- The statewide average base rate for North Carolina homeowners insurance rose 7.5% on June 1, 2026 — the second step of the settlement that also raised rates 7.5% on June 1, 2025.
- The settlement resolved the Rate Bureau's January 2024 request for a 42.2% average increase (with some territories proposed near doubling), capped any territory at 35%, and bars a new increase effort before June 1, 2027.
- Actual changes vary by territory and carrier — coastal territories saw the largest steps — so the renewal declarations page, not the statewide average, is what matters for a given property.
- Paying more does not change what the policy owes on a claim; renewal season is also when deductible and settlement-basis language tends to shift.
What changed
As of June 1, 2026, the second step of North Carolina's settled homeowners rate increase is in effect. Under the agreement the Insurance Commissioner and the North Carolina Rate Bureau signed on January 17, 2025, the statewide average base rate rose 7.5% on June 1, 2025 and another 7.5% on June 1, 2026 — roughly 15% cumulatively. The settlement ended the dispute over the Rate Bureau's January 2024 filing, which had requested a 42.2% statewide average increase with proposed increases approaching 99.4% in some coastal territories.
Two settlement terms shape what comes next: no territory's increase could exceed 35% across the two steps, and the Rate Bureau may not undertake another increase effort before June 1, 2027. Territory-level changes vary widely — beach territories carried the largest steps — and individual carriers price around the base rates, so any specific renewal can land above or below the averages.
Why it matters for policyholders
Every North Carolina homeowners renewal issued since June 1 carries the new base rates, and renewals are where more than price changes. Rate events tend to arrive alongside quieter form changes — wind and hail deductibles restated as percentages, roof settlement schedules, revised endorsement lists — and those form changes, not the premium line, determine what a future claim actually pays. A renewal that costs more and covers differently deserves a closer read than most packets get.
It is also worth separating what the increase does not do: a higher premium does not change the carrier's obligations on a claim, and it does not change the policy's terms except where the renewal paperwork says so. The claim still turns on the policy language and the facts of the loss.
What to do
Read the renewal declarations page rather than filing it: confirm the premium change for your territory, check whether the wind or hail deductible is now a percentage of the dwelling limit, verify the roof settlement basis, and make sure replacement-cost limits still track current construction costs so the property is not quietly underinsured. Questions about how the new numbers apply to your property belong to your agent in writing; questions about a claim that came back short after all of this belong in a review — which costs nothing.
NCDOI–NC Rate Bureau settlement (Jan. 17, 2025) of the January 2024 filing
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