Best homeowners insurance companies in Rhode Island
Rhode Island experiences hurricanes and flooding. This drives average home insurance costs high — almost 23% higher than the average national premium. While some home insurance companies offer competitive rates, finding the best one for you requires some shopping around.
We examined the homeowners insurance market in Rhode Island and checked out providers’ premiums, policy offerings and customer satisfaction history. Here are our best choices for home insurance companies in Rhode Island:
- Amica: highest popularity
- Allstate: lowest premium
- MetLife: second-lowest premium
- UPC: best flood coverage
Amica: most popular
Amica holds 16.3% of the homeowners insurance market in Rhode Island. This ranks the company as having the most policyholders of the 20 home insurance providers currently operating in Rhode Island.
Amica's average annual homeowners insurance rate in Rhode Island is $1,334, putting it $155 under the Rhode Island average of $1,489. On top of low prices, Amica has excellent customer service. J.D. Power gave Amica an outstanding five-out-of-five rating in its 2019 home insurance customer satisfaction study.
Additionally, NAIC gave Amica a 0.22 Complaint Index rating. The lower an insurer's complaint rating, the fewer complaints it has. The average Complaint Index in Rhode Island is 0.64, putting Amica well below the state average.
Allstate: cheapest rates in Rhode Island
Allstate has an average home insurance cost of $764 in Rhode Island per year, almost half the state average of $1,489. As the graph below shows, the majority of Rhode Island cities fall under the state yearly average.
Allstate also maintains a decent rating of 0.29 on the NAIC Complaint Index. This puts the company below both the state average and national average Complaint Index of 1.0.
Price shouldn't be the sole reason to choose a home insurance company. However, if cost is a priority, before you buy a homeowners insurance policy, we definitely recommend looking into Allstate.
MetLife: second-cheapest home insurance premiums
MetLife’s average home insurance rates in Rhode Island are $1,049 yearly, $440 below the state average premium. MetLife also offers discounts you may take advantage of, such as bundling an auto and home insurance policy. By bundling the two together, you can save as much as 10% off both premiums.
At 0.20, MetLife has one of the lower ratings on the NAIC Complaint Index in Rhode Island. With locations in 36 cities and towns in the state, MetLife makes it easy to find competitive home insurance quotes. Below are some examples of MetLife's rates in Rhode Island. If you're on a budget, look at home insurance rates between MetLife and Allstate in your area to see how their coverage compares.
| City | MetLife annual home insurance rate |
|---|---|
| Woonsocket | $943 |
| Pawtucket | $971 |
| East Providence | $971 |
| Coventry | $980 |
| Cumberland | $981 |
| Warwick | $1,130 |
| Providence | $1,198 |
| Cranston | $1,218 |
| North Providence | $1,251 |
| Average rates are based on estimates provided by Quadrant Information Services. Your rates may vary. | |
UPC: best flood coverage
According to the NOAA National Climatic Data Center, Rhode Island gets an average of 48 inches of rain a year, giving it the 13th highest precipitation rate in the country. This can lead to heavy flooding.
Unfortunately, home insurance doesn’t cover flood damage, but UPC can provide you with many flood insurance options. UPC takes part in FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program, and as an independent provider, it can offer NFIP coverage at a lower-than-average price. UPC also sells flood insurance for every flood zone type, so you can get the best flood coverage available.
UPC's average yearly rate for home insurance is $1,378, $111 below the Rhode Island average home insurance rate of $1,489.
Home insurance companies in Rhode Island
The biggest home insurance companies in Rhode Island are a combination of big guns and smaller providers. The following chart shows the stats of the larger homeowners providers in Rhode Island, ranked by popularity.
| Company | Market share | Overall customer satisfaction* | NAIC Complaint Index (lower is better) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amica | 16.3% | 5/5 | 0.22 |
| Allstate | 12.4% | 3/5 | 0.29 |
| Liberty Mutual | 8.4% | 2/5 | 0.40 |
| UPC | 7.3% | 2/5 | 6.58 |
| Nationwide | 6.1% | 2/5 | 0.24 |
| Merrimack Mutual Fire | 4.7% | - | 0.39 |
| MetLife | 4.3% | 2/5 | 0.20 |
| *According to J.D. Power's 2019 home insurance satisfaction study. | |||
Average cost of homeowners insurance in Rhode Island
The average yearly cost of home insurance in Rhode Island is $1,489. This is $274 above the national average homeowners insurance premium of $1,215. We calculated this rate from 108 quotes from seven of the top home insurers in Rhode Island.
| Rhode Island | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|
| Average yearly rate | $1,489 | $1,215 |
| Average monthly rate | $124 | $101 |
| Note: Average rates are based on non-binding estimates provided by Quadrant Information Services. Your rates may vary. | ||
In looking at the best homeowners insurance companies in Rhode Island, we found Allstate to have the cheapest annual rate, at $764, with MetLife the second cheapest, at $1,049. Liberty came in with the highest rate, at $2,768. Rhode Island's higher annual average home insurance premiums make comparing multiple quotes an important part of finding your best quote.
Home insurance rates in Rhode Island by city
Narragansett County has the current high home insurance average rate in Rhode Island of $1,709 annually. A large percentage of home insurers in Rhode Island have average premiums below the state average of $1,489. Liberty Mutual has the highest, at $2,768. The table below shows the annual and monthly rate breakdowns of home insurance rates in Rhode Island's largest cities.
| City | Average annual home insurance rate |
|---|---|
| Pawtucket | $1,360 |
| Cumberland | $1,378 |
| Woonsocket | $1,384 |
| East Providence | $1,403 |
| Coventry | $1,457 |
| Cranston | $1,464 |
| North Providence | $1,488 |
| Warwick | $1,513 |
| Providence | $1,561 |
| Average rates are based on estimates provided by Quadrant Information Serivces. Your rates may vary. | |
Rhode Island homeowner insurance perils
In addition to flooding, Rhode Island also suffers from hurricanes and blizzards. Home insurers consider extreme weather conditions to be high-risk factors. This is the most common reason for high home insurance rates.
Hurricanes
According to the Insurance Information Institute, Rhode Island is the 13th highest-risk state for hurricane damage to homes. Standard home insurance usually covers hurricane damage, but you can mitigate it by reinforcing your roof, windows and doors.
Blizzards
Providence gets 36 inches of snow a year on average. This is well above the national average of 28 inches annually. Providence and other Rhode Island towns often bear the brunt of severe nor'easter storms that can cause immense damage to homes.
Home insurance often covers damage to the structure of homes and burst pipes that can occur after freezing. Although home insurance may cover such damage, you're better off trying to avoid damage in the first place. Make sure to remove snow from your roof during heavy storms, and let your faucets drip to keep them from freezing and cracking.
Methodology
QuoteWizard compiled and analyzed 108 quotes from seven of the top home insurance companies in Rhode Island. As a base profile, we used a home valued at $292,009 and built in 1962 as the median.
The sample home insurance policy we got quotes for included these coverages:
- Dwelling coverage: $292,009
- Personal property coverage (50% of dwelling): $146,004
- Other structures coverage (10% of dwelling): $29,201
- Loss of use coverage (20% of dwelling): $58,402
- Liability coverage: $100,000
QuoteWizard.com LLC has made every effort to ensure that the information on this site is correct, but we cannot guarantee that it is free of inaccuracies, errors, or omissions. All content and services provided on or through this site are provided "as is" and "as available" for use. QuoteWizard.com LLC makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the operation of this site or to the information, content, materials, or products included on this site. You expressly agree that your use of this site is at your sole risk.