If your home insurance renewal has gone up, sometimes way up, you’re not imagining it. Stanford researchers found average California home insurance premiums rose about 84% between 2020 and 2026. Homeowners in the Sierra foothills and mountains have often felt it even more.
Here’s a plain-English look at why, what the state is doing about it, and what you can actually control.
Why rates are going up
1. Wildfire losses
California has experienced a string of devastating wildfires, and the January 2025 Los Angeles fires were among the costliest disasters in the state’s history. Insurers pay those claims, and rates eventually reflect them.
2. The cost to rebuild
Construction labor, lumber and building materials cost much more than they did a few years ago, and newer building codes add cost too. Higher rebuild costs mean higher dwelling limits and higher premiums.
3. Reinsurance
Insurance companies buy their own insurance, called reinsurance, to protect against catastrophic losses. Reinsurance for California wildfire risk has become much more expensive.
4. Catastrophe models
For decades, California rates were set mostly by looking backward at past losses. New rules now let insurers use forward-looking wildfire catastrophe models, which better reflect today’s risk. That’s more accurate, but often higher.
5. FAIR Plan pressure
As private carriers pulled back, the FAIR Plan grew rapidly. After the LA fires, the Department of Insurance approved a $1 billion assessment on FAIR Plan member insurers. Costs like that ripple through the whole market. The FAIR Plan itself also raised rates by an average of 29.1% for renewals on or after October 15, 2026. See The 2026 FAIR Plan Rate Increase.
6. Years of catching up
California’s rate approval process kept increases modest for years, even as risk climbed. Some of today’s increases are a catch-up from that period.
What the state is doing: the Sustainable Insurance Strategy
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s Sustainable Insurance Strategy is the biggest change to California’s insurance rules in decades. It lets insurers use catastrophe models and the California net cost of reinsurance in their rates. In exchange, insurers using those tools must commit to writing at least 85% of their statewide market share in wildfire-distressed areas. In plain terms: rates may rise in the short term, but the goal is more choices, especially for homeowners now stuck on the FAIR Plan.
What you can control
- Shop with an independent broker. Carriers price the same home very differently, and appetites are shifting as companies return to wildfire areas.
- Make your home more insurable. Class A roof, ember-resistant vents, a clean Zone Zero and defensible space.
- Claim every discount. Safer from Wildfires credits, Firewise USA communities, protective devices and bundling.
- Check your home’s data and scores. See ISO Maps, FireLine and Brush Scores Explained.
- Choose your deductible wisely. See How Your Deductible Works.
- Don’t cut coverage below rebuild cost. Being underinsured after a total loss costs far more than any premium savings. See Are You Underinsured?
See what’s driving your premium
The quickest way to know which of these factors you can actually change is to look at your home the way an underwriter does.
Phil or a member of our team visits your property and looks at it the way insurance underwriters do, so you know where your home stands and what to do next.
- Reviews your home against carriers’ own underwriting guidelines
- Verifies your ISO mapping: the actual distance to the nearest fire station and hydrant
- Identifies and validates mitigation discounts, which are hard to sort out on your own
- Captures the photos and details carriers, and the FAIR Plan if needed, require up front
- Gives you clear next steps to put your home in its best position for coverage
This is an insurability review only. It isn’t a home inspection, an appraisal or a fire agency defensible space inspection.
Book a Walk-Through Email phil@gold.insureHow we help
- We shop admitted carriers first, every time.
- We show you every option we find: admitted, non-admitted, and FAIR Plan with a DIC policy, with the pros, cons and real costs.
- We tell you who’s behind each policy: the carrier, how it’s backed and how it’s rated.
- We don’t stop looking. If today’s best option is the FAIR Plan or a non-admitted carrier, that’s a starting point, not where we finish. We keep re-marketing your home until competitive admitted options return, and we move you when they do.
Big renewal increase? Let’s look at it together and re-shop your home. Book a 30-minute review with me or request a free quote. Current clients with questions about an existing policy or renewal can reach our service team at team@gold.insure.
Specialists in California’s wildland-urban interface, where homes meet forest, brush and grassland.
Phil Irwin, President, Gold Insurance Solutions. CA License #6000540. General information as of October 2026, not legal advice. Coverage and pricing vary by carrier and home.