How Much Does Renters Insurance Cost in New York?

The search for renters insurance can be daunting, especially when you're looking to cover your rental in one of the biggest cities in the world - New York City.

With all of the variables like location, coverage options, and pricing that go into shopping for a renters policy, it can be hard to know what amount is enough and how much you should expect to pay.

For those living in one of America's most populous cities, this guide will provide an overview of how much renters insurance typically costs and the most important factors you need to consider when deciding on coverage needs.

According to PropertyNest research, the average basic renters insurance in New York State varies depending on your coverage needs, but you can expect to pay around $16.33 per month or $180 per year.

Compare Renters Insurance Rates in NY

Should You Get Renters Insurance?

If you think you don’t have enough personal property to justify the cost of renters insurance, you aren’t calculating the value of how much you own correctly.

According to Allstate, the value of the average renter’s personal property who lives in a standard two-bedroom apartment is approximately $30,000.

There are the basics, such as your laptop, smart TV, stereo, furniture, and clothing.

Designer clothing and sofas are the most expensive things you probably own.

If you don’t buy insurance, an attempt to replace your personal property if there’s a fire or theft can be financially crippling.

Thus, you must create a home inventory and make sense of the value of what you own.

Here is the typical claim limit for the most common personal property.

Lemonade

Even though Lemonade is relatively new, it is extremely popular.

The use of Artificial intelligence (AI) means you can get insured in 90 seconds.

Lemonade’s app is intuitive and easy to use, unlike other insurers. You can submit a claim on the app and get reimbursed for a covered loss in under five minutes.

That alone makes Lemonade attractive; rental insurance companies are notorious for processing claims in a few weeks or longer.

Cost of Lemonade Renters Insurance

Lemonade is known for having monthly rates as low as $5.

Buying additional coverage to raise your policy limit is possible, but it will raise your monthly rate.

Read a full Lemonade home insurance review.

Allstate

Allstate is one of the best-known insurance companies in the world due to their car insurance. But the company also offers favorable rental policies.

That’s because Allstate is known for giving policyholders discounts based on many factors.

If your apartment has security features like alarm systems, smoke detectors, deadbolt locks, and other safety features, this will result in lower policy quotes because they reduce the likelihood of theft or damage.

If you live near a fire station or hydrant, your rental insurance quote will be lower than for someone who lives in a remote area.

And even when you set up auto-pay, you’ll get a discount too.

Cost of Allstate Renters Insurance

On average, the basic renters insurance policy is $21 a month.

Read a full Allstate renters insurance review.

Liberty Mutual

Liberty Mutual is known for its auto insurance, but it also sells rental insurance.

Liberty Mutual isn’t cheap, but you can lower your rate through its many discounts.

You can save by bundling, going paperless, being claim-free, shopping in advance, and enrolling in autopay, to name a few.

And you can file a claim online rather than calling them, where you will hear a lot of Muzak.

You can easily get an add-on like “personal property replacement,” which will pay the full cost and not just the cash value of your stolen or damaged personal effect. Signing up for jewelry coverage and even earthquake coverage is simple and easy.

Cost of Liberty Mutual Renters Insurance

The average Liberty Mutual renters insurance basic policy is $16.38 a month.

Read a full Liberty Mutual home insurance review.

Jetty Insurance

Jetty Insurance started in 2015, and while reviews online are mostly positive, its ratings are not.

If you rent your home using Airbnb, Jetty gives you protection against theft.

Jetty Deposit is a service where the insurance acts as a lease co-signer and guarantees security deposits.

In addition, its Unlock Deposit program refunds a renter’s original security deposit in cash. However, both services have a cost. Their monthly fee is paid throughout your lease term.

Jetty also gives you discounts on moving companies, furniture rental, and food delivery.

To receive a quote, you must make it on the company’s website. Even though Jetty is all about technology, you can’t file a claim online. You have to do it over the phone.

State Farm

State Farm is known for its affordable prices and customer satisfaction for New York City renters.

State Farm has a strong local presence that makes filing claims easier.

But their app is renowned for being able to produce a quote for you in the fastest manner possible, and you can submit a claim quickly as well.

Like Allstate, you can get discounts if your rental has security features.

So invest in a burglar alarm, a smoke detector, or an extra lock on your door, to name a few.

Cost of State Farm Renters Insurance

The average State Farm renter insurance basic policy is $10.83 a month.

Read a full State Farm renters insurance review.

Nationwide

Nationwide’s standard renters insurance has great coverage that distinguishes it from other policies.

Unlike most other policies, the company covers more than your apartment. You're covered if you have valuables stolen from your car or boat.

Even more impressive is Nationwide’s fraud protection, which is rarely covered in standard policies. Nationwide pays up to a limit you select if someone uses your credit or debit card or forges your checks, for example.

You also get coverage for additions or alterations you make to your rental home.

In addition, Nationwide will pay you the item's depreciated value if you have a personal property loss. If replacing the item costs more than the claim payment, the company will cover the difference,

This is rare for rental insurance companies that only offer replacement cost coverage as an add-on.

Cost of Nationwide Renters Insurance

The average Nationwide renters insurance basic policy costs $24 a month.

Progressive

Progressive is an insurance provider known for its car insurance. Along with 24/7 customer support, Progressive’s renters insurance offers a large range of discounts.

If you bundle your renters with an auto policy, you can get a 5% discount.

Opting out of paper documents and getting them by email also allows you for a discount.

You will get a discount if you start your insurance at least three days after receiving your quote.

Security features in your apartment will also give you a discount.

The majority of reviews for Progressive are positive, but the one issue that customers felt uneasy about was the fact that the insurance company requires you to share your most intimate personal information—your social security number and your birthdate—in step 1in the application process.

Cost of Progressive Renters Insurance

The average basic policy costs $21.01 a month.

FYI: Even with discounts, Progressive is one of the most expensive renters insurance on this list.

Read a full Progressive renters insurance review.

How Renters Insurance Works?

Renters insurance covers losses and damages to a homeowner’s apartment and the items in it. It covers unexpected personal property

damage, theft, and legal liability.

Renters insurance is an affordable way to protect your personal belongings in your rental home.

Any tenant who rents an apartment, condo, home, or other dwellings can buy renters insurance.

What’s the Difference Between Renters and Homeowners Insurance?

Renters insurance is similar to homeowners insurance but differs in two ways.

• Renters insurance doesn’t cover the home in which you live - If the structure of your home is damaged, it’s the landlord’s responsibility who will pay for the defects using their own landlord insurance plan.
• Renters insurance is much cheaper than homeowners insurance - Because you don't need to cover as much liability, naturally, the premiums are much lower.

Renters Insurance is Necessary Coverage

By law, you aren't required to carry renters insurance if you rent your home.

However, in New York state, it’s legal for landlords to require you to have renters insurance so that you have coverage in case there is a fire or water damage in your unit, for example.

And it will protect you because your landlord—in most cases—may not be liable for damages.

If you really want to opt out of renters insurance, find an apartment that doesn’t require one.

However, it's highly recommended that you do.

So, before moving into your loft in Tribeca, ensure you are covered.

Without renters insurance, you’ll be on the hook for all these repairs and replacements.

Doesn't the Landlord's Insurance Cover You?

Many renters who don’t have insurance believe that the landlord's policy will cover any damages to their personal possessions if someone breaks into your apartment.

But the rule is that the landlord must be found to have personal liability for the break-in to have to cover the damages.

If that’s the case, your stolen jewelry won’t be covered by your landlord’s insurance.

The truth is, there are a lot of claims from tenants that landlords do not pay.

There are only two occasions when a landlord shells out money.

The Landlord Fails to Provide You With Habitable Conditions

When a landlord has been aware or notified of an ongoing or prior problem that can be hazardous to you but still fails to make the necessary changes to fix the situation in a reasonable time frame, as a direct result, your unit may have become unlivable.

For example, if your toilet is broken or doesn’t flush, this is unsanitary and forces you to live in an uninhabitable situation.

Or if your radiator fails to work, and you have to live without heat.

These and more are a landlord’s responsibility to fix without you having to pay a thing.

The Landlord Doesn't Provide You With Working Appliances

When appliances fail to work, or any items that get damaged are included in the lease agreement.

Examples include a busted dishwasher, refrigerator or ovens, and washing machines.

The fact is you pay to live in an apartment as described in the lease agreement.

If that’s not the case, it’s up to the landlord to fix any problems.

And one of the perks of renting is that it’s your landlord’s responsibility, not yours, to insure the building and make repairs if a hazardous situation happens and ruins areas of the building.

What Does Renters Insurance Cover?

Standard renters insurance protects you, your home, and your personal belongings from monetary loss.

It covers your personal items, pays your expenses if you need to relocate temporarily during covered repairs, and includes liability in case you are sued for negligence.

Three Primary Types of Coverage for Renters

Renters insurance covers liability, personal property coverage, and additional living expenses.

Renters Insurance Covers Personal Liability

Liability protection covers you and your family members if bodily injury or property damage is caused to other people.

If a dog bites your visitor, and the visitor must have surgery or go to a rehabilitation center every week, your insurance will cover liability costs.

If that visitor sues you, your liability portion will pay for the cost of defending you in court and even pay for any monetary awards.

However, some insurers exclude dog bites or certain breeds from renters' policies, so if you have a dog, check with your agent on whether you’re covered or not.

You are also covered for the cost of damage you do to someone else’s property.

For example, suppose your son accidentally throws a ball into your neighbor’s window, causing it to shatter. In that case, liability coverage will repair or replace those windows, but only up to your policy limits.

A standard policy features up to $100,000 in liability coverage.

The good thing is that unlike the other types of coverage in your policy, liability insurance doesn't have a deductible that you must pay for out-of-pocket before your insurance company begins paying for the losses.

Personal Property Damage

If you have valuables such as expensive jewelry, musical instruments, and artwork that get damaged or stolen in a “covered peril,” generally, renters insurance will cover these items up to your policy’s limit.

A covered peril is a damaging event that is covered in your policy, such as fire, wind, or theft.

Renters insurance reimburses your loss or destruction for the following reasons.

Additional Living Expenses

Additional living expenses (ALE) kick in if you have to go to a hotel because your apartment is unhabitable due to severe damage from insured disasters.

Your policy will reimburse you above and beyond your normal living expenses. For example, things like your restaurant meals or other essential living expenses are covered until your apartment is safe to enter after a rebuild.

What Renters Insurance Doesn’t Cover

Most renters insurance won’t cover damage from two things:

earthquakes or floods.

In this instance, you may have to pay for repairs yourself if you experience these disasters.

But there is a way to get coverage.

Earthquakes

Earthquake insurance can be bought separately or as a rider to your renters policy.

Floods

Flood insurance protects your apartment and helps you recover from damages caused by flooding from excessive rainfall, tidal flooding, or wind-driven storm surge, as the NYC Housing Recovery put it.

Let’s say torrential rain happens outdoors before coming into your apartment. That’s considered a flood and is not covered under your insurance.

The most common flood claim is water damage or overflow from your bathroom or kitchen that damages the apartment below you. For example, if the water in your bathtub overflows.

Water damages happen a lot in apartment units, so you should seriously consider getting added coverage.

One thing to remember is that basic policies never cover flood damage.

You can get flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

However, your personal belongings or content in your apartment aren’t covered. This means you need to take a second flood insurance policy from the NFIP. Typically. you should get coverage solely to cover items with $100K limits, which again is the “normal” consensus rate.

Riders

Adding water damage coverage is an example of a rider.

What is a rider?

A rider, also called a “floater.” adds more coverage to a standard rental insurance policy. The rider kicks in when the standard policy coverage ends.

Riders are often a standalone policy meant to insure your most prized and expensive possessions specifically.

Some common riders include identity theft coverage and extended valuables coverage. You’ll pay a lot more to add riders to your policy, but you’ll get a higher amount of coverage.

Suppose you have expensive jewelry, for example. In that case, you should take out a rider to protect every piece of valuable jewelry you own in case your valuables get stolen or damaged by fire.

That way, your insurance will pay for the full value of your pearl necklace.

For example, if you are burglarized, and your pearl necklace worth $2,000 gets stolen, you won’t get back the full value if you don’t take out a rider.

Renters insurance will cover you up to a limit. If your limit is $1,000, say, for jewelry. you will only get that amount.

In general, remember that you should not rely on renters insurance to cover valuables.

Liability limits generally start at about $100,000, the common coverage standard renters insurance allows.

That can get easily eaten up with just one damaged necklace, so it’s always a good idea to take out a rider or purchase a higher level of protection to increase your liability coverage limit beyond the standard amount.

As for your deductible, choose a figure that you can afford. $500 to $1,000 is the going rate for the most common deductibles.

What is a Deductible?

A deductible is basically the amount of money you’ll need to pay when making a claim.

If your possessions are damaged or destroyed, your deductible is the amount of money you would have to pay to replace them before insurance coverage takes over. 

For renters insurance, deductibles usually range between $500 to $1,000.

If you choose a $1,000 deductible, you can potentially save about 10% on monthly fees. And if you choose a $2,500 deductible, you can also save another 10%.

Just note that the deductible applies only to property claims, not liability claims.

An example is if you have a $1,000 deductible and make a claim for $10,000 worth of damage to your property.

Your renters insurance will cover $9,000, and you’ll have to pay $1,000 out of your own pocket.

You can choose to take a high or low deductible, depending on how much you want to pay for the policy.

But don’t try to save money to by getting the lowest possible deductible.

Because if you choose to select a higher one, the price of your premium will be lower.

How Renters Insurance Companies Determine Your Estimate

Have you ever wondered what factors determine the cost of renters insurance in New York City? Well, here they are:

1. Value of Property
2. Security Measures
3. Credit Score
4. Pets
5. Natural Disasters
6. Neighborhood Crime Rates
7. Value of Property
8. Security Measures
9. Credit Score
10. Pets
11. Natural Disasters

Value of Property

The greater the value of your belongings, the more expensive your personal property will be to insure. If you live in Billionaires’ Row and collect important artwork, you will pay more for your insurance than if you live in a studio on Bruckner Boulevard next to a KFC and the most expensive thing you own is your mattress on the floor.

Security Measures

Renters who have security features like alarm systems, smoke detectors, deadbolt locks, and other safety features in their apartment will pay less for their insurance due to a lower likelihood of vandalism or theft.

Credit Score

Renters insurance is often more expensive for those with a low credit score.

Note that renter insurance companies check your credit score when quoting you.

But it is a “soft pull,” meaning it’s an inquiry that won’t affect your credit score. In contrast, a “hard pull” will impact your FICO score.

Pets

If your dog Cate Blanchett bites someone inside or outside your unit, the liability portion of your insurance will cover any medical bills.

However, if you have an aggressive breed of dog, like a wolf hybrid, pitbull, or rottweiler, this will raise your renters insurance rate since your company may have to pay for the costs if that person sues you, for example.

You should always check the fine print. Some policies will not cover an “aggressive” dog.

Natural Disasters

Your rates will be higher if you live in areas prone to hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, and other natural risks.

Neighborhood Crime Rates

If you live in an area known for its crime rates or an area where there’s a long history of burglaries, your quote will be very high.

Here is the monthly cost of a $500 deductible and a $1,000 deductible by insurance companies serving New York City.

• Fire or lightning
• Windstorm or hail
• Explosion
• Riot or civil commotion
• Damage caused by aircraft
• Damage caused by vehicles
• Smoke
• Vandalism or malicious mischief
• Theft
• Volcanic eruption
• A falling object
• The weight of ice, snow, or sleet
• Accidental discharge of water or steam from within certain household systems or appliancesSudden and accidental tearing apart, cracking, burning, or bulging of certain household systems
• Freezing of certain household systems or appliances.Certain sudden, accidental damage from artificially generated electric currents

Methodology

We chose the most popular renters insurance companies rather than the best.

To start, we looked at the 4+ star ratings by customers on the BBB website and the complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

To create the bulk of the qualities for each renters insurance company and to come up with a monthly price, we considered coverage, available add-ons, discounts, and customer ratings.

Customer ratings were defined by the ease of use when processing or filing a claim. We honed in on the complaints a company received, as it’s an indicator of the overall customer experience. We based this measure on the NAIC National Complaint Index and utilized the J.D. Power U.S. Home Insurance Study in the renters insurance segment.

Finally, we took to the J.D. Power Home Insurance Satisfaction Study to see how customers rated their experience with each insurance provider.

We found a recurring and overwhelming complaint among customers based on how easy you can manage your policy and claims online or using each company’s app. Apparently, more and more policyholders or potential customers are looking to sidestep talking to a live agent and prefer going online to register or submit a claim.

Read a full PropertyNest renters insurance methodology.