Louisiana homeowners insurance

In Louisiana, homeowners policies typically cover:

• Your dwelling, including walls, foundation, roof, floors, plumbing, and more.
• Your belongings, like clothing, furniture, electronics, appliances, and more.
• Other structures that aren’t attached to your home, like a garage, fence, greenhouse, etc.
• Loss of use and additional living costs when a covered incident forces you to temporarily relocate.
• Personal liability in case you’re responsible for someone’s property damage or bodily harm.
• Medical expense payments when a guest has a small injury on your property.>

These policies cover the home and other structures against all perils except those listed as exclusions. That means you have protection for the most common sources of damage, like fire, wind, hail, hurricanes, smoke, burst pipes, vandalism, theft, and much more.

Common exclusions are:

• Earth movement, such as an earthquake, sinkhole, and mudflow.
• Water damage from flood, sewer backup, or water seeping in through the foundation.
• Demolition of your home required by law to bring it to code.
• Seizure or demolition by a government agency or public authority.

The average yearly cost of Louisiana homeowners insurance is $2,259. That makes the Pelican State the third most expensive place in the country to get home insurance.

Keep in mind that this is just an average premium for the the state, and we share it to give you a general impression of home insurance costs. Your costs could be significantly different depending on several factors, like the age and condition of your roof, as well as where you live.

Homeowners insurance isn’t required in Louisiana by state law, but if you have a mortgage, you’re often required to have it. Your mortgage lender requires homeowners insurance for two reasons:

• To protect their investment. Homeowners insurance ensures you can pay your remaining mortgage even if a natural disaster destroys the home.
• To keep you from paying for a destroyed home you can’t repair. The requirement is good for you, too – imagine repaying a mortgage for a home you can’t afford to rebuild.

If you live in a FEMA-designated high-risk flood zone and have a federally backed mortgage, you’re required to have flood insurance, too.

Even if you own your home outright, home insurance is still a wise investment to protect your property from natural disasters, accidents, and theft.

Louisiana’s history of devastating storms like Hurricane Katrina and its rapidly disappearing coast are the biggest drivers behind the expense of home insurance. Louisiana is home to five of the top coastal counties most frequently hit by hurricanes: Lafourche Parish, Jefferson Parish, St. Bernard Parish, Cameron Parish, and Terrebonne Parish.

You can save on your homeowners insurance if:

• Your home has a hip shaped roof.
• You’re a new homebuyer.
• You have a clean claims history.
• Your home has wind mitigation features, like opening protection, IBHS designation, or was built 2006 or later.

Read more about Louisiana wind mitigation.

The policies we can offer automatically include hurricane wind coverage. When a named storm damages your home, a hurricane deductible will apply.

You can also add on flood coverage, but it’s not automatically included in your policy. Don’t confuse flood coverage with hurricane insurance. Though floods typically accompany hurricanes, hurricane insurance covers wind-related damage. For water damage from storm surges, you need flood insurance.