Fact file: Georgia hurricane insurance

September 2018

  • Four of the ten most costly hurricanes to hit the United States caused insured property damage in Georgia: Hurricane Irma in 2017, Hurricane Katrina in 2005; Hurricane Ivan in 2004, Hurricane Hugo in 1989, and Hurricane Frances in 2004.
  • Georgia has a residual market plan that acts as a market of last resort for residential and commercial property insurance in the state. The plan had 19,948 habitational and business policies in fiscal year 2017, down from 22,844 policies in fiscal year 2016. Exposure to loss under the plan was $2.6 billion in 2017, down from $3.0 billion in 2016.
  • There were 88,803 flood insurance policies in Georgia in 2017. Standard homeowners policies typically do not cover flood damage. Flood insurance is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program.
  • The insured value of properties in coastal areas of Georgia totaled $109 billion in 2015, accounting for 5 percent of the state’s total insured property exposure, according to an analysis by AIR Worldwide.
  • Between 9,000 and 153,000 single-family homes are at risk of damage from storm surge in Georgia, according to CoreLogic.  In terms of reconstruction costs, storm surge damage would range from $2.7 billion to $33.8 billion.  The ranges reflect the intensity of hurricanes, with the lower range corresponding to a weak hurricane and the highest range reflecting damage from a rare Category 5 hurricane.

Top 10 Writers Of Commercial Insurance In Georgia By Direct Premiums Written, 2017 (1)

 

Rank Group/company Direct premiums written ($000) Market share
1 Travelers Companies Inc. $470,764 5.9%
2 Chubb Ltd. 393,360 5.0
3 Liberty Mutual 386,600 4.9
4 American International Group (AIG) 334,332 4.2
5 Zurich Insurance Group 314,799 4.0
6 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 264,499 3.3
7 CNA Financial Corp. 253,722 3.2
8 Auto-Owners Insurance Group  251,578 3.2
9 AmTrust Financial Services 213,377 2.7
10 Nationwide Mutual Group 206,645 2.6

(1) Before reinsurance transactions.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Top 10 Writers Of Homeowners Insurance In Georgia By Direct Premiums Written, 2017 (1)

 

Rank Group/company Direct premiums written ($000) Market share
1 State Farm  $856,627 27.4%
2 Allstate Corp. 386,970 12.4
3 USAA Insurance Group 314,531 10.0
4 Travelers Companies Inc. 190,848 6.1
5 Liberty Mutual 188,196 6.0
6 Auto-Owners Insurance Group  127,759 4.1
7 Georgia Farm Bureau  113,109 3.6
8 Farmers Insurance Group of Companies (2) 110,145 3.5
9 Nationwide Mutual Group 109,059 3.5
10 COUNTRY Financial 88,964 2.8

(1) Before reinsurance transactions.
(2) Data for Farmers Insurance Group of Companies and Zurich Financial Group (which owns Farmers' management company) are reported separately by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Top 10 Writers Of Private Passenger Auto Insurance In Georgia By Direct Premiums Written, 2017 (1)

Rank Group/company Direct premiums written ($000) Market share
1 State Farm  $1,937,806 22.5%
2 Berkshire Hathaway Inc. 1,051,005 12.2
3 Progressive  1,001,828 11.6
4 Allstate Corp. 820,479 9.5
5 USAA Insurance Group 706,276 8.2
6 Liberty Mutual 335,540 3.9
7 Nationwide Mutual Group 267,971 3.1
8 Travelers Companies Inc. 266,864 3.1
9 Georgia Farm Bureau  261,432 3.0
10 Private Passenger-Owners Insurance Group  224,705 2.6

(1) Before reinsurance transactions.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Top 10 Costliest Hurricanes In The United States (1)

($ millions)

        Estimated insured losses (2)
Rank Date Location Hurricane Dollars when
occurred		 In 2017
dollars (3)
1 Aug. 25-30, 2005 AL, FL, GA, LA, MS, TN Hurricane Katrina $41,100 $50,750
2 Sep. 19-22, 2017 PR, UV Hurricane Maria (3) (3)
3 Sep. 6-12, 2017 AL, FL, GA, NC, PR, SC, UV Hurricane Irma (3) (3)
4 Oct. 28-31, 2012 CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT, WV Hurricane Sandy 18,750 20,240
5 Aug. 25-Sep. 1, 2017 AL, LA, MS, NC, TN, TX Hurricane Harvey (3) (3)
6 Aug. 24-26, 1992 FL, LA Hurricane Andrew 15,500 24,852
7 Sep. 12-14, 2008 AR, IL, IN, KY, LA, MO, OH, PA, TX Hurricane Ike 12,500 14,311
8 Oct. 24, 2005 FL Hurricane Wilma 10,300 12,719
9 Aug. 13-14, 2004 FL, NC, SC Hurricane Charley 7,475 9,518
10 Sep. 15-21, 2004 AL, DE, FL, GA, LA, MD, MS, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV Hurricane Ivan 7,110 9,053

(1) Property coverage only. Excludes flood damage covered by the federally administered National Flood Insurance Program. Ranked on dollars when occurred. As of December 11, 2018.
(2) Adjusted for inflation through 2017 by the Insurance Information Institute using the GDP implicit price deflator.
(3) Loss estimate not yet available from PCS, but a relative ranking is provided.

Source: The Property Claim Services® (PCS®) unit of ISO®, a Verisk Analytics® company, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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Estimated Value Of Insured Coastal Properties Vulnerable To Hurricanes By State, 2015 (1)

($ billions)

Rank State Commercial Residential Total Coastal Total exposure (2) Coastal as a percent of total
1 New York  $2,093 $1,272 $3,365 $5,571 68%
2 Florida  1,483 1,718 3,200 4,058 79
3 Virginia  92 106 1,993 2,078 10
4 Texas  725 638 1,363 5,358 28
5 Massachusetts  441 511 953 1,765 54
6 New Jersey  373 422 795 2,453 32
7 Connecticut  290 385 675 1,025 64
8 Louisiana  182 147 329 896 38
9 South Carolina  112 126 239 931 26
10 Maine  73 111 184 321 53
11 North Carolina  69 109 178 2,014 8
12 Alabama  63 65 128 1,014 13
13 Georgia  53 56 109 2,171 5
14 Delaware  34 59 93 241 29
15 New Hampshire  32 42 74 328 23
16 Mississippi  36 35 71 527 14
17 Rhode Island  25 46 71 241 22
18 Maryland  8 10 18 1,476 1
  All states above  $6,184 $5,858 $13,838 $32,468 38%
  Total, United States $6,184 $5,858 $13,838 NA 16%

(1) Includes residential and commercial Gulf and East Coast properties, as of December 31, 2015. Ranked by value of total insured coastal property.
(2) Total exposure is an estimate of the actual total value of all property in the state that is insured or can be insured, including the full replacement value of structures and their contents, additional living expenses and the time value of business interruption coverage.

NA=Data not available.

Source: AIR Worldwide.

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Other Resources

I.I.I. Facts & Stats: Flood Insurance

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