9 Best Homeowners Insurance Companies In Pennsylvania of 2023
It’s great to be a homeowner in Keystone State.
It’s one of the few affordable places to own a home in the Northeast, full of natural beauty, and home to two quintessential major American cities--Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
However, Pennsylvania is so much more. Owning a home in Pennsylvania is a unique experience and comes with its own unique challenges.
As a homeowner in PA, you’ll need home insurance coverage from a company that not only serves your state but also understands the individual challenges, conditions, and climate you face.
Best Homeowners Insurance Companies In Pennsylvania
- Allstate: Best For Homeowners On A Budget
- Lemonade: Best For Fast Online Service
- CHUBB: Best For Flood-Prone Properties
- State Farm: Best For Bundling
- Nationwide: Best For Straightforward Coverage
- Branch Financial: Best Newcomer Home Insurance Company
- USAA: Best For Veterans
- Erie Insurance: Best For High Customer Satisfaction
- Farmers Insurance: Best For Homeowners Who Want to Go Green
Compare Home Insurance Rates in PA
These are the home insurance companies best for a variety of different types budgets, homeowners, and homeowner needs.
Compare the coverage and cost of the best homeowners insurance providers in Pennsylvania picked by PropertyNest expert editors:
Allstate: Best Home Insurance For Homeowners On A Budget
Across the board, many people are highly impressed with the overall results of this company. They’re good for most groups.
With Allstate, it’s a good idea to take a look at their supplemental riders. It can make a huge difference in what you get when a disaster hits.
With that said, long wait times for disbursement have been reported.
So, if you’re worried you’ll need your money tomorrow, it’s time to take a look at other options.
Read a full Allstate homeowners insurance review.
One of the ways Allstate helps homeowners save is by offering a number of discounts.
Below is a list of typical discounts you can expect from Allstate.
| J.D. Power (out of 1,000) | 815 |
|---|---|
| A.M. Best - Financial Strength Rating | A+ |
| NAIC Complaint Index | 2.05 |
| BBB | A- |
Lemonade: Best Home Insurance For Fast Online Service
Are you a fan of everything mobile-related? If you’re the type of person who wants to have a good handle on everything via an app, you’re going to love Lemonade.
This well-designed app will give you instant quotes, let you add on to your policy, and even file a claim.
Admittedly, they are still hammering out issues with customer service as options to speak to a live person are limited.
However, the vast majority of people have great experiences, especially when it comes to filing a claim and a fast turnaround for payment disbursements.
Read the full Lemonade homeowners insurance review.
Lemonade's already low-cost insurance offers a few additional discounts for policyholders.
| J.D. Power (out of 1,000) | 870 |
|---|---|
| BBB | B+ |
| NAIC Complaint Index | 1.94 |
CHUBB: Best Homeowners Insurance For Flood-Prone Properties
CHUBB is a name that most people recognize, especially in the Pennsylvania area.
This is one of the highest-rated insurance companies for homeowners who demand a good amount of coverage.
Amazingly, this includes matters involving floods—an increasingly costly and difficult-to-obtain choice.
CHUBB might just be the best choice for flood-prone people.
It’s one of the only insurance companies to offer flood insurance as a complementary part of its coverage.
CHUBB also offers their Masterpiece coverage for homeowners with valuable assets such as a home that is worth a lot.
It's considered some of the very best coverage you can get.
This is important because some insurance companies are actually not able to insure homes over a certain value.
CHUBB's Masterpiece policies not only offer extensive coverage but also offers an extensive list of discounts.
| J.D. Power (out of 1,000) | 809 |
|---|---|
| A.M. Best - Financial Strength Rating | A++ |
| BBB | D- |
| NAIC Complaint Index | 0.21 |
State Farm: Best Homeowners Insurance For Bundling
State Farm doesn't score a perfect 10 when their customers have something to say, but overall they have good customer service as well as decent quality of coverage.
With homeowners insurance, they also avoid having too many waivers in their basic packages.
What really sets them apart from others is their bundle discounts.
If you already use them for car insurance or insurance on specific items, then it’s a no-brainer.
You can save almost up to $1,000 a year. That's no small sum!
They do offer a unique bonus that is the full replacement cost of your roof with standard coverage--no extra deductible is required.
Since we've named State Farm as the best for their bundling discount, this is certainly a major discount offered by the insurance giant.
However, they offer some other discounts that might help save big.
| J.D. Power (out of 1,000) | 829 |
|---|---|
| A.M. Best - Financial Strength Rating | A++ |
| BBB | A+ |
| NAIC Complaint Index | 1.77 |
Nationwide: Best Homeowners Insurance For Straightforward Coverage
Are you looking for all-around good coverage without too many bells and whistles?
If so, then you are going to appreciate Nationwide.
Everything about this insurance company is made to make your needs for basic coverage a cinch.
Nationwide is on your side when you don’t necessarily need anything too extreme but still want a good deal. Besides, they have some pretty neat discounts.
Nationwide offers a few of the popular discounts you might see being offered by other insurers.
| J.D. Power (out of 1,000) | 816 |
|---|---|
| A.M. Best - Financial Strength Rating | A+ |
| BBB | A+ |
| NAIC Complaint Index | 0.88 |
Branch Financial: Best Newcomer Home Insurance Company
While Branch is not one of the typical national heavyweights, we thought they were worth a mention. Similar to Lemonade, Branch uses tech and automation to save their policyholders money.
In fact, Branch's whole model and origin story have entirely to do with saving customers money and bringing savings and community into the insurance game.
Branch is currently only offered in 13 states, Pennsylvania being one of them.
In many states, Branch is able to save members by underwriting and covering through their reciprocal insurance company called Branch Insurance Exchange.
Think of it as insurance coverage owned by the subscribers who pool their money together and is simply managed by Branch Insurance Exchange.
Branch was designed as a low-cost insurance company. However, there are still additional ways to save.
| A.M. Best - Financial Strength Rating | A+ |
|---|---|
| BBB | A |
USAA: Best Homeowners Insurance For Veterans
If you are a member of the US Armed Forces, then you have a ton of options that other people might not—especially when it comes to homeownership.
USAA is one of the only companies out there that exclusively caters to people in the forces and their families.
Their rates are low, their customer service is legendary, and they have lightning-fast disbursement. You really can’t get better than that.
USAA Bank also offers financial services and insurance coverage to family members of veterans and active-duty members.
Just make sure that you have a USAA membership card if you’re a family member of a serviceperson who wants to share the wealth with you.
USAA has some classic discounts that can help members and families of the U.S. Armed Forces save.
| J.D. Power (out of 1,000) | 882 |
|---|---|
| A.M. Best - Financial Strength Rating | A++ |
| BBB | A+ |
| NAIC Complaint Index | 0.88 |
Erie Insurance: Best Home Insurance For High Customer Satisfaction
In most cases, homeowners tend to have at least one or two reasons to go for a national chain as far as their insurers go.
Most of the time, it’s because it’s a name they recognize, mainly from advertising.
However, smaller companies shouldn’t be overlooked because they might also have a lot of value to add to a homeowner’s experience.
Erie Insurance is based out of Pennsylvania, and that’s a good thing for Pennsylvanians.
It's true that Erie is now offered in over ten states, but the local insurance companies often understand local needs best.
Their customer service, payouts, and rates are absolutely phenomenal.
Erie Insurance's stance is that they start from a place of savings, but policyholders are offered high value compared to their competitors.
Nonetheless, Erie still has some discount programs designed to save their customers more money.
| J.D. Power (out of 1,000) | 835 |
|---|---|
| A.M. Best - Financial Strength Rating | A+ |
| BBB | A+ |
| NAIC Complaint Index | 0.65 (Average) |
Farmers Insurance: Best Home Insurance For Homeowners Who Want to Go Green
Farmers Insurance is another reputable national insurance company known for its excellent customer service and fast turnaround for claims processing.
However, they aren't known for the lowest premiums when it comes to insurance, especially compared to some other large competitors.
What you get, in turn, is great coverage and access to knowledgeable local agents.
Farmers Insurance also knows how important it is to go green and offers a unique option.
For policyholders who've want to replace damaged areas of their home with new "green" or environmentally-friendly materials or appliances can receive up to $25,000 more in claims payouts.
It's a huge plus and makes sense for an insurance company to help combat climate change.
Some special perks few companies offer are "Claims Forgiveness", credit towards your deductible, and extra cosmetic coverage.
If you've been claim free with Farmers for five years, you won't get penalized for filing a claim.
Furthermore, for every year you renew your policy, Farmers credits $50 towards your deductible.
Lastly, standard with their coverage comes extra coverage for cosmetic damage when a policyholder files a claim for functional damage.
Farmers offers many different types of discounts that vary from region to region, so be sure to inquire exactly what discounts are available for our area.
Read a full Farmers homeowners insurance review.
Here's a list of a few of the standard discounts they offer.
| J.D. Power (out of 1,000) | 792 |
|---|---|
| A.M. Best - Financial Strength Rating | A |
| BBB | A- |
| NAIC Complaint Index | 0.56 |
How We Selected Our Homeowners Insurance Companies in Pennsylvania
Choosing the right company for homeowners insurance is rough, let me tell ya. We decided to take a look at the following issues.
Payout Speed
A home that’s destroyed is not going to be an inconvenience. It’s a life-destroyer. When you have a major calamity, you do not have time to wait on a payout. You might not even have a place to live without money. Speed definitely a critical factor.
Handling of Claims
The whole purpose of a good insurance company is to ensure that you can rely on them when you need them. When you have an urgent incident that can traumatically affect your life, you want to know that your insurance company is working hard for you. While investigating insurance fraud is a serious matter, you also don't want to feel like your insurance company is scrutinizing every penny before they hand it over.
Customer Service
Customer service is a huge deal, too. We’ve all heard of bad customer service that involved a lot of arguments, begging, or awkward calls. Let’s try to avoid that, right?
Price Tags
Different companies are going to charge different rates for the same coverage. Don’t ask me why, but it’s a thing. With that said, we’re going to have to make sure that the price actually matches the coverage.
Client Reviews
Finally, there’s the most obvious issue: client reviews. We want to make sure that people are happy using that service. Bad reviews are a clear sign something is wrong.
Location
We've researched and compared the home insurance averages and data in Pennsylvania's largest cities such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, Reading, and more.
Do You Need Homeowners Insurance?
If you have a mortgage, then the answer is generally yes.
If you don’t, you aren’t legally required to purchase insurance, but it would be unwise not to have insurance coverage for your home.
Homeowners insurance is what pays for repairs when natural disasters occur, or when someone decides to drive their car right into your home, or when leaky pipes cause water damage.
Read on: The Best Homeowners Insurance Companies Nationwide
As a matter of fact, even if you are a renter, you should seriously consider getting renters insurance if you haven't purchased a policy already.
Your landlord is not obligated to compensate you for any damage or loss due to natural occurrences.
Important Insurance Coverage for Homes in Pennsylvania
Understanding the environment you live in is integral to getting the right coverage for your home.
Climate change is creating more scenarios in the Northeast that would increase the number of insurance claims being filed.
Pennsylvania is experiencing warmer and wetter weather over time according to Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection.
This means certain areas are now far more vulnerable to flooding.
Even if you don't live in a potential flood zone, it could also mean more instances of fallen trees, tornadoes, and power outages in your area.
Learn more about the homeownersfire insurance coverage.
Flood Insurance Should Be On Your Mind
Since the Northeast is now experiencing a lot more flooding, purchasing flood insurance should be a critical consideration for any homeowner in Pennsylvania.
Most standard homeowners insurance policies do not cover damage from floods and only water damage caused by non-weather-related flooding.
Why Doesn’t Homeowners Insurance Typically Cover Floods?
Flooding is one of the most devastating things that can happen to your home, and unfortunately, it’s also one of the most common.
If you live in a flood zone, your home is a high liability to insurers since filing a claim might be inevitable.
So, in order to maintain affordability, most insurers opt out of covering it.
If you need flood insurance, then you are going to have to buy it separately and specifically through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
What Is the National Flood Insurance Program?
The NFIP was set up by the Federal government in order to help American homeowners in flood-prone areas to purchase flood insurance.
If it were up to the private sector, flood insurance would probably not be available, and if it was, not at any kind of affordable rates.
Floods can cost an insurmountable amount of damage, and the claim payouts can be high.
FEMA underwrites the flood insurance policies offered through the NFIP.
Why Do You Need Flood Insurance If FEMA Gives Grants For Damaged Homes?
Homeowners without flood insurance can apply for a FEMA grant post-flood incidents through the Individuals and Households Program (IHP), however, the payouts are small compared to what you might get with full flood and home insurance.
While a grant can be as much as over $30,000, the average grant payout is from $7,000-$8,000.
This is very small compared to the average national flood insurance claim, according to the Insurance Information Institute (III), which was over $40,000 just a few years ago.
And depending on the year and the damage done, the average can go over $90,000.
If your home and property are damaged in flood, $8,000 would be a drop in the bucket.
To put it in perspective, after Superstorm Sandy hit Pennsylvania, the average payout from flood insurance was over $66,000 (that's basically double the maximum FEMA could grant you).
What Factors Go Into Homeowners Insurance Pricing?
The size and value of the home are the two biggest.
However, the area that you live in, your credit score, as well as the local environmental risks can all play key factors.
Below is a table of the most important considerations most insurance companies make when determining your total cost.
| Credit Score | In some states, insurers are allowed to use your credit score to complete an "insurance score". Others use it to determine if you'll pay your premiums on time. |
|---|---|
| Location | Where your home is is one of the top factors in determining price. It doesn't just have to do with climate but also the terrain, safety, and the average claims filed in that area. |
| Size of Your Home | The insurance companies not only look at the square footage but also the number of rooms/areas and types. |
| Your Home's Age and Last Renovations | Insurance companies want to know how old your home is and what condition the home and parts of your home are currently in. The owner of an older home would be more likely to file a claim. |
| Materials Your Home is Constructed With | High-quality materials used for your home's structure, foundation, and roof would mean a more solid construction and perhaps lower risk of claims being filed. |
| Deductibles | Deductibles directly affect your premium. The higher your out-of-pocket costs, the lower the premium. |
| Extra Coverage/Policies | Extra coverage means higher premiums. |
| Cost to Replace Vs. Cash Value | Cost to replace will result in a high premium but you would be able to rebuild your home in the case that it's destroyed versus cash value. Cash value will give you the cash value of your home plus depreciation. |
| Bundling | Bundling your home insurance with other policies like auto, boat, etc. can help you save money. |
| Usage | If you are operating a business out of your, depending on what it is, it can affect your premiums. Also, insurance for vacation homes are typically higher in cost. |
| Family Members/Pets | Liability coverage for the number of family members, children, and types of pets can affect your estimate. |
| Value of Your Possessions | Standard policies cover your possessions, however, if you have highly valuable possessions you should let the insurance company know you want cover or purchase extra insurance for them. |
| Discounts | Different insurance companies offer different types of discounts that can save you money. So, you'll need to check with each one. Some companies don't offer any discounts. |
Why Do Mortgage Lenders Require Homeowners Insurance?
Mortgage lenders and banks can legally require you to show proof of insurance coverage for your new home-to-be before closing on your home.
The reason lenders are allowed to do this is because they are making an investment into the property with you. There is a lot of risk they are buying into.
If the home is damaged or destroyed they need to ensure that you will be able to continue to pay your monthly mortgage payment and that they not interrupted because you're busy paying for repairs.
Secondly, because they hold a lien on your title, it's not in their best interest if the value of a property goes down should they need to foreclose and sell the home.
If you stop paying for homeowners insurance while you still have a mortgage, then they may have the right to foreclose on your home or add penalties to your mortgage price.
