Think your home owners insurance bill is higher than most? If you live in a state bordering the Gulf of Mexico, a metro area with high home prices, or in storm-prone Oklahoma, you might be right.

According to the most recent data from the National Association of Insurance Commissions (NAIC), home owners in those areas pay the highest average hazard insurance premiums.

The NAIC’s 2007 Homeowners Insurance Report ranked the ten states with the highest average premiums:

  • Florida $1,534
  • Texas $1,448
  • Louisiana $1,400
  • Washington, D.C. $1,089
  • Oklahoma $1,054
  • Massachusetts $1,023
  • Mississippi $1,019
  • New York $936
  • Connecticut $929
  • California $925

Among the factors that impact the cost of home insurance are real estate values and replacement costs, the number of mold claims filed by home owners, repair costs, and exposure to catastrophes such brush and forest fires, tornadoes, high winds, hail, freezing rain, snow storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, riots, and even terrorist attacks.

“Every place in the world has an exposure to some type of catastrophe, but some areas are more prone to certain types,” NAIC officials say.

The West suffers brush and forest fires. Hurricane exposure is greater in areas near the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The central and southwestern U.S. experiences the greatest tornado frequency, even though tornadoes can and do occur in nearly every state.

“Most recently there have been major catastrophic earthquakes in the West, yet there are predictions that even greater earthquakes will occur in the New Madrid area in the Midwest,” NAIC officials say.

Riots and terrorist attacks also, are not specific to any geographic area, but have typically occurred in larger urban areas.

Want to lower your homeowners insurance bill? Move to Idaho ($422), Wisconsin ($491) or Oregon ($496).

Source: NAR