Renters Insurance Rates to Soar 42% for Thousands of California Tenants

Insurance regulators have approved a rate hike that will affect more than 53,000 American Modern Home Insurance policyholders.

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California renters with policies through American Modern Home Insurance (AMH) will see their renters insurance premiums climb $60–$136 per year, starting in April 2025. This is due to the California Department of Insurance approving American Modern Home’s request for a 42.2% rate increase in November.

Under the approved increase, the average premium for AMH’s property and liability renters policies will go from $197.69 per year to $280.69, according to the insurance company’s rate filing. For liability-only renters policies, the annual average will climb from $84.23 to $130.80.

The insurer cited significant losses and changes in its book of business when requesting the rate increase. The new rates will take effect for renewals and new policies beginning April 14, 2025.

Where rate increases will hit hardest

Approximately 200 policyholders in San Jose could see their renters insurance premiums rise by $136 next year, the insurer’s rate filing shows. The majority of affected policyholders — 38,340 throughout the state — could face maximum increases of $123 per year.

Costa Mesa in Orange County has the most affected policyholders. More than 870 policyholders in the city will see their premiums increase as much as $123 in April 2025. Santa Clara, in Santa Clara County, has the second-highest number of affected policyholders facing a $123 increase — 771 tenants will be affected.

What’s next: Rising renters insurance costs

Although states don’t typically require tenants to carry renters insurance, many landlords do. And even if a landlord doesn’t require it, renters insurance is still a good idea since a landlord’s insurance only covers the building — not the tenants or their property.

The median rental price in California is $1,992 per month, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The average cost of renters insurance in the Golden State is $19 per month, or $228 per year. With next year’s premium increase, California tenants with American Modern Home insurance will pay around $52 above average per year.

Evelyn Pimplaskar
Evelyn PimplaskarEditor-in-Chief, Director of Content

Evelyn Pimplaskar is Insurify’s director of content. With 30-plus years in content creation – including 10 years specializing in personal finance – Evelyn’s done everything from covering volatile local elections as a beat reporter to building fintech content libraries from the ground up.

Before joining Insurify, she was editor-in-chief at Credible, where she launched and developed the lending marketplace’s media partnership’s content initiative and managed the restructuring of the editorial team to enhance content production efficiency. Formerly, as tax editor for Credit Karma, Evelyn built a library of more than 300 educational articles on federal and state taxes, achieving triple-digit year-over-year growth in e-files from organic search.

Her early career included work as a content marketer, vice president and managing officer of a boutique public relations agency, chief copy editor for 14 weekly Forbes publications, reporting for large and mid-sized daily newspapers, and freelancing for the Associated Press.

Evelyn is passionate about creating personal finance content that distills complex topics into relatable, easy-to-understand stories. She believes great content helps empower readers with the information they need to make important personal finance decisions.

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Renters Insurance Rates to Soar 42% for Thousands of California Tenants | Insurify