The Best Home Insurance in Pennsylvania for 2024
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The average cost of homeowners insurance in Pennsylvania is $1,410 per year, according to NerdWallet’s rate analysis. That’s compared to the national average of $1,915 per year.
NerdWallet analyzed rates and policies from insurers across the state to determine the best homeowners insurance in Pennsylvania in the following categories:
Best for affordability: Erie.
Best for coverage: Openly and Erie.
Best for consumer experience: Nationwide.
The rates in our analysis are estimates based on many factors, so your rate may differ.
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 Pennsylvania: Erie
Coverage options
Discounts
NAIC complaints
Erie
Coverage options
Discounts
NAIC complaints
Erie's average rate for Pennsylvania homeowners is $1,080 per year. That’s lower than the state average of 1,410. Erie customers can reduce their rates even further by bundling their home and auto insurance, which can fetch a discount of 16% or more. Discounts are also available for homes with certain safety and security features such as smoke alarms or sprinkler systems or for paying your premium in full.
Even with these lower rates, Erie still provides coverage as standard that many insurers don’t, such as guaranteed replacement cost coverage for the structure of your home. With this coverage, the company will pay to rebuild your home completely after a disaster, even if the amount exceeds your dwelling limit.
For more details, read our Erie home insurance review.
Best homeowners insurance in Pennsylvania for coverage: Openly and Erie
Coverage options
Discounts
NAIC complaints
Openly
Coverage options
Discounts
NAIC complaints
Openly’s default homeowners policy goes significantly beyond those of many other insurers. Most notably, it offers guaranteed replacement cost coverage for the structure of your home. That means if your house is destroyed by a covered disaster, Openly will pay whatever it takes to rebuild it the way it was before, up to $5 million.
Plus, if your things are stolen or destroyed, Openly will pay enough for you to buy brand-new replacements, rather than paying less for older items that have lost value over time. It also covers your belongings on an “open perils” basis, paying for damage from anything except scenarios your policy excludes. Most home insurance policies cover damage only from causes specifically named in your policy.
Learn more in our Openly home insurance review.
Erie also earns high marks for coverage. As mentioned above, Erie offers guaranteed replacement cost coverage for your home’s structure as a standard part of its coverage; most insurers charge extra for this.
For more details, read our Erie home insurance review.
Best homeowners insurance in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania
NerdWallet analyzed dozens of home insurance companies to find the best home insurance in Pennsylvania. 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 | ||
Not available | ||
Not available | ||
$1,080 | ||
Not available | ||
$1,950 | ||
Not available | ||
$1,295 | ||
$2,550 | ||
USAA* | $1,315 | |
*USAA homeowners policies are available only to active military, veterans and their families. | ||
How much does homeowners insurance cost in Pennsylvania?
The average annual cost of home insurance in Pennsylvania is $1,410, compared to the national average of $1,915.
In most U.S. states, including Pennsylvania, 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 Pennsylvania, those with poor credit pay an average of $2,855 per year for homeowners insurance, according to NerdWallet’s rate analysis. That’s more than twice as much as those with good credit.
Average cost of homeowners insurance in Pennsylvania by city
The cost of home insurance in Pennsylvania varies based on where you live within the state. For example, the average cost of homeowners insurance in Philadelphia is $1,910 per year, while Pittsburgh homeowners pay $1,330 per year, on average.
City | Average annual rate | Average monthly rate |
|---|---|---|
Allentown | $1,265 | $105 |
Altoona | $1,280 | $107 |
Bethlehem | $1,265 | $105 |
Carlisle | $1,295 | $108 |
Chambersburg | $1,265 | $105 |
Easton | $1,230 | $103 |
Erie | $1,395 | $116 |
Greensburg | $1,360 | $113 |
Harrisburg | $1,295 | $108 |
Johnstown | $1,295 | $108 |
Lancaster | $1,295 | $108 |
Lansdale | $1,340 | $112 |
Lebanon | $1,235 | $103 |
Levittown | $1,630 | $136 |
Mechanicsburg | $1,290 | $108 |
Norristown | $1,400 | $117 |
Philadelphia | $1,910 | $159 |
Pittsburgh | $1,330 | $111 |
Pottstown | $1,300 | $108 |
Reading | $1,295 | $108 |
Scranton | $1,310 | $109 |
State College | $1,200 | $100 |
West Chester | $1,295 | $108 |
Wilkes Barre | $1,330 | $111 |
York | $1,285 | $107 |
The cheapest homeowners insurance in Pennsylvania
Below are companies with average annual rates below the state average of $1,410.
Company | NerdWallet star rating | Average annual rate |
|---|---|---|
Cumberland Mutual | Not rated | $615 |
Penn National | Not rated | $1,020 |
$1,080 | ||
$1,295 | ||
Not rated | $1,350 | |
USAA* | $1,315 | |
*USAA homeowners policies are available only to active military, veterans and their families. | ||
What to know about Pennsylvania homeowners insurance
Pennsylvania faces several types of natural disasters that could damage your home. Below are a few problems you might encounter, plus information on how to make sure your home is covered.
Flooding
Flooding is the most common disaster in the state, according to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. A standard homeowners policy doesn’t cover flood damage, so you may want to buy separate flood insurance. (If you live in a high-risk area and have a mortgage, your lender may require it.)
To find your home’s flood risk, check the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood maps or visit RiskFactor.com, a tool from the nonprofit First Street Foundation.
Winter storms
Snow, sleet, ice and freezing rain can lead to home damage like burst pipes and fallen trees. Most homeowners insurance policies cover damage due to snow and ice, with certain restrictions.
For example, you’d typically be covered if a blizzard knocked a tree on top of your home, damaging the roof or other parts of the structure. But if the tree simply fell over onto the lawn, you likely wouldn’t have coverage for the expense of hauling it away.
Your policy will generally cover damage from frozen pipes as long as you’ve taken reasonable measures to prevent them. Say you went out of town for a week and a pipe burst because you left your thermostat set at 50 degrees. Your insurance company might refuse to pay for the damage because you didn’t keep your home warm enough to prevent pipes from freezing.
Tropical storms and tornadoes
Standard homeowners policies cover wind damage, but some policies may have a separate deductible for hurricanes, tropical storms or “named storms.”
This deductible is a percentage of your home's insured value 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. The deductible can apply to damage from a hurricane, tropical storm or even a tornado that occurs as part of a named storm.
Pennsylvania department of insurance
If you’ve got a question about your policy or a complaint about your insurer, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department may be able to help. You can use the agency’s website to file complaints, look up licensed agents and learn about homeowners insurance in multiple languages. You can contact the department with questions at 877-881-6388.
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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