Ratings Methodology for Homeowners Insurance

Our comprehensive rating system evaluates insurers across several categories to help you find the best home insurance for your needs.

35 Insurers Reviewed

16 Categories Assessed

42 Data Points Analyzed

Methodology, broken down by category

We assess home insurers across four weighted categories and 12 subcategories. Here's how we weigh them:

5.0

Overall score

We consider the experience of people who are buying and managing a home insurance policy. We use data about complaints to state regulators and third-party surveys to evaluate consumer satisfaction. We also look at how easy it is to interact with insurers by evaluating their digital tools, website and customer support methods. The best insurers have few consumer complaints and lots of user-friendly features, like online quotes and live chat.

Financial strength (30%)

We evaluate an insurer’s ability to pay future claims by using assessments from independent agencies such as AM Best and Demotech. The top home insurance companies have financial strength ratings of A, A+ or A++.

Coverage (25%)

We look at how insurers cover a home’s dwelling and personal property (replacement cost vs. actual cash value, for instance) and how many common policy endorsements are available. Insurers score well if they offer broad coverage in their standard policies and a wide range of optional add-ons.

Discounts (5%)

We base this rating on how many common discounts an insurer offers its policyholders.

Data collection and review process

We collect data points for each insurer from its public-facing website, its sample policies and from company representatives, public filings, state regulator data and third-party analyses. These data points are then compared against one another and against NerdWallet's standards for good insurance companies to determine a star rating. Final star ratings are presented on a scale of one to five stars, where a one-star score represents "poor" and a five-star score represents "excellent."

Our consumer experience ratings include complaints to state regulators relative to a company’s size. Each year, we examine three years of complaints received by state insurance regulators and reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. To assess how insurers compare to 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, we calculated a similar index for each insurer, weighted by market shares of each subsidiary, over the three-year period. We conduct our data analysis and reach our conclusions independently and without the endorsement of the NAIC.

Data accuracy

Data is collected on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy. We also update reviews throughout the year as necessary. We establish and maintain contact with insurers to ensure we have the most up-to-date information.

The review team

The writers and editors behind our homeowners insurance reviews are insurance specialists who have had their work appear in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Chicago-Sun Times, U.S. News & World Report and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Each writer and editor follows NerdWallet’s strict guidelines for editorial integrity.