8 Best Renters Insurance Companies in Oregon of 2023

If you rent in Oregon, you should consider purchasing a renters insurance policy.

Renters insurance is akin to homeowners insurance, but it is for people who rent or lease properties, such as houses and apartments.

Among other things, renters insurance protects your belongings during an emergency.

For example, suppose a fire damages your apartment building, and severe smoke seeps through your unit and destroys your personal possessions. In that case, a renters insurance policy will reimburse you for the damaged items.

A good rule of thumb about getting a renters policy is that if you can't currently afford to replace all your belongings, you should purchase renters insurance.

And keep in mind that renters insurance is generally low in cost.

According to PropertyNest research, the average basic renters insurance policy in Oregon is $14.45 a month.

Shopping around for the best quote is necessary. You want the lowest rate but don’t want to sacrifice quality.

So, choosing the right renters insurance policy involves not just looking at prices and comparing them but also looking at coverage options, discounts to lower your premium, and how good the insurer’s customer service is.

Compare the coverage and cost of the best renters insurance providers in Oregon picked by PropertyNest expert editors:

Compare Renters Insurance in OR

Best Renters Insurance Companies in Oregon

• Lemonade – Best High-Tech Company
• Liberty Mutual – Best Policy for Discounts
• Allstate – The Best Policy for Optional Coverages
• State Farm – The Best Affordable Policy
• Progressive – Best Policy for Customer Service
• American Family – Best for Diminishing Deductible
• Amica – Best for Personal Property Coverage
• Farmers – Best Policy for Those That Need Minimum Coverage

Lemonade: Best High Tech Company

Lemonade is all AI, meaning you get instant quotes, buy coverage, and pay your bills to name a few, from the company’s website and mobile app in the fastest time possible.

But that comes with a cost. There are no live agents or a customer service department.

Still, Lemonade is one of our top renters insurance policies for its charitable efforts.

Here’s how it works. After purchasing renters insurance with Lemonade, you will be asked to pick a nonprofit cause or program you care about.

Once a year, the insurer will tally up any unclaimed or leftover money and give it to the nonprofit you choose.

This is an insurer you want to be associated with for the socially responsible.

With Lemonade, you can choose from a number of different plans to suit your needs and budget. The basic plan costs $5 per month, but if that isn't enough features, there's an additional fee for more advanced services available on the platform.

See a full Lemonade home insurance editor's review.

Liberty Mutual: Best Policy for Discounts

Liberty Mutual is great for those renters who want to lower their premiums. The insurer is the best choice because of its many discounts to policyholders.

Here is a selection:

• You can get a discount if you bundle your Liberty Mutual renters policy with your Liberty Mutual auto policy.
• Not filing a claim with your previous insurance carrier for at least five years.
• Getting a quote from Liberty Mutual before your current policy expires.
• Enrolling in automatic payments linked to a bank account.
• Purchasing a policy online means you’ll also get a discount.
• Choosing to receive policy documents electronically.
• Having security features in your rental, such as alarms and security cameras, or living in a high-floor apartment or an apartment with 24/7 doormen with cameras in the lobby.

Allstate: The Best Policy for Optional Coverages

As one of the nation's best overall renters insurance providers, Allstate provides standard coverage while offering many additional coverages.

The optional coverage includes:

• Extended coverage for high-value items like jewelry and designer clothes. Extended coverage will increase the amount of personal property coverage.
• Scheduled personal property: If you get your high-value items appraised, you can schedule them.
• As an optional add-on to a renters insurance policy, scheduled personal property means you can increase your coverage and cover more risks, such as the accidental loss of your diamond ring.

If you are a victim of identity theft, the insurer will reimburse you for fees associated with a stolen identity.

Meanwhile, theft coverage includes attempted theft, pilferage, larceny, burglary, robbery, holdups, and embezzlement.

Items stolen from the renter's residence or a known place outside the residence are covered.

N.B. If you lose or misplace your property, you will not be covered.

Business property protection covers your business-related items like laptops and printers that are kept inside your home.

Read a full Allstate renters insurance review.

State Farm: The Best Affordable Policy

State Farm is one of the most enormous insurance companies in the states and offers many specialized insurances that can go from car insurance to homeowners insurance.

But State Farm’s renters insurance stands out because of its cheap premium.

It has the cheapest renters insurance rates among major insurers, 30% below average.

For State Farm, a standard renters insurance policy costs $125 per year or just under $11 per month.

State Farm is not just cheap, but it is also very easy to get an online quote for renters insurance, which takes under 10 minutes.

State Farm may have limited optional coverages to make your insurance more comprehensive, but the ones they have are often necessary for policyholders.

State Farm offers earthquake damage to your belongings in the event of an earthquake.

The insurer’s additional property and incidental liability cover small to mid-level business owners.

But the coverage we like the most is the insurer’s identity restoration add-on.

State Farm will reimburse you for expenses if your personal information is stolen.

If thieves hijack your identity and use it to commit theft or fraud, State Farm will also reimburse you.

The amount is large; the insurer will reimburse you for up to $25,000 to cover the costs associated with recovering your identity.

Not that many in the industry have an endorsement with that high coverage.

In addition, if a policyholder is a victim of ransomware, you’ll be covered up to $15,000.

Finally, the insurer will monitor your credit during a set period to lower the chances that you may again become a victim of identity theft.

Read a full State Farm renters insurance review.

Farmers: Best Policy for Those That Need Minimum Coverage

Farmers Insurance offers a variety of useful features for renters, including several ways to customize coverage, a user-friendly app, and the ability to manage a policy online. 

For people who don’t have a lot of property or don’t have a property that is high in costs like jewelry and artwork, Farmers is your best bet.

These are renters who just need minimum coverage because they frequently move from one rental to another to get a better deal.

Or because they like to move around a lot because they don’t yet know where to settle down.

Or because they move a lot just because they don’t like where they live now.

In these instances, renters may have little personal property from moving too much.

Moving expenses, like hiring a moving van, can be expensive, so being lightweight in terms of property is a policyholder’s advantage.

In Oregon, Farmers has the lowest coverage limits, so people who own little can pay less.

Policy limits can start as low as $4,000. In comparison, State Farm only goes as low as $10.000.

And with a lower policy limit means a lower premium, which can save renters on out-of-pocket costs.

Farmers is also recommended because it also caters to students and young renters who have limited funds and limited belongings but still want basic coverage.

For $30,000 worth of coverage at an average renters price of just $12 per month, renters who reduce their limits will pay even less than that.

However, Farmers renters insurance lacks a lot of optional coverages.

It does offer identity theft and replacement cost coverage, but it doesn’t have an add-on for water backup or extra protection for valuables, which can be a dealbreaker for some renters.

Progressive: Best Policy for Customer Service

Progressive, one of the largest companies in the insurance industry, sells renters insurance through a subsidiary or third party.

Its renters insurance is competitively priced, and its standard coverage comes with everything you’d expect from a standard renters insurance policy.

Progressive is best for its range of ways to reach it.

It has a customer portal, a website with a chat function, a dedicated customer service line, and a mobile app that allows you to tailor your customer service experience to the type of communication you like best.

So, if you want to make a claim or have an important question about your policy, you can easily do these things in many ways.

Some insurers of this size don’t offer many ways to contact them.

Progressive also has affordable coverage. Its $12 premium is matched only by State Farm, which has an $11 or under premium.

The only negative is that you have to pay a down payment of $25 for the first month in which you enroll.

While Progressive offers several discounts, we liked the “single deductible benefit,” which is rarely seen in renters insurance policies.

The deductible discount works like this: if a periled event requires you to file a claim for auto and renters insurance, you will only be charged one deductible.

A good example is that if someone steals your car, Progressive auto insurance will cover the theft, and Progressive renters insurance will cover the theft of the belongings inside the car.

Read a full Progressive renters insurance review.

American Family: Best for Diminishing Deductible

American Family Insurance has an advantage over similar insurers. It offers a diminishing deductible, which is unique to the company.

For many, when you make a claim, the hardest thing you have to shell out money for is the deductible.

A deductible is a set amount of funds that you’ll pay out of pocket before your insurance kicks in to cover replacement costs of your belongings that may have been damaged or destroyed by a covered peril.

The point about the diminishing deductible is that American Family is offering you a way to reduce your deductible amount.

Here’s how it’s done.

Say your rental apartment was burglarized, and thieves stole all your high-cost items. Then you have to make a claim and pay the deductible simultaneously, which can often be a major financial setback.

The diminishing deductible means that your deductible will automatically decrease each time your policy is renewed.

Usually, the credit of your deductible is around $100 per year but can go as high as $500.

As soon as you become a policyholder with American Family, the insurer will credit your deductible by $100.

So, if you have a $500 deductible, it will drop to $400 from day one, making your out-of-pocket expenses lower.

There’s only one catch: you can only get this reward if you haven’t made a claim with your past insurer when you change to American Family.

Amica: Best for Personal Property Coverage

Amica is an affordable insurance company known for its number of discounts, easy claims handling, and the different types of insurance products it offers.

When it comes to ensuring your personal property, the standard limit for personal property coverage in a renters insurance policy is usually $30,000 per claim.

Any damaged or stolen belongings that go over your personal property limit will not be covered, leaving you to pay the difference for replacements.

So you’ll want to increase your coverage limits, so it’s close to or greater than the value of your belongings.

For homeowners insurance, insurers will often set your personal property coverage at a certain percentage of your dwelling coverage, such as 50% or 70%.

But for renters, there’s no limit on the amount of coverage you can buy for your personal property.

While this is not exclusive to Amica, it is one of the company’s selling points.

This means you can add as much coverage as you’d like to protect your belongings.

But it’s good to do a home inventory of what you own and how much each belonging costs so you don’t wind up paying for coverage that you don’t need.

Amica also has good endorsements. Two that stand out are:

Replacement cost is offered so that it will repair or replace your laptop in full at today’s prices and without depreciation.

Scheduling your personal property offers broader protection for high-value items that are damaged beyond fire or theft. If you have a pricey engagement ring, you’ll probably want to schedule it.

Read a full Amica renters insurance review.

Is Renters Insurance Mandatory to Rent an Apartment in Oregon?

Renters insurance is not required by law in Oregon.

However, some landlords may require you to live in their building, while others may require renters insurance as a condition of signing a lease.

In addition, building management companies may require tenants to have renters insurance.

But consider the trend now. Increasingly, landlords will often require tenants to get renters insurance because it makes it less likely that tenants will seek compensation from the landlords in the event of property damage or liability.

Remember--landlords are not legally obligated to compensate you for any loss.

So we strongly suggest you get renters insurance even if it’s not required.

You can reduce your financial impact after a sudden or unexpected event causes damage to your personal belongings.

Does a Landlord’s Property Insurance Cover Renter's Losses?

Landlords’ property insurance usually covers the building or the structure of the rental building, as well as common places like the lobby, the elevators, the hallways, and much more.

But in no way, and no matter where you live in the states, will your landlord’s insurance cover your personal belongings.

And they also won’t cover accidents. Say someone you know or don’t know falls on the floor you just mopped and seriously injures himself.

You may have to pay medical bills and legal defense if you get sued for damages, and that’s also not covered by your landlord.

If it turns out that you didn’t buy renters insurance, will you have the money to cover someone’s medical expenses?

Who will defend you in a lawsuit if that injured person sues you and you can’t come up with the money?

Legal fees and representation are prohibitively expensive, and costs can go up to six figures.

If you are smart, you’ll have bought renters insurance, which will cover both the accident and the lawsuit.

What is the Average Cost of Renters Insurance in Oregon?

The average cost of basic renters insurance in Oregon is $173.40 per year or $14.45 per month.

The average renters insurance cost in the U.S. is $206 per year or about $17 per month.

The premium rate for renters insurance changes for every renter and is based on, among others, how safe your neighborhood is, your credit history, whether you’ve recently made claims, the cost of any high-value personal belongings that you plan on insuring, and how much coverage you need that goes beyond the standard policy.

How Can You Lower Rental Insurance Premiums?

Renters insurers often provide substantial discounts to policyholders to help them lower their premiums.

When you sign up with an insurer online, you can access any discounts if they are listed on the insurer’s website.

But most prospective policyholders will want to buy renters insurance from a company’s agent so the agent can give you the best discounts available or the ones you can easily qualify for.

Here are the most common discounts found in Oregon insurance companies.

Home Security and Safety

You'll get a discount if you install fire or burglar alarm systems, deadbolt locks, and multiple fire extinguishers.

Multi-Policy Discount

Discount if you bundle renters and auto insurance with the same company.

Being Claims-Free

If you don’t make a claim in a set period of time, you’ll receive a discount.

Paperless

If you go paper-free, you’ll also get a discount.

Payment

You'll get a discount if you sign up for autopay by linking your bank account with your insurer.

Technology

These days, insurance companies have added their websites and apps as methods for policyholders to reach them and get information in the most convenient way possible.

If an insurer’s website is not intuitive and is hard to navigate, especially for people who didn’t grow up in the internet age, then that’s not an insurer you should go with.

A good website will prominently advertise its phone number to chat with an agent.

In addition, you should look at a company’s website to see if it’s easy to get a quote, file and track a claim, pay bills, and more.

Checking these options before buying a policy can save you some hassle later.

How Much Renters Insurance Coverage Do You Need?

For personal property, you should get enough coverage close to or greater than the value of your items. If you do this, you will be fully reimbursed for the cost of what you are protecting.

If you want to risk it because you want to save money on the cost of your policy, you can purchase coverage with a lower limit than the value of what you own.

What Does Renters Insurance Cover?

Renters insurance is a form of property insurance that covers your personal belongings from theft and natural disasters. It also protects the insured from liability claims.

In Oregon, the standard renters insurance policy covers liability, theft, medical treatment, and loss of use.

Liability Coverage

Liability protects you against lawsuits from someone who has bodily injuries or property damages that you or your family caused to them.

Liability also covers your legal defense.

Personal Property Coverage

This pays to repair or replace the property that’s stolen or vandalized or that has been damaged due to fire, windstorms, smoke damage, and other perils your policy may cover.

Loss of Use

This policy covers basic living expenses and temporary housing costs if you can’t live in your rental unit due to damage and destruction from fire, smoke, and heavy winds.

Medical Payments

This policy pays for medical care if there is bodily injury to a person that occurs in your rental unit, regardless of fault.

How Much Personal Liability Coverage do You Need?

Liability protects you against lawsuits from someone who experiences bodily damage and property damage that you or your family caused to them on your property.

Many tenants believe they don’t need liability coverage because they rarely have guests, and the likelihood of a person visiting their apartment and getting seriously injured is nearly nonexistent.

But like all the covered perils in standard renters insurance, they occur without you knowing in advance, such as wildfire ravaging the woods and which is coming closer to your rental.

But accidents happen.

Liability will cover your legal defense if the injured person sues you for damages.

The standard renters policy will often come with $100,000 in liability coverage.

That rate is standard because it is often sufficient to pay someone’s medical bills and hire a lawyer.

But lawsuits can be astronomically high in cost, so you should consider buying even more coverage so that your insurer will pay the full amount for legal fees and hire a lawyer.

Most insurers allow you can add additional liability coverage upwards of $300,000 to $500,000 to your policy.

The surprising thing about liability coverage is that it is very cheap to add additional coverage, which is usually under $5.00 a month.

What is Actual Cash Value vs. Replacement Cost?

Renter insurers will reimburse you after a claim in two ways, actual cash value ad replacement cost.

Actual cash value coverage pays what the property was worth at a depreciated value. For example, if your laptop is four years old, ACV will only pay for the depreciated value, which in many cases, will not be enough to buy a new laptop.

Meanwhile, if you choose replacement cost coverage over ACV, that policy will pay the full amount of replacing an item with a brand new one at today’s cost and without depreciation.

Replacement cost coverage tends to be slightly more expensive than ACV. It’s about 10% more expensive than ACV coverage, so expect higher premiums.

But note that the differences in premiums are usually negligible when weighed against the huge increase in coverage you get.

What Natural Disasters is Oregon Known For?

Oregon, in general, is a safe state.

Like many of the western United States, Oregon has seen a significant increase in natural disasters, and wildfires are the common reason.

The good thing is that the standard renters policy covers fire and wildfire, so you don’t have to shell out for an endorsement.

And because Oregon is safe, your standard renters insurance has lower premiums than other U.S states.

What Natural Disasters are Covered by Standard Renters Policy?

The following natural disasters, often called covered perils, are covered.

• Fire
• Wildfires
• Lightning
• Windstorm and hail damage
• Smoke damage
• Volcanic eruption
• Explosion
• Weight of ice, sleet, or snow
• Hurricanes
• Water damage unrelated to natural floods

The following natural disasters are not covered in a standard renters insurance policy:

• Earthquakes
• Natural floods

If you want to be protected from natural floods, you can buy a flood policy from your renters insurance company at an added cost.

Since earthquakes don’t often happen in Oregon, there’s no reason to purchase coverage for this natural disaster.

Why is Flood Damage Not Covered in a Standard Policy?

Flood damage resulting from heavy rain or a hurricane is never covered by a standard renters (and homeowners) insurance company.

If you live in an area of Oregon that gets flooding, you may want to purchase flood insurance.

While hurricanes are not likely, the Pacific Ocean is typically too cold, and Oregonians who live near rivers, lakes, and streams are still at risk of flooding and landslides due to heavy rain and snowmelt.

The reason why insurers don’t cover flood damage is that the destruction that is left behind can be catastrophic.

If all policyholders who live in an enclave had the same insurance company and made claims based on the same weather event, it’s most likely that the insurer would be financially crippled from all the payouts.

Flood damage resulting from the water back up or water originating in the rental is covered, however.

But flood damage resulting from water coming from outside the house, leaking into it, and destroying your property is not covered.

Renters flood insurance can protect all of the following and more from flood damage:

• Clothes
• Electronics
• Furniture
• Curtains
• Portable and window air conditioners
• Portable microwave ovens and portable dishwashers
• Carpets, unless they were installed over an unfinished floor

What Does Renters Insurance Cover Besides Natural Disasters?

Renters insurance covers any of your personal belongings that are damaged or destroyed by a fire or severe wind or any other covered peril such as theft and burglary.

However, if you have expensive belongings such as high-cost jewelry, antiques, or fine art, your insurance will only cover these things up to the policy limit.

If the policy coverage is $30,000 and your valuables cost more than that, to get the total cost of your items, you’ll probably want to buy floater insurance or additional insurance in the form of a rider to cover these items in full.

If you can afford to buy renters insurance with a very high limit to cover any total damages, your only additional expense will be the cost of your deductible when making a claim.

When to Purchase Additional Renters Insurance

Basic renters insurance pays for personal belongings, but if these are high in value, they may be subject to a low limit of liability, causing your insurer to only pay up to a certain amount.

The standard limit for personal property coverage in a renters insurance policy is usually $30,000 per claim.

So, if your jewelry is appraised at $25,000, you will have to pay the extra $5,000 if the jewelry is stolen or damaged.

Any damaged or stolen belongings that exceed your personal property limit will not be covered, leaving you to pay the difference for replacements.

But consider the coverage amount allowances.

If an insurer puts a cap on how much additional coverage you may want to buy, maybe that’s not the company you want to go with.

And if a renters insurance carrier has no personal property limit, which means you can add as much coverage as you desire, then that’s a company worth looking into.

You’ll want to increase your personal property limit, so it’s close to or greater than the value of your belongings.

Or, to make sure that your jewelry is insured to its total value, you can add a rider or endorsement to your policy that comes with an additional expense.

A rider or endorsement adds more benefits to your basic renters insurance policy.

Make a Renters Insurance Home Inventory

Many renters skip getting renters insurance because they believe it costs a lot and that they have no valuable property to protect.

Renters insurance, which protects rental apartments and condos, an entire home, or a mobile home, is the cheapest thing you’ll ever buy for your rental and is the easiest to qualify for or obtain.

And as for not having valuables, do a home inventory.

A home inventory is when you itemize each item you own and determine the cost for each. If you can’t remember the price or don’t have the receipt, don’t sweat it.

You can usually shop for comparable items online if the manufacturer no longer makes the items, or you can go online and find the exact match if the items are still being sold.

After itemizing and calculating the worth of each item, you’ll most likely find that you have a property you may want to protect, whether that’s something as big as a sofa or as small as an iPad.

What Should You Look for in an Insurer?

In many cases, prospective policyholders look at the cost of an insurer. That should be done to get the best deal and so you can compare prices with other insurers.

However, it would be best if you also looked at other factors.

One factor is customer service or customer support.

You’ll want an insurance company with great reviews and ratings so that if you ever need to file a claim, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that your company has a strong track record of customer satisfaction.

And you’ll want agents who are responsive to your needs.

They should be willing to explain everything about your policy in detail and without insurance jargon and have the patience to go over the policy for as long as it takes.

So, it would be best if you also looked for a company with knowledgeable agents.

In addition, you should also look at an insurer’s financial stability.

Doing so will help you understand if an insurer can reimburse you after a covered loss.

If the financial strength is not great, you may be looking for a perpetually delayed payout.

To understand a company’s financial strength, look at a rating site like A.M. Best, which ranks insurers by their ability to pay.

Before purchasing a policy, it’s important to determine the amount of personal property and liability coverage you need so you don’t overpay or you don’t underpay.

Some renters insurers like State Farm don’t have a limit on the personal property coverage that you can purchase. Look out for these companies, as most put a cap on how much coverage you can add.

Methodology

We thoroughly researched the state's top renters’ insurance companies and narrowed the list down to those that operated in Oregon. We rated them on criteria that included ease of use, ratings, financial strength, customer, and affordability. Read our full in-depth renters insurance methodology.

How We Ranked and Picked the Best Renters Insurance Companies in Oregon

To determine the best renters insurance companies, we looked at their affordability, coverage options, technological advancements, customer reviews, and discounts.

Affordability

Renters insurance tends to be fairly affordable, but we still found a significant range of prices statewide. 

We considered why, for example, one company had a higher premium than others and the reason why.

And we also scrutinized a company that had low premiums. How affordable can an insurer be and still offer many discounts and coverages. We also searched for those insurers that consistently offered low rates.

Discounts

We looked at how many discounts a company offered. If an insurer had many, then that could significantly lower a tenant’s premiums.

We looked at the most popular discounts, such as bundling, because that could significantly reduce your premium. But we were always on the lookout for discounts unique to an insurer.

Technology

We also considered if a renters insurance company had a website and a mobile app. If it did, and both were intuitive and easy to use, even for those not used to doing business or sharing personal information online, then we put that company on our list.

Customer Reviews

For customer reviews, we zoned in on how many customers felt about a company’s customer service. We also looked at whether customers were generally happy with the service they receive from an insurer.

Coverage Options

Since every renter has different coverage needs, we looked at how many coverages an insurer offered that could fit the majority of renter’s needs.

Specifically, we looked at the differences between ACV, replacement, and valuable item coverage. You can add more coverage to fully cover expensive items like jewelry or high-end electronics.

We also paid attention to extra coverages that came standard and at no additional cost to you. This way, we counted on the accessible coverages to make an insurer’s policy more comprehensive.

Locations

We surveyed insurance coverage prices in Portland, Salem, Eugene, Hillsboro, and Bend.