The Best and Cheapest Homeowners Insurance Companies in Ohio
What type of insurance company provides the best protection for you as a homeowner? In Ohio, we examined hundreds of rate quotes, policy details, and complaint records from the state's largest home insurers to find an answer.
Our research revealed that the lowest rate for a typical home insurance policy in Ohio is only $615, but this was only one of several factors we considered. Here are the insurers we believe provide the best value and dependability for homeowners in Ohio.
- Best for most homeowners: Cincinnati Financial
- Best value: Erie
- Best for customer service: Westfield
- Best for bundling: AmFam
Best for most people: Cincinnati Insurance Company
Cincinnati Insurance Company, which has high customer satisfaction and is by far the cheapest homeowners insurance provider in the state, was found to be the best insurance provider in Ohio. For a standard HO-3 policy, the company's average price in Ohio was $615. This price is roughly half the state average and more than $200 less than the next lowest competitor.
You may be eligible for a number of discounts if you purchase a policy from Cincinnati Insurance Company. If you have a good claims history, install anti-theft measures in your home, or bundle your homeowners insurance with other policies, you can save money on your homeowners policy.
Best value for homeowners insurance: Erie
Erie's standard homeowners insurance policy provides the most coverage for the least cost. With an average price of $844, Erie was the second-cheapest insurer in our analysis. Erie's standard policy includes replacement cost coverage, whereas other insurers charge a premium for this type of home coverage.
Replacement cost coverage is a type of home insurance that rebuilds your home for its current value without taking depreciation into account. Replacement cost coverage is typically included in standard policies, which means you would only be compensated for the actual value of your home if it were destroyed. With this additional coverage included in Erie's standard homeowners insurance, you have the option of spending money to upgrade other aspects of your policy if you so desire.
Best customer service: Westfield
If you're looking for the best customer service in the insurance industry, Westfield should be your first port of call. Westfield's average price of $1,058 is 13% lower than the state average. Furthermore, Westfield's complaint index score from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) indicates that the insurer receives far fewer complaints than its market share would suggest.
A.M. Best has also given Westfield an A or "stable" rating, which measures a company's financial stability. A ranking like this indicates that a company has enough capital to cover claims. In other words, Westfield can compensate you even if you file a claim during a difficult economic period or after a widespread disaster.
Best for bundling: American Family Insurance
Consider American Family Insurance if you're looking for homeowners insurance to supplement another type of policy. Bundling coverages with American Family can save you up to 20% on your homeowners policy and up to 30% on your auto insurance.
Additional discounts are available if you have anti-theft or fire-retardant equipment in your home, such as doorknob cameras and sprinkler systems. The average policy from American Family costs $822, which is nearly 30% less than the average price of homeowners insurance in Ohio. Because of the company's low average price, these discounts will give you more purchasing power to upgrade your policy.
Insurers with the best and worst customer service in Ohio
We investigated the number of complaints each company received in the NAIC's database and how each insurer scored on J.D. Power's industry evaluation to evaluate the customer service of homeowners insurance providers in Ohio.
Erie, Cincinnati Insurance Company, and State Farm are the insurers with the best customer service. Although it did not receive the highest NAIC rating, Cincinnati Insurance Company was the only company in our study to receive a J.D. Power rating of 4 out of 5.
Grange Mutual, Farmers, Allstate, and American Family Insurance have the lowest customer service ratings in Ohio. However, none of these insurance providers have complaint index scores higher than the national median of 1.0, indicating that they still receive fewer complaints than would be expected for their size.
Company | Complaint index (lower is better) | J.D. Power (higher is better) | A.M. Best Financial Strength |
State Farm | 0.19 | 3/5 | A++ |
Allstate | 0.29 | 3/5 | A+ |
Nationwide | 0.29 | 3/5 | A+ |
Grange Mutual | 0.43 | n/a | A |
Erie | 0.16 | 3/5 | A+ |
Westfield | 0.00 | n/a | A |
Cincinnati Insurance Cos. | 0.17 | 4/5 | A+ |
American Family | 0.32 | 3/5 | A+ |
Auto-Owners Insurance | 0.20 | 3/5 | A++ |
Farmers | 0.37 | 3/5 | A |
Only companies with 1% market share or greater were included in this analysis. If a company had several underwriters, we combined them into one parent company
How much does home insurance cost in Ohio?
We obtained quotes from ten of Ohio's most popular insurance companies in each of the state's ZIP codes. Auto-Owners Insurance and Allstate offer the most expensive home insurance in Ohio. Only these options are significantly more expensive than the state's average of $1214, while many others are significantly less expensive.
The average costs of these ten insurers can be found here:
- Cincinnati Insurance Cos.-$615
- Erie- $844
- American Family- $882
- Grange Mutual- $900
- Nationwide- $956
- Farmers- $960
- Westfield- $1058
- State Farm- $1101
- Average Cost- $1214
- Allstate- $1986
- Auto-Owners Insurance- $2928
Cost of Ohio homeowners insurance: City-by-city
We also calculated the average insurance cost in each of Ohio's 50 largest cities. Check out this table if you're thinking about moving or just curious about how your city's prices compare to the state average. We also looked at average home insurance rates in other states.
City | Average price | Difference from average |
Akron | $1,004 | -17% |
Beavercreek | $1,115 | -8% |
Boardman | $1,048 | -14% |
Bowling Green | $1,113 | -8% |
Brunswick | $923 | -24% |
Canton | $1,002 | -17% |
Cincinnati | $993 | -18% |
Cleveland | $1,066 | -12% |
Cleveland Heights | $1,045 | -14% |
Columbus | $1,086 | -11% |
Cuyahoga Falls | $956 | -21% |
Dayton | $1,185 | -2% |
Delaware | $1,113 | -8% |
Dublin | $939 | -23% |
Elyria | $1,021 | -16% |
Euclid | $1,024 | -16% |
Fairborn | $1,117 | -8% |
Fairfield | $1,096 | -10% |
Findlay | $1,377 | 13% |
Gahanna | $1,025 | -16% |
Grove City | $1,075 | -11% |
Hamilton | $1,151 | -5% |
Hilliard | $983 | -19% |
Huber Heights | $1,123 | -8% |
Kettering | $1,150 | -5% |
Lakewood | $982 | -19% |
Lancaster | $1,375 | 13% |
Lima | $1,211 | 0% |
Lorain | $1,004 | -17% |
Mansfield | $1,103 | -9% |
Marion | $1,314 | 8% |
Mason | $1,080 | -11% |
Massillon | $1,010 | -17% |
Mentor | $900 | -26% |
Middletown | $1,125 | -7% |
Newark | $1,205 | -1% |
North Olmsted | $934 | -23% |
North Ridgeville | $940 | -23% |
North Royalton | $911 | -25% |
Parma | $955 | -21% |
Reynoldsburg | $1,043 | -14% |
Springfield | $1,138 | -6% |
Stow | $964 | -21% |
Strongsville | $934 | -23% |
Toledo | $1,159 | -5% |
Upper Arlington | $1,008 | -17% |
Warren | $1,012 | -17% |
Westerville | $991 | -18% |
Westlake | $905 | -25% |
Youngstown | $1,054 | -13% |
What risks affect the cost of home insurance in Ohio?
Despite the fact that Ohio is not near any fault lines or oceans, it is susceptible to highly destructive tornadoes and floods. One of Ohio's largest cities was hit by 18 tornadoes in a single evening as recently as Memorial Day 2019. This storm caused over $1 billion in damage to Dayton, destroying many homes.
Fortunately, your homeowners insurance covers tornadoes and other wind-related damage. If you're concerned about replacing your home if it's ever destroyed, you can always increase the limits of your coverage or upgrade to a guaranteed replacement cost policy.
If you live in Ohio, you may be vulnerable to flood damage. Ohio is surrounded by water on three sides, including Lake Erie and the Ohio River. It is estimated that damaging flood waters will affect 98 percent of Ohio's counties, including counties containing the state's largest cities.
Unlike tornadoes, flood damage is not covered by a standard homeowners insurance policy. You must obtain a federal policy from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The average NFIP flood insurance policy in Ohio cost approximately $1,051, compared to $700 nationally.
Methodology
We collected quotes from each of Ohio's 1,400 ZIP codes for our study. We used a 2,100-square-foot sample property built in 1969. The home was insured for the median cost of a home in Ohio, $144,200.
State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, Grange Mutual, Erie, Westfield, Cincinnati Insurance Company, American Family Insurance, Auto-Owners Insurance, and Farmers provided quotes for this home. Due to technical constraints, we were unable to include Liberty Mutual and USAA in our research.
The data was then averaged for the entire state and for each ZIP code. We chose one sample ZIP code from each of Ohio's 50 largest cities for our city-specific analysis and calculated the average price of coverage.
The insurance rate data used in LowCostInsurance analysis came from Quadrant Information Services. These rates were obtained publicly from insurer filings and should only be used for comparison purposes — your own quotes may differ.