FACT SHEET: Virginia’s Home Insurance Crisis
Last Updated: 8/18/25
Climate change is pushing property insurance companies to raise rates and cancel policies in Virginia. Between 2019 and 2024, home insurance rates in the Old Dominion State increased by 40%, and non-renewals increased by 36% between 2018 and 2023. The increasing risk of wildfires and other extreme weather in the state is a major driver of Virginia’s home insurance crisis. Trump’s disaster response cuts, alongside his far-reaching tariffs, will make Virginia’s home insurance crisis even worse.
- VIRGINIA’S HOME INSURANCE RATES HAVE SOARED IN RECENT YEARS, AND COSTS CONTINUE TO GROW
- INSURERS ARE REFUSING TO RENEW HOMEOWNERS’ POLICIES OR ARE PULLING OUT OF VIRGINIA’S INSURANCE MARKET ALTOGETHER
- CLIMATE CHANGE AND EXTREME WEATHER ARE DRIVING VIRGINIA’S INSURANCE CRISIS
- TRUMP WILL MAKE VIRGINIA’S INSURANCE CRISIS EVEN WORSE
VIRGINIA’S HOME INSURANCE RATES HAVE SOARED IN RECENT YEARS, AND COSTS CONTINUE TO GROW
- Between 2019 and 2024, home insurance rates in Virginia increased by 40%, placing the state among the top 25 with the largest rate increases.
- In 2024 alone, home insurance rates in Virginia increased by 10%.
- Virginia was projected to see some of the biggest insurance rate increases in 2025, with the average annual premium expected to increase by $117, or 5%.
INSURERS ARE REFUSING TO RENEW HOMEOWNERS’ POLICIES OR ARE PULLING OUT OF VIRGINIA’S INSURANCE MARKET ALTOGETHER
- As of March 2025, over 10% of homes in Virginia were uninsured.
- Nationally, 14% of Latino homeowners and 11% of Black homeowners do not have home insurance, compared with 6% of white homeowners.
- As of 2020, Hispanic and Black people made up 10.5% and 18.3% of Virginia’s population.
- Latinos are more likely to live in disaster-prone areas that are experiencing the steepest increases in insurance premiums.
- Between 2018 and 2023, Virginia’s non-renewal rate increased by 36%, placing it among the top 10 states with the fastest-growing non-renewal rates.
- Virginia’s Accomack County saw a 400% increase in nonrenewals from 2018 to 2023, with 1 in 25 policies not being renewed in 2023.
- In 2023, major insurers, including USAA and Hartford, said they were no longer writing home insurance policies in Hampton Roads after Nationwide pulled coverage from homeowners in the area.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND EXTREME WEATHER ARE DRIVING VIRGINIA’S INSURANCE CRISIS
- Coastal areas of Virginia are prone to rising sea levels, storms, and flooding, making it harder for homeowners to obtain coverage.
- Inland areas of Virginia, including parts of the Shenandoah Valley, are at increasing risk of wildfires. These areas saw similar nonrenewal rates as coastal areas in the state from 2018 to 2023.
- In November 2023, Virginia was under a state of emergency due to multiple wildfires in Madison County and Patrick County.
- Increased extreme weather events fueled by climate change are expected to result in fewer insurance options and higher rates for Virginia homeowners. Flooding from severe storms is of particular concern in Virginia, where average annual rainfall has increased by 4 to 6 inches since 1950.
TRUMP WILL MAKE VIRGINIA’S INSURANCE CRISIS EVEN WORSE
- Trump’s tariffs were expected to increase home insurance costs in Virginia by $68.
- Tariffs were expected to slow down disaster recovery efforts and make them more expensive. The National Association of Home Builders estimates a cost increase of $10,900 per home due to tariffs on construction materials.
- Trump cut 10% of workers at the U.S. Forest Service, hampering efforts to clear brush and thin trees to reduce the risk and intensity of wildfires, and stunting the agency’s capacity to stop the spread of wildfires when they break out.
- Vicki Christiansen, who served as Forest Service chief during Trump’s first term, said, “The threat of these changes is significant,” adding, “$40 million in savings now just to have an additional $4 billion in wildfire expenses is crazy.”
- In addition to staffing cuts, 11% of firefighting jobs in the Forest Service’s Southern region, which includes Virginia, were unfilled as of July 2025.
- Trump’s cuts to disaster relief at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and attempts to disband FEMA would also increase the cost of home insurance.