Homeowners insurance in Vermont

The home insurance market in Vermont

Vermonters paid $326.3 million in homeowners premiums in 2025, according to NAIC market share data, the second-smallest state market after Alaska. These are the 10 largest insurance groups by 2025 direct premiums written:

Vermont is one of nine states where State Farm is not the largest home insurer (our count from the NAIC data). Two home-grown companies hold about 21% between them: Vermont Mutual, chartered in Montpelier in 1828 and one of the oldest mutual insurers in the country, and the member-owned Co-operative Insurance Companies of Middlebury, which also writes farm, camp and mobile home coverage. Both sell through agents, so a local independent agent is the practical way to compare them with the national carriers.

What drives home insurance costs in Vermont

Vermont premiums are below the national average. NAIC's average HO-3 premium was $1,215 in 2023, against $1,737 nationally, the 12th lowest of 51 by our ranking of NAIC's table. With no coastline, the homeowners premium here mostly prices fire, winter weather, water damage and liability.

The catastrophe that keeps returning is river flooding, and a homeowners policy does not cover it. Since January 2023 FEMA has declared eight major disasters in Vermont, seven of them for storms and flooding, including the floods of July 7 to 21, 2023 (DR-4720) and the storms of July 9 to 11, 2024 (DR-4810) and July 29 to 31, 2024 (DR-4826). A severe winter storm in January 2024 (DR-4770) is a reminder of the other recurring loss: ice dams, burst pipes and roof damage, which homeowners policies generally do cover.

Deductibles and coverage rules to know

Vermont has no hurricane deductible rules and is not on the Insurance Information Institute's list of hurricane-deductible states; any wind or hail deductible is your insurer's choice, so read the declarations page. Ice dams and frozen pipes are the claims to plan for (see ice dams and roof damage and burst and frozen pipes: what's covered).

Vermont law helps at renewal and claim time:

• Renewal price in writing. If the insurer has what it needs to renew, it must confirm in writing at least 45 days before expiration that it will renew and at what premium, and you have the right to renew at that price. An insurer that misses this must keep you covered at the expiring rate for 45 days after it does confirm (8 V.S.A. §3882).
• Matching. When a covered loss means replacing items that no longer match adjacent ones in quality, color or size, the insurer must replace enough to give a reasonably uniform appearance within the same line of sight, and you pay nothing beyond the deductible (Regulation I-79-2, §8). See matching: when new shingles or siding don't match.
• Credit. Insurers may use credit-based insurance scores but cannot deny, cancel or nonrenew a homeowners policy solely on credit, and at an annual renewal you can ask to be re-rated on a current credit report (8 V.S.A. §4727). See insurance scores: how credit affects home insurance.

Flood and other gaps

Only 3,764 NFIP policies were in force in Vermont as of Sept. 30, 2026, according to FEMA, the fifth-lowest total among the 50 states by our ranking. Washington County, home to Montpelier and Barre, had the most, followed by Windsor County. After the 2023 floods the Department of Financial Regulation ran a claims data call; it found 3,534 NFIP, 2,676 private and 299 excess flood policies written in Vermont in 2023, and Commissioner Kevin Gaffney told Vermont Public in October 2024 that 35% to 40% of the 2023 claims were on properties outside the special flood hazard area. Private flood is a real option here: Gaffney said the private market had grown to about half the NFIP's size by premium. Compare both in Private flood insurance vs the NFIP and remember the NFIP's usual 30-day wait (the 30-day flood insurance waiting period).

If you can't find coverage

Vermont has no FAIR plan; PIPSO, the national association of property insurance plans, lists none for the state. State law lets the Commissioner create a joint underwriting association funded by insurers (8 V.S.A. §4982), but for a hard-to-place house today the answer is usually a local mutual through an agent or surplus lines home insurance when standard carriers say no.

Notice rules (8 V.S.A. §§3879 to 3883):

• Nonrenewal: at least 45 days' notice; a mailed notice must go by certified mail.
• Cancellation: after a policy's first 60 days, only for nonpayment, fraud or material misrepresentation, a violation of policy terms, or a substantial increase in hazard (which needs the Commissioner's prior approval). The notice must give the reason and be mailed or delivered at least 45 days ahead, or 15 days for nonpayment or increased hazard.

If you get a notice, start with your home insurance was nonrenewed: what to do now and the nonrenewal action plan.

Claims rules and deadlines

Vermont's fair claims regulation, I-79-2 (revised July 1, 2018), counts business days. An insurer must acknowledge your claim within 10 business days and answer your questions within 10 business days. Within 15 business days after it receives a properly executed proof of loss, it must tell you whether the claim is accepted or denied, and a denial must be in writing and cite the policy provision relied on. Once a settlement is agreed, payment must go out within 10 business days. For fire losses, the statute makes the amount due 60 days after the insurer receives satisfactory proofs (§3868). A missing proof of loss cannot void a fire policy unless the insurer asked for it in writing and you then took more than 30 days, and the insurer must flag defects in your proof within 10 days (§3867).

On suit deadlines, read your policy's "suit against us" clause. We found no Vermont statute setting a minimum period for property policies; the general limit for civil actions is six years (12 V.S.A. §511). If you are negotiating without a lawyer, the insurer must warn you in writing 30 business days before a policy or statutory time limit expires. Vermont has no claim mediation program, so amount-of-loss disputes usually go to the appraisal clause. See deadlines to sue over a home insurance claim.

Discounts and mitigation programs

Vermont has no state grant tied to insurance discounts. Mitigation money goes mainly to flood-prone homes. After the 2023 floods, Vermont Emergency Management created a state-managed buyout program that applies to FEMA for interested towns; buyouts are voluntary, priced at the home's fair market value the day before the storm, and in February 2026 VEM told legislators current buyouts were being funded at 100% of project costs from one-time state money. The Community Resilience and Disaster Mitigation Fund (Act 143 of 2024) gave VEM $3.5 million to elevate homes in communities flooded in 2023. The older Flood Resilient Communities Fund is fully obligated and closed. Ask your town about buyouts and elevation, and see elevating a home and other flood mitigation.

Where to get help

The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation, Insurance Division, is at 89 Main Street, Montpelier, VT 05620-3101; the main line is 802-828-3301. For help with a complaint, call 800-964-1784, the insurance consumer line at 802-828-3302, or email [email protected]. File online through the Department's complaint page, which lets you upload documents, or mail or fax (802-828-1446) the paper form. Walk-in appointments are not available. See how to file a complaint with your state insurance department.

Neighboring state guides: New Hampshire, Massachusetts and New York.