Homeowners hit with rise to common monthly payment this month

HOMEOWNERS in a Midwestern state are set to face an eye-watering rise in insurance rates this summer.

Insurer State Farm will hike homeowners’ insurance rates in Illinois by 27% starting from this month.

2

The company said this “primarily driven by expected catastrophe losses” as severe weather events occur more frequently.

The 1.5 million homeowners in Illinois with State Farm policies are expected to see an average annual premium rise of $746.

The changes are starting from July 15 for new policies and August 15 for renewals.

Tornadoes, wind and hail are the drivers of most insurance based losses in Midwestern states, according to Allstate data.

The Illinois Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) says the US averaged three “billion-dollar” weather events per year in the 1980s.

But this had soared to 13 per year by the 2010s, and there were 27 in 2024.

Illinois PIRG Director Abe Scarr wants state lawmakers to take action to stop the insurance market spiralling to crisis levels.

Scarr said: “Extreme weather events are wreaking havoc on American communities and disrupting insurance markets – and the impacts are particularly costly here in the Midwest.

“At a minimum, Illinois should empower the state Department of Insurance to reject or modify excessive rate hikes, a basic consumer protection that residents in almost every other state enjoy.

“As extreme weather events become the ‘new normal,’ the Illinois Department of Insurance needs greater insight into insurance industry business practices and levers to hold insurers accountable.”

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said: “I am deeply concerned by State Farm’s unfair and arbitrary insurance rate hike on Illinois homeowners.

“These increases are predicated on catastrophe loss numbers that are entirely inconsistent with the Illinois Department of Insurance’s own analysis – indicating that State Farm is shifting out-of-state costs onto the homeowners in our state.

“Hard-working Illinoisans should not be paying more to protect beach houses in Florida.”

It comes as lawmakers in Florida are evaluating plans to make sweeping changes to the state’s property tax structure.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been pushing for the complete elimination of property taxes.

A proposal announced in late March would see $1,000 rebates paid out to Floridians in December 2025.