’ve got an inside track to its underwriting department and excellent team of claims representatives. That means when you choose Clovered to help you with homeowners insurance, you’re getting a company located at the intersection of technology and real people.

Home insurance in Hilton Head Island covers an assortment of things relating to you and your property. Your coverage doesn’t just stop on the way out of your doorstep. You also have coverage for many things on your property, including sheds, fences and tools.

To be covered by your homeowners insurance policy, the damage must have been caused by a covered peril, which changes depending on the type of home insurance policy you have. The most commonly covered perils are things like wind damage from hurricanes and tornadoes, theft or vandalism and house fires deriving from a variety of factors, including lightning or electrical issues.

The first and, arguably, most important part of your coverage is the dwelling portion. This protects the structure of your house, including everything from the nails that hold the walls together and the roof that keeps everything safe.

Your dwelling maximum per claim should match the value of your home, although we recommend getting 3% more in coverage due to your home’s value increasing through the year. This piece is responsible for protecting the major systems in your home as well, including the HVAC, plumbing and electrical.

Coverage B is also known as other structures coverage. It’s responsible for protecting structures on your property that aren’t connected to your house, such as a shed, carport, detached garage and even fencing.

Each policy typically comes standard with other structure coverage worth 10% of the total dwelling coverage amount. So homeowners with $400,000 in dwelling coverage will likely have $40,000 in coverage to protect other structures on the property.

One of the more underrated coverages on a home insurance policy is personal property coverage, which is designed to cover exactly what it sounds like. It’ll help protect your furniture, electronics and much more if your home is damaged or destroyed by a covered peril.

To determine how much coverage you should opt for, you should keep a home inventory list of all your belongings and their values. This will help you determine if you need something like $20,000 in coverage or $60,000 in coverage.

If a covered peril did damage or destroy your home and you’re forced to temporarily move out while it’s being repaired or rebuilt, loss of use coverage will become your best friend. It’s designed to help pay for additional living expenses incurred due to the temporary displacement.

Coverage can apply to things like a temporary rental home of equivalent value, storage fees, pet boarding and so much more.

One of the highest maximums you may see on your policy is the liability coverage. It’s up there in figures because it‘s designed to help cover medical bills and legal fees if someone is injured on your property and you’re found liable, or damage to another home if you accidentally caused it.

Things like a tree falling from your yard onto your neighbor’s roof can be covered. As can incidents like your dog biting someone off your property. Coverage typically comes standard at $250,000 per claim, but high-net-worth individuals are encouraged to purchase supplementary umbrella coverage to extend their maximums.

While the coverage sounds somewhat similar to the aforementioned liability portion, medical payments coverage is a bit different. It pays for minor medical bills if someone is injured on your property. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re at fault or not.

While there are plenty of direct and indirect factors that can affect the cost of homeowners insurance in Hilton Head, three of the main ones used to determine these average premiums are credit scoring, home construction type and age of the house.

Other things like whether you do or don’t have a centrally monitored burglar alarm, how many claims you’ve filed, how close you live to a fire hydrant and the crime rate in your area can have an impact as well.

The main flood zone in Hilton Hilton Island is AE, which determines that nearly every house on the island is at high risk for sustaining flood damage at least once during the life of their 30-year mortgage,. Many residents had to deal with flooding effects from Tropical Storm Debby in 2024.

Unfortunately, homeowners insurance doesn’t cover flooding, so you’ll need a separate South Carolina flood insurance policy for that.

Getting a flood insurance policy is quick and easy using Clovered’s team of in-house agents. Simply fill out this online quoting form and one of our licensed flood insurance agents will get back to you with a policy that fits your needs and your budget.

We’re always here to help. You can get a free homeowners insurance quote in minutes by using our online quoting platform. But if you’d rather speak to a licensed agent on the phone, just call 833-255-4117 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Or you can email us anytime at [email protected].