Homeowners insurance premiums have risen 54% in five years, the fastest increase among the main costs of owning a home beyond the mortgage, according to an analysis released Oct. 22 by Zillow and home-services platform Thumbtack. Over the same period, maintenance costs rose 32% and property taxes 19%.
Together, those three expenses now total $16,566 a year for the typical U.S. homeowner, or about $1,380 a month on top of the mortgage payment, according to the Zillow and Thumbtack release. That total is up 31.7% from five years earlier but only 2.8% from a year ago β evidence, the companies say, that the run-up is cooling.
Where the $16,566 goes
Maintenance is the largest piece by far, at $11,171 a year, roughly two-thirds of the total. Property taxes add $3,129 and homeowners insurance $2,266. Zillow estimated the tax and insurance figures for a typical homeowner in each metro; Thumbtack supplied the maintenance estimate, which it builds from a weighted index of yearly projects requested on its platform.
The slowdown is clearest in maintenance. Annual increases in upkeep costs have narrowed every year, from 9% in 2022 to 1% in 2026, according to the analysis. The release said insurance “may be following the same path,” pointing to federal data showing premiums rose 0.3% between February and June 2026. Premiums nonetheless remain far above where they were five years ago.
Homeowners insurance: Dallas, Tampa and Denver lead
Premiums are up at least 50% over five years in 19 of the 30 metros analyzed. The largest increases were in Dallas (75%), Tampa (71%), Denver (70%) and Houston (69%). The release said severe weather, “including hail, tornadoes and damaging winds,” may be driving increases in storm-prone metros like Dallas and Denver.
Miami homeowners pay the most for insurance, at nearly $5,000 a year. Six metros now top $3,000: Miami, Dallas, Houston, Tampa, Orlando and Denver. In four markets β Houston, Phoenix, Denver and Nashville β homeowners now pay more each year for insurance than for property taxes.
The Texas figures line up with other recent research. A separate report found Texas homeowners insurance premiums surged 30% in five years, and Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the state’s insurance regulators to act as premiums climbed.
Total costs are highest on the coasts
Counting all three expenses, the most expensive metros are New York ($25,111 a year), San Francisco ($24,383), Los Angeles ($22,915) and Boston ($22,096). Phoenix was the least costly of the 30 metros at $14,187.
The five-year increases vary widely. Pittsburgh’s hidden costs rose 54.8% over five years, the largest five-year increase in the release’s table, followed by Tampa at 44.4%, Miami at 42.8%, Los Angeles at 42.5% and Minneapolis at 41.3%. New York’s rose 13.8%, the smallest increase, and Dallas’s rose 18.1%.
Los Angeles stands out over the past year, with total hidden costs up 15.9%. Its maintenance costs jumped 27% year over year, the sharpest increase among the metros. The release attributed that to “wildfire-related recovery efforts, heightened demand for home services, and persistently elevated labor costs.” Maintenance tops $12,000 a year in six major metros, including Seattle ($12,594) and Boston ($12,486). Costs fell over the past year in two metros: Atlanta (down 2.5%) and Seattle (down 1.5%).
What it means for buyers
“Many households focus so much on winning the home and underestimate what it costs to live in it,” Zillow Senior Economist Kara Ng said in the release. She added that “since these homeownership costs vary so much by market, home shoppers should run the numbers and understand what they can truly afford before they make an offer.”
Kendra Sinclair, Thumbtack’s home trends expert, called the slowdown in maintenance cost growth “welcome news for homeowners managing a lot of competing expenses.”
The companies recommended that buyers get an insurance quote before making an offer, since the cost of insuring a specific home can change what a buyer can afford to pay for it.
On our reading, the practical point for agents is that carrying costs beyond principal and interest are now a large and highly local part of the affordability math β from about $14,200 a year in Phoenix to more than $25,000 in New York β and insurance is the line that has moved most. The insurance figures also highlight a risk that research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has quantified: insured homeowners still carry 29% of expected losses. More coverage is in our housing market section.
