The HoneyQuote Data Methodology

Where our numbers come from

Our numbers come from our own platform. When someone requests coverage through HoneyQuote, our carrier partners return real quotes for that specific property. We keep those quotes, strip out anything that identifies the person, and aggregate what's left into local benchmarks.

That's the whole source. We don't model prices, and we don't buy a rate-filing database and publish what carriers are theoretically permitted to charge. Filed rates and quoted rates are not the same thing — a filing is permission, a quote is a price someone was actually shown for their actual roof, in their actual ZIP code, on an actual date.

Our data sources

Quotes are the foundation. A handful of other sources give them context.

How we build a local benchmark

We publish medians, not averages

Coastal pricing has a long tail. One high-exposure property, an old roof right on the water, can pull an average well above what a typical home on the same street was quoted. The median is just the middle number, so a single extreme price can't drag it around.

We require at least 20 quotes

No figure on this site is built on fewer than 20 quotes inside the parameters below. If a ZIP code doesn't clear that, we don't publish a ZIP-level number for it. We show the city or county benchmark instead and label it as such.

We ask every carrier for the same coverage

Before comparing anything, we hold the named-storm deductible at 2% of the dwelling limit and the all-other-perils deductible at $2,500. That way we're comparing prices, not comparing different products with different exposure.

We go tighter than ZIP where the data allows

On the coast a single ZIP code can hold very different pricing, because two homes a mile apart can sit on opposite sides of a flood zone line. Where we have the volume, we tier by distance to open water as well as ZIP, and we label which tier a number represents.

What our benchmark assumes

We don't invent a house. Every benchmark is the median of real quotes for real homes in that area, drawn from the quotes that meet the parameters below.

Two of those matter more than the rest, because they're where coastal pricing actually happens. We hold the named-storm deductible at 2%, so every number reflects the same storm exposure rather than blending a 2% deductible against a 10% one. And we band by dwelling limit instead of averaging everything together, because the gap between a $250,000 home and a $900,000 home is too wide to combine honestly.

The year built and roof age windows are deliberately broad. A 1958 house with a 19-year-old roof and a 2020 house with a new roof both qualify, and they price very differently. So a benchmark describes the middle of your local market, not a house like yours. If your roof is near the end of its life, expect to land above it.

Why a national average won't tell you what your coastal home costs

The big comparison sites publish national home insurance averages. Those numbers are built on a generic profile: a mid-size single-story house, a flat dollar deductible, and not much else.

Look at what that profile doesn't contain. No roof age — the single biggest driver of whether a coastal home is even eligible for coverage. No roof shape or material. No named-storm deductible, which on the coast is usually a percentage of your dwelling limit rather than a flat amount, and is the number that actually matters after a hurricane. No wind mitigation credits. No FORTIFIED designation. No distance to open water. No treatment of flood, which a home policy never covers.

A national average isn't wrong so much as it's answering a different question. It describes an inland house. If you live near the water, it can't describe yours, and that gap is the reason we built our own benchmark instead of licensing someone else's.

How we handle Citizens and last-resort coverage

In Florida, when the private market won't write a home, there's Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state-backed insurer of last resort. It isn't a small corner of the market. For plenty of coastal properties it's the only option on the table.

Citizens prices differently from private carriers, so including it changes a benchmark. Our rule: unless a table says otherwise, our benchmarks reflect private-market quotes only. Where we do include Citizens, because it's the realistic option for the properties in question, we label that table so you know which market the number describes. We'd rather tell you what you're looking at than pick one rule and apply it where it doesn't fit.

Other coastal states run their own versions. Texas has the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, Louisiana has Louisiana Citizens, and each sets its own eligibility, credits, and deductible rules. As we publish benchmarks in more states, we'll disclose how each one is handled, because those rules don't transfer.

How often this data refreshes

Every rate table on this site carries the date its underlying data was last refreshed. If a number isn't stamped, don't trust it, including ours.

See it in practice

Wherever a benchmark appears on the site, it carries its source and the date behind it. Here is how that looks on a city rate page.

How we protect your information

We do not sell customer data. We guarantee you will not receive spam calls from getting your free quotes with HoneyQuote. Full detail is in our privacy policy.

Which carriers are included

Our benchmarks draw on quotes from our network of 20+ coastal carriers. The mix isn't identical everywhere — carriers choose which states, counties, and sometimes which ZIP codes they'll write, and they enter and leave coastal markets regularly. So the carrier set behind one benchmark may differ from another, and it may change between refreshes. Where that shift is large enough to move a number, we note it.

On how we get paid: we earn a commission from the carrier when you buy a policy through us. Our benchmarks are calculated from quote data before any commission consideration, and no carrier can pay to appear lower in them or be excluded from them. We're a licensed independent agency, not a lead broker.

Definitions

What this data is not

A benchmark is not a quote. It describes a defined property in your area, not your house. Your own price will differ, sometimes by a lot, because of your roof, your claims history, your coverage choices, your insurance score, and exactly where you sit relative to water.

It is also not a prediction. A benchmark describes what carriers quoted in a past window. Coastal pricing moves with reinsurance costs, storm seasons, and carriers entering and leaving markets, and it can move quickly.

And it is not complete. Where we do not have enough quotes to publish responsibly, we do not publish. Our data is deepest in Florida and the Texas Gulf Coast and thinner in Alabama, Mississippi, and the Carolinas. If you want your actual number, get a quote.

Frequently asked questions

Contact us about our data

For press inquiries regarding our data and findings, please contact us at pr@honeyquote.com.