The Best Home Insurance in New Jersey for 2024
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The average cost of homeowners insurance in New Jersey is $1,150 per year. In comparison, the national average is $1,915 per year.
NerdWallet analyzed data from several insurance companies selling policies in New Jersey to help you find the best home insurance in the state in the following categories:
Best for affordability: Travelers.
Best for coverage: The Andover Companies.
Best for consumer experience: Nationwide.
Note: Some insurance companies included in this article may have made changes in their underwriting practices and no longer issue new policies in your state.
Best affordable homeowners insurance in New Jersey: Travelers
Coverage options
Discounts
NAIC complaints
Travelers
Coverage options
Discounts
NAIC complaints
At $920 per year, Travelers homeowners insurance is less expensive, on average, than the statewide average of $1,150.
Travelers offers a robust online experience. You can use the website to get a homeowners insurance quote, file and track claims, make payments and learn about insurance basics.
Its coverage offerings are similarly strong. For example, you may be able to add extra coverage in case the dwelling limit on your home isn’t enough to rebuild your house after a disaster. One unique option is Travelers’ green home coverage, which pays extra if you want to use eco-friendly materials when repairing or rebuilding your home after a covered claim.
To learn more, read our Travelers home insurance review.
Best homeowners insurance in New Jersey for coverage: The Andover Companies
The Andover Companies
Coverage options
Discounts
NAIC complaints
The Andover Companies
Coverage options
Discounts
NAIC complaints
The Andover Companies’ home insurance policies generally come with broader coverage for your belongings and more coverage for the structure of your home than a standard homeowners policy provides. (Note that most but not all homes qualify for this coverage.)
Most Andover policies also include a generous amount of ordinance or law coverage, which pays to upgrade your home to current building codes during repairs after a covered claim.
Learn more with our Andover Companies home insurance review.
Best homeowners insurance in New Jersey for consumer experience: Nationwide
Nationwide
Coverage options
Discounts
NAIC complaints
Nationwide
Coverage options
Discounts
NAIC complaints
Nationwide offers a robust consumer experience for its customers, including a website that makes it easy to manage policies, file and track claims, and set up automatic billing. It also has a highly rated app for Android and iOS that allows customers to file and track claims, review policy documents, and set up autopay.
In addition, Nationwide’s customers have several ways to get assistance, such as reaching out to their agent or calling the company’s customer service hotline. Outside of business hours, they can use the Nationwide website to get proof of insurance, pay bills and schedule callbacks. A chatbot is also available to answer basic questions.
Learn more with our Nationwide homeowners insurance review.
Full list of the best homeowners insurance in New Jersey
NerdWallet analyzed dozens of home insurance companies to find the best home insurance in New Jersey. Here are all of the insurers that received a NerdWallet star rating of 4.5 or higher:
Company | NerdWallet star rating | Average annual rate |
|---|---|---|
Not available | ||
Not available | ||
Not available | ||
$1,005 | ||
Not available | ||
$1,480 | ||
Not available | ||
$1,220 | ||
$920 | ||
USAA* | $1,100 | |
*USAA homeowners policies are available only to active military, veterans and their families. | ||
How much does homeowners insurance cost in New Jersey?
The average annual cost of home insurance in New Jersey is $1,150. That’s 40% less than the national average of $1,915.
In most U.S. states, including New Jersey, many insurers use your credit-based insurance score to help set rates. Your insurance score is similar but not identical to your traditional credit score.
In New Jersey, those with poor credit pay an average of $2,240 per year for homeowners insurance, according to NerdWallet’s rate analysis. That’s 95% more than those with good credit.
Average cost of homeowners insurance in New Jersey by city
The cost of your policy depends on where you live in New Jersey. For example, the average cost of homeowners insurance in Newark is $1,260 per year, on average, while homeowners in Piscataway and Edison pay less than $900 per year, on average.
City | Average annual rate | Average monthly rate |
|---|---|---|
Bayonne | $1,105 | $92 |
Brick | $1,225 | $102 |
Camden | $1,210 | $101 |
Cherry Hill | $1,175 | $98 |
Clifton | $1,065 | $89 |
East Orange | $1,305 | $109 |
Edison | $830 | $69 |
Elizabeth | $1,180 | $98 |
Hoboken | $1,120 | $93 |
Irvington | $1,150 | $96 |
Jackson | $1,020 | $85 |
Jersey City | $1,175 | $98 |
Lakewood | $1,080 | $90 |
Newark | $1,260 | $105 |
North Bergen | $1,105 | $92 |
Passaic | $1,275 | $106 |
Paterson | $1,220 | $102 |
Perth Amboy | $1,020 | $85 |
Piscataway | $870 | $73 |
Plainfield | $1,010 | $84 |
Toms River | $1,170 | $98 |
Trenton | $1,145 | $95 |
Union City | $1,150 | $96 |
Vineland | $1,130 | $94 |
West New York | $1,025 | $85 |
The cheapest home insurance in New Jersey
Here are the insurers we found with average annual rates below the New Jersey average of $1,150.
Company | NerdWallet star rating | Average annual rate |
|---|---|---|
Selective | Not rated | $695 |
Cumberland Mutual | Not rated | $725 |
$920 | ||
$1,005 | ||
New Jersey Skylands | Not rated | $1,065 |
Franklin Mutual | Not rated | $1,130 |
US Coastal | Not rated | $1,140 |
USAA* | $1,100 | |
*USAA homeowners policies are available only to active military, veterans and their families. | ||
What to know about New Jersey homeowners insurance
There are certain risks you may face when living in New Jersey. Here are a few of the most common, along with steps you can take to insure your home properly.
Hurricanes and tropical storms
To protect yourself financially from hurricanes and tropical storms, you’ll need insurance for both wind and flood damage. While most homeowners insurance policies cover wind damage, they generally don’t cover flooding. If you live near the coast or in another area prone to flooding, you may want to buy separate flood insurance. (Depending on where you live, your mortgage lender may even require it.)
If you live near the coast, your homeowners policy may have a separate hurricane deductible that’s higher than your general deductible for other types of claims.
A hurricane deductible is typically a percentage of your home’s dwelling coverage rather than a flat dollar amount. So if your home is insured for $300,000 with a 5% deductible, you’ll have to pay for the first $15,000 of damage from a storm. You can find out whether you have a hurricane deductible by checking your homeowners declarations page.
Winter storms
Winter weather can cause a variety of problems for your home, including bursting pipes and fallen trees. A standard homeowners policy often covers damage due to snow or ice, though it depends on the circumstances.
For example, damage resulting from a burst pipe might not be covered if you were away from home and left the thermostat set too low. If heavy snow knocks a tree onto your roof, that damage would likely be covered. But if the tree simply falls in your yard, your policy may not pay to remove it.
Tornadoes
A standard homeowners policy covers damage to your home due to windstorms, which include tornadoes. However, it may not cover damage to your trees or landscaping.
Leaking oil tanks
If your property has an underground storage tank for heating oil, you may want to check your homeowners policy to see what coverage you have. These oil tanks may leak, requiring expensive cleanup and potentially putting you at risk of a lawsuit if the damage spreads beyond your property line.
Some New Jersey homeowners insurance companies will charge you extra if you have an underground storage tank. They may also refuse to pay for damage on your property if the tank leaks. You may be able to get a certain amount of liability coverage for the tank. That means if someone sues you because a leak causes damage to their property, the company would help cover the costs.
New Jersey department of insurance
New Jersey’s Department of Banking and Insurance can help policyholders who have questions or complaints about their homeowners insurance. You can get information online or call the agency’s consumer hotline at 800-446-7467.
By law, you must receive a one-page coverage summary when you buy or renew your New Jersey homeowners insurance policy. This document explains what your policy does and doesn’t cover.
Looking for more insurance in New Jersey?
Methodology
NerdWallet calculated median rates for 40-year-old homeowners from various insurance companies in every ZIP code across the state. All rates are rounded to the nearest $5.
Sample homeowners were nonsmokers with good credit living in a single-family, two-story home built in 1984. They had a $1,000 deductible and the following coverage limits:
$300,000 in dwelling coverage.
$30,000 in other structures coverage.
$150,000 in personal property coverage.
$60,000 in loss of use coverage.
$300,000 in liability coverage.
$1,000 in medical payments coverage.
We made minor changes to the sample policy in cases where rates for the above coverage limits or deductibles weren’t available.
We changed the credit tier from “good” to “poor,” as reported to the insurer, to see rates for homeowners with poor credit.
These are sample rates generated through Quadrant Information Services. Your own rates will be different.
Star rating methodology
NerdWallet’s homeowners insurance ratings reward companies for customer-first features and practices. Ratings are based on weighted averages of scores in several categories, including financial strength, consumer complaints, coverages, discounts and online experience. These ratings are a guide, but we encourage you to shop around and compare several insurance quotes to find the best rate for you. NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our full homeowners insurance rating methodology.
Complaint methodology
NerdWallet examined complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2020-2022. To assess how insurers compare with one another, the NAIC calculates a complaint index each year for each subsidiary, measuring its share of total complaints relative to its size, or share of total premiums in the industry. To evaluate a company’s complaint history, NerdWallet calculated a similar index for each insurer, weighted by market shares of each subsidiary, over the three-year period. NerdWallet conducts its data analysis and reaches conclusions independently and without the endorsement of the NAIC. Ratios are determined separately for auto, home (including renters and condo) and life insurance.
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