Home insurance costs in Alaska 2021 (2021 Guide)

Home insurance costs in Alaska

Do you plan of moving to Alaska or live here already? Then you know this State has unique weather characteristics: cold dominates most of the year, and your home may be exposed to several perils, depending on exactly where you are located. Despite a wild territory, with a low density of population, you can still live a more business-oriented life if you are in a major city, like Anchorage, Juneau, and Fairbanks; if your house is in a crowded town rather than in a more isolate property or a rural house, that poses a different risk profile, thus affecting insurance premiums.

There are a few hazards that may worry Alaskans: ice-related events, heavy rains, flooding, earthquakes, wildfires are the main ones. The frequency of each of the mentioned is the real issue, and some of those can be quite severe.

As of the last quarter of 2021, the average homeowners’ insurance cost for Alaska is $1,063*, which means less than $90 a month, quite lower than the national average; that is also little for insuring relatively expensive homes. Alaska is the State that less than others has undergone increases in premiums in the last years, even slightly decreasing sometimes. That reflects a different weighing of the overall risk, compared to how other States do. For instance, here there aren’t tornadoes or hurricanes, that typically make the bulk of premium increases elsewhere.

There are many small towns and a few major cities in Alaska. Below you see numbers for eight among the most populous ones: you can expect similar rates for each of them, except for Sitka and Badger that are cheaper. In general, you will find significantly higher rates if your home is in a more isolated place: the precise location and access to emergency services, like fire stations, are critical factors for your premium. We got multiple quotes from major companies as Allstate, Amica, Chubb, Liberty Mutual, Progressive, Statefarm, Travelers, and USAA; then we averaged them to show you the premiums.

City	Median home value	Square ft	Premium
Anchorage	$315,000	1866	$1,180
Juneau	$270,000	1618	$1,000
Fairbanks	$245,000	1792	$1,055
Ketchikan	$335,000	1618	$1,010
Kodiak	$295,000	1618	$1,145
Sitka	$315,000	1434	970
Wasilla	$255,000	1710	1,145
Badger-North Pole	$225,000	1945	820

For each city, we considered houses with average size relatively for their cities, insured for $300,000 of dwelling coverage (except for Badger), with a $1,000 deductible.

While not mandatory, it is strongly recommended to purchase a home policy if you live anywhere in Alaska.

Two major kinds of factors influence the home insurance rates in Alaska: environment-related, and home-related. Alaska has a particular geographic position and geology, e.g. in the extreme North of America and facing the Pacific Ocean, so it is exposed above all to every consequence of cold, rains, and earthquakes.

Ice and snow: this natural element reigns in Alaska, and is the number one of troubles for homeowners all year long. Freezing or bursting of pipes, piles of ice crashing roofs, avalanches, melting of ice that cause floods are common issues, also due to climate change. Standard home insurance like H03 covers these perils except for flood, which will require flood insurance from the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) or a private company.
Rain: amount and frequency of precipitations are troublesome because, again, they cause floods. Few inches of water inside your house may cause several thousand dollars of damage, so choose adequate coverage to protects carpets, electronic devices, antiques, personal objects.
Wildfires: in summer they generate from a combination of sudden heat, wind, and drought. While basic homeowners policies cover fire as accidentally caught, some insurance companies may choose to not insure houses in a district that is at high-risk for such a hazard; when underwriting your policy, be priorly informed if your house can be covered.
Earthquakes: the terrain of Alaska is affected by constant quakes, very small in entity but frequent. This poses the risk of a major event, so you should buy earthquake insurance.
Falling trees: not a special feature of Alaska, but merely for a probabilistic reason, especially if your house is nestled in nature. A tree smashing your roof can be devastating damage, and its removal may have a cost too: a standard homeowners insurance covers the damages from this kind of peril, assuming that the fall was caused by something, instead of neglect.
Bears: a minor, yet possible issue is the attack from these ridiculously strong animals. Some weak external components outside your home as fences, gardens, wooden walls can be damaged or even destroyed: you are covered from this contingency on a basic level of insurance, but ask your insurer for details.

Home-related factors

The size, location, and materials of your house dictate a base level for determining the premium.

Materials: in Alaska wood is largely used for buildings: a wooden house is cheaper to buy but more costly to insure than a structure made of bricks and cement or stone since it would be less resistant to quakes, avalanches, fire, and floods.
Age: a house that is modern, retrofitted, or upgraded to the most recent standard of safety will receive a lower premium, or discounts especially if you are new to homeowners insurance.
Replacement cost: an adequate dwelling coverage for the city of Anchorage ranges from $250,000 to $360,000, depending on the ZIP code.

Related to the neighborhood is property crime. By different statistics and facts, Alaska results having a high crime rate throughout the entire State, but relatively low in the major cities, which thus are benefiting from moderate annual insurance premiums, when you see those compared with the U.S. average.

Your credit score is also important. To have a good score in Alaska means anything above 660, which can grant you optimal annual rates and possible discounts.

Remember that in order to have the lowest premium for your home policy you have still important options: shopping around to find better rates, choosing a high deductible, improving your credit score, bundling home insurance with a car policy, staying with the same company at renewal.

Use the tool to get first quick estimates of coverages and premiums for your ZIP code, then get quotes from a trustworthy insurance company of your choice.

*Methodology: we aggregated and averaged multiple quotes for every city of the State, assuming a 35 years old individual, married, with a good credit score. Our effort is to keep data always updated and the most accurate possible, so as to satisfy at best the consumer’s expectations.