How Much Is Earthquake Insurance in 2026?

How CEA pricing works

CEA policies attach as a rider to your residential homeowners policy (CEA is not a standalone insurer - your existing carrier must be a CEA participating insurer, which most major California writers are). CEA pricing is driven by: ZIP code (soil type and proximity to active faults), home construction (wood-frame vs masonry), year built (older homes are riskier unless retrofitted), dwelling coverage amount, and your deductible selection.

The deductible choice is the biggest lever. A 25 per cent deductible on $500,000 dwelling equals $125,000 out of pocket before CEA pays - meaning only a catastrophic quake triggers a claim, but the annual premium is materially lower than a 5 per cent deductible. Most experts recommend 15 or 20 per cent as a middle ground.

Retrofit discount: Earthquake Brace + Bolt

California offers grants of up to $3,000 via the Earthquake Brace + Bolt programme (joint CEA / Governor's Office of Emergency Services) to fund seismic retrofits of single-family homes built before 1980 with a raised foundation. A properly-retrofitted home qualifies for up to 25 per cent off CEA premium. For homes in high-hazard ZIPs, the retrofit typically pays for itself in 5 to 8 years of premium savings even without the grant, plus it materially reduces actual quake damage likelihood.

Earthquake insurance outside California

Other earthquake-exposed states (Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Alaska, parts of Missouri near the New Madrid fault, and parts of South Carolina near the Charleston fault) do not have a CEA-equivalent public programme. Coverage is available from private carriers including GeoVera, Palomar Insurance, Arrowhead, ICAT, and some standard homeowners carriers as an endorsement.

Typical non-California earthquake premium ranges widely by state and proximity to known fault systems. We do not quote per-carrier rates, but a $500,000 dwelling in a moderate-seismic Washington ZIP typically runs $600 to $1,400 per year with a 10 to 15 per cent deductible at the major private carriers. Pacific Northwest ZIPs near the Cascadia subduction zone pay more.

Is earthquake insurance worth it? The math

Standard expected-value math usually argues against earthquake insurance. In California, the annualised risk of a structure-total-loss quake at a given home is typically 0.2 to 1 per cent depending on ZIP. At 0.5 per cent annual loss frequency and a $500,000 rebuild cost, the actuarially fair premium is roughly $2,500 per year before the deductible reduction. Actual CEA premiums at 15 to 20 per cent deductibles are priced materially below that, because the deductible absorbs sub-total losses.

The argument for buying anyway is variance. Most households cannot self-insure a $500,000 to $1,000,000 loss. Coverage at a 20 per cent deductible costs roughly $1,200 to $1,800 per year for a typical California home and pays off in the catastrophic scenario. This is a classic case where expected-value thinking underweights tail risk.

AARP earthquake insurance: clarifying the misconception

Our Google Search Console data shows a steady stream of queries for "AARP earthquake insurance for seniors," including age-gated variants (50+, 55+, 65+). We are addressing this directly: there is no AARP earthquake insurance product.

AARP's insurance partnership is with The Hartford and covers auto insurance and renters insurance in most states, plus homeowners insurance in a subset of states. AARP / The Hartford homeowners policies are standard HO-3 policies that exclude earthquake exactly like any other carrier's HO-3. In a handful of low-seismic states, an earthquake endorsement may be available on an individual underwriting basis, but this is a general market option at many homeowners carriers - not an AARP-specific product.

A California senior seeking earthquake coverage buys the same CEA policy as any other Californian, through whichever homeowners carrier they use. AARP membership does not unlock a separate or discounted earthquake product.