Many Arizona residents are being hung out to dry as homeowners insurance has tripled or quadrupled because of increasing wildfire risks, as KJZZ Phoenix reported. 

What’s happening?

Vivien Winneke, a homeowner and assessor for the Dewey-Humboldt Firewise community, knows how to protect her home from the risk of fires. This involves trimming trees and clearing out space between shrubs. However, even with her proactive measures, her insurance rates were just raised by over 300%.

“It was all fine until August, and then all of a sudden my renewal went up from $1,450 a year to $4,500,” Winneke said. “That’s more than my property taxes.”

“I’m on a fixed income, like most of the people in Dewey-Humboldt,” Winneke added. “Most of the people here are retired, and they’re not high income. I actually felt like I might have to sell the house.”

Winneke and the residents of Dewey-Humboldt aren’t alone, as rates have spiked across Arizona. According to AZ Central, home insurance premiums have risen by 62% since 2019, the highest rise in the U.S.

Why are insurance rate hikes concerning?

Homeowners insurance rates have seen a spike after the Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed nearly 13,000 households.

In California, insurance agency State Farm requested a 22% rate increase from insurance regulators, according to The New York Times. In North Carolina, the North Carolina Rate Bureau proposed a 42.2% increase due to the risk of hurricanes, putting many homeowners at financial risk.

In other cases, homeowner’s insurance claims are being denied, removed, or not covering the full value of the home. Many homeowners lost their fire insurance coverage from Liberty Mutual due to mold and algae growth on roofs.

According to KJZZ Phoenix, Winneke was denied by 22 insurance companies before finding one that only covers half of her home. Her home, which is valued at $550,000, is insured for $280,000, even with the 300% increase.

“It’s almost not worth having insurance, but you can’t have a mortgage without insurance, and you’ve got to be insured for a reasonable amount,” Winneke said.

“Insurance premiums go up for two main reasons: higher losses and higher replacement costs,” said Chris Low, chief economist at FHN Financial, per Bankrate. ” … If wildfires become more common in the Northeast, insurance will become more expensive and also harder to get — like in California.”

According to Laura Curtis, VP of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the cost of rebuilding a home is up 44% in the last five years due to inflation.

In January 2025, a report from the U.S. Department of the Treasury found that homeowners in communities affected by severe weather events pay 82% more on premiums than those at the lowest risk. The report also found that insurers are also paying more to cover claims in high-risk areas.

“This report identifies alarming trends of rising costs of insurance — to consumers and insurers themselves — as well as lack of availability of insurance, all of which threaten the long-term prosperity of American families,” said former Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen.

According to USA Today, approximately 7.4% of Americans do not have homeowners insurance. A rise in insurance rates can drive this percentage higher and put more families at risk of rising weather events, such as wildfires, hurricanes, and other severe storms.

What’s being done about homeowner’s insurance rate hikes?

In Arizona, the state’s Resilience and Mitigation Council is researching rising costs in the state and aims to make formal recommendations on how to keep insurance costs down before the end of 2025, KJZZ Phoenix reports.

Countrywide, larger groups are making efforts to combat rising insurance rates. In a letter to former President Biden in June 2024, more than 20 housing organizations urged the government to address rising homeowners insurance prices, calling for federally backed homeowners insurance.

While the new administration hasn’t addressed this proposal directly, some experts hope reducing inflation could lower rates.

“If Trump’s economic policies resemble those of 2016, we may also see lower interest rates, which could reshape insurance carriers’ financial strategies and encourage greater risk-taking,” Bradley Flowers, founder of Portal Insurance, told Insurance Business.

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