Fact file: Louisiana hurricane insurance

June 2020

The costliest Louisiana hurricane ever was Hurricane Katrina, which caused nearly $25.4 billion in insured losses in Louisiana in 2005 (about $33.4 billion in 2019 dollars). These losses do not include flood damage covered under the federal government’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
Hurricane Katrina resulted in $13.1 billion in flood insurance losses in Louisiana paid by the NFIP.
Hurricane Katrina was the costliest hurricane to hit the U.S. (See chart below.)
Hurricane Katrina was also the deadliest hurricane in Louisiana’s history, with some 1,800 fatalities reported.
Standard homeowners policies typically do not cover flood damage. Flood insurance is covered by the federally managed National Flood Insurance Program, and private flood insurance is becoming increasingly available.
The number of flood insurance policies in force in Louisiana rose by 27 percent from 388,121 in 2005 to 494,370 in 2006, the year following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There were 501,289 flood insurance policies in Louisiana in 2018 up from 498,271 in 2017.
In Louisiana, about 843,000 single-family homes were at risk in 2020 for storm surge damage from hurricanes up to Category 5 strength, according to CoreLogic, Inc. These homes would cost $202 billion to completely rebuild, including labor and materials.
The number of people living in coastal areas in Louisiana increased from 2010 to 2015 by 128,232 people or 4 percent to 3.7 million, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. About 79 percent of the total population of Louisiana lived in coastal counties in 2015.
Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Louisiana Citizens) was created by the state legislature in 2003 to oversee the state’s Coastal and FAIR (Fair Access to Insurance Requirements) plans. This state-run entity acts as a market of last resort for residential and commercial property insurance in Louisiana.
Citizens is working to transfer policies back to private insurers. It had 38,000 policies in force in 2019 down from 61,549 in 2017.

Top 10 Writers Of Commercial Insurance In Louisiana By Direct Premiums Written, 2019 (1)

Rank	Group/company	Direct premiums written ($000)	Market share
1	Travelers Companies Inc.	$284,885	5.2%
2	CNA	238,615	4.3
3	Liberty Mutual	234,393	4.2
4	Chubb	225,259	4.1
5	Louisiana Workers’ Comp Corp.	213,703	3.9
6	Zurich	205,864	3.7
7	American International Group (AIG)	200,084	3.6
8	Progressive	140,492	2.5
9	State Farm	134,479	2.4
10	Nationwide Mutual Group	126,127	2.3

(1) Before reinsurance transactions.

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

Top 10 Writers Of Homeowners Insurance In Louisiana By Direct Premiums Written, 2019 (1)

Rank	Group/company	Direct premiums written ($000)	Market share
1	State Farm	$497,373	25.6%
2	Allstate Corp.	212,629	10.9
3	USAA Insurance Group	121,149	6.2
4	Liberty Mutual	109,098	5.6
5	LA Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co.	92,586	4.8
6	UPC Insurance	78,799	4.1
7	FEDNAT	75,778	3.9
8	Progressive	75,518	3.9
9	TWIMG LLC	60,209	3.1
10	GeoVera Holdings	35,643	1.8

(1) Before reinsurance transactions.

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

Top 10 Writers Of Private Passenger Auto Insurance In Louisiana By Direct Premiums Written, 2019 (1)

Rank	Group/company	Direct premiums written ($000)	Market share
1	State Farm	$1,442,013	29.5%
2	Progressive	803,098	16.4
3	Berkshire Hathaway Inc.	571,942	11.7
4	Allstate Corp.	540,138	11.1
5	USAA Insurance Group	294,072	6.0
6	Southern Farm Bureau Casualty	244,193	5.0
7	Liberty Mutual	197,964	4.1
8	GoAuto Insurance Co.	163,080	3.3
9	National General Holdings Corp.	104,747	2.1
10	Shelter Insurance	69,821	1.4

(1) Before reinsurance transactions.

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

Top 10 Costliest Hurricanes In The United States, 2024 (1)

			Estimated insured loss
Rank	Year	Hurricane	Dollars when occurred	In 2024 dollars (2)
1	2005	Hurricane Katrina	$65,000	$104,471
2	2022	Hurricane Ian	54,000	57,231
3	2021	Hurricane Ida	36,000	41,540
4	2012	Hurricane Sandy	30,000	40,939
5	2017	Hurricane Harvey	30,000	38,571
6	2017	Hurricane Irma	30,050	38,432
7	2017	Hurricane Maria	29,511	37,743
8	1992	Hurricane Andrew	16,000	35,845
9	2008	Hurricane Ike	18,200	26,259
10	2024	Hurricane Milton	20,000	20,000

(1) Includes Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and losses sustained by private insurers and government-sponsored programs such as the National Flood Insurance Program. Subject to change as loss estimates are further developed. As of January 2025.
(2) Adjusted for inflation by Aon using the U.S. Consumer Price Index.

Source: Aon.

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