Home Insurance Now Takes a Record 9.6% of the Average Mortgage Payment. Here's What Changed.

Your mortgage payment has a line item that's been quietly growing for five years, and most people never look at it until it jumps. It's your homeowners insurance. New numbers show it now eats up more of your payment than at any point on record.
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Here's what the data says, where it's worst, and the one part of that bill you can actually do something about.
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The headline number
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According to ICE's September 2026 Mortgage Monitor, the average single-family mortgage holder paid $209 a month for property insurance in the second quarter of 2026. That's a record, and it works out to 9.6% of the average monthly mortgage payment.
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Put another way, insurance now costs nearly 80% more than it did at the start of 2020. Year over year, it's up 8.7%.
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The good news, and the catch
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There's a real bright spot in this report. The pace of increases is slowing. Insurance costs rose just 1.8% from the first quarter to the second, the smallest quarterly jump since ICE started tracking the number. Annual growth has cooled from a peak of 15.1% at the end of 2024 to 8.7% now.
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Here's the catch. Slower growth off a record high is still a record high. Premiums aren't falling for most people. They're climbing more gently from the most expensive starting point homeowners have ever seen.
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Where it hits hardest
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The national average hides a huge gap. Insurance eats 24.3% of the average mortgage payment in New Orleans. In San Jose, it's 4.3%. Same country, wildly different bill.
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The biggest annual increases showed up in markets hit by extreme weather. Greenville, South Carolina jumped 15.8%. Honolulu rose 14.7%, Minneapolis 13.1%, and Sacramento and San Diego both climbed around 12%. Where your home sits drives a big share of what you pay, which we break down in how location affects your insurance costs.
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Why this matters if you're buying
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This isn't only a homeowner problem. It's a buyer problem too.
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Because insurance is now almost a tenth of the average payment, it weighs on your debt-to-income ratio, the number lenders use to decide how much you can borrow. A higher insurance estimate means a higher monthly payment on paper, which can shrink how much home you qualify for.
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So if you're shopping, get a real insurance quote early, not a rough guess. It affects your purchasing power before you ever make an offer.
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What's actually driving the increase
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One detail in the report is worth understanding, because it changes what you can do about it.
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Most of this year's increase came from rising coverage limits, not from insurers hiking their rates. Coverage limits climbed 5.5% and made up about two-thirds of the annual increase. The cost per $1,000 of coverage rose only 3%.
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In plain terms, it costs more to rebuild a home than it used to, so policies are insuring for higher amounts. You're not just paying a higher rate. You're insuring a more expensive rebuild.
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The part you can review
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Escrow is why this lands on you automatically. Most homeowners pay insurance through their escrow account, so when the premium goes up, your monthly mortgage payment goes up at the next annual review. That's often the real reason a payment jumps, which we cover in why your mortgage payment increased.
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ICE flagged one bright spot for homeowners. People who switched carriers in the past year lowered their premiums by an average of 6.6%, while those who stayed put saw them rise 10.4%, according to the report. Averages aren't promises. Your result depends on your home, your location, and your current carrier. But it's a reason to actually look at your coverage instead of letting it auto-renew.
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Reviewing your homeowners policy at renewal is the one lever you have on this line of your payment. You can't argue down your property taxes, but you can compare where your coverage stands. Rates and coverage options vary by carrier and state, so it's worth a look. Our complete home insurance guide covers what to check, and re-shopping your home insurance walks through how the process works. Some risk-reducing upgrades to your home can factor in too, which we cover in home upgrades that lower your insurance risk.
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Where this goes next
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The slowdown is real, but the pressure isn't gone. Extreme weather and higher rebuilding costs are still pushing premiums up, just at a gentler pace. The next place you'll feel it is your annual escrow analysis, so read that statement when it lands instead of filing it away.
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The takeaway is simple. Insurance is a bigger piece of your mortgage payment than it's ever been. The market sets most of that number, but the coverage you carry is the part you can still review.
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Related from Covered News: our breakdowns of the new escrow interest rules and the September 30 flood insurance deadline.
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Covered is a licensed insurance agency. Not all carriers or products are available through Covered. Availability varies by state. Compensation may be received from carriers.

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