TAMPA, Fla. — Last week Gov. DeSantis said big rate decreases were coming for Citizens policyholders in South Florida. But insurance experts said rates dropping in South Florida means rates will have to go up in other parts of the state.
A new document from Citizens Property Insurance showed the county-by-county breakdown of how much Citizens insurance rates will rise in Tampa Bay.
- Hernando – 13.1% increase
- Hillsborough – 13% increase
- Pasco – 13% increase
- Pinellas – 12% increase
- Polk – 12.3% increase
We spoke to Jake Holehouse with HH Insurance Group, who told us with inflation, those increases could be even higher.
“The biggest challenge of saying that word average rate increase is that some will go up by more, some will go up by less, but you also still have your inflation guard of your policy automatically adjusting coverages up, and your house getting one year older as well. Those are also rate drivers. So I think on average, if you’re looking at something like Pinellas County and Hillsborough County, you’re looking in the 18 to 20% range of a rate increase coming from citizens next year,” said Holehouse.
Back in November 2024, we spoke with Margaret Bowles who’s home in Dana Shores flooded during Hurricane Helene. Bowles has Citizens insurance on a rental in St. Pete and said the increase would be the last thing storm victims like her need.
“It forces me to have to pass that increase onto the tenants,” said Bowles. “Have some mercy, have some mercy on folks. Because even insurance doesn’t make you whole, we are finding that filing all these claims that it’s not going to make us whole either way. So we need a break.”
Holehouse told us homeowners do have more options now than they did at the end of last year.
“I think if we go back two, three years ago on the average house in Pinellas County, you would have maybe five options to get a quote from right, and citizens would be about half the price of anybody else. What’s happened now is we are seeing 20 to 25 options come back, and Citizens is maybe middle of the road on pricing…if you’ve only had Citizens for a year or two, there are other options outside of Citizens right now that that could be a rate competitive option,” he said.
View the full list of Citizens rates by county below.
Citizens Insurance Rates by County by ABC Action News on Scribd
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Alice J. Roden started working for Trending Insurance News at the end of 2021. Alice grew up in Salt Lake City, UT. A writer with a vast insurance industry background Alice has help with several of the biggest insurance companies. Before joining Trending Insurance News, Alice briefly worked as a freelance journalist for several radio stations. She covers home, renters and other property insurance stories.