Map: Here's how much the California FAIR Plan costs in every ZIP code
The new data shows the full range stretches from just $91 a year for one customer in downtown Los Angeles to an average of over $21,000 per year for two homeowners in a high-risk part of San Jose. The statewide average is about $2,800 per year, according to recent state legislative testimony from FAIR Plan President Victoria Roach.
The FAIR Plan is a state-created but privately-run insurer designed to offer fire coverage to those who can't find it anywhere on the private market. Over the course of California's insurance crisis, the FAIR Plan has rapidly risen to become one of the largest insurers in the state, now covering approximately 5% of all insured residences.
Reforming the FAIR Plan has been one of the major tenets of Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara's Sustainable Insurance Strategy, his plan to end California's insurance crisis. Part of that included calling for the FAIR Plan to be more transparent by sharing data on its number of policies and the amount of premium collected across the state by July 1.
The Chronicle divided the total number of premiums collected in each ZIP code by the number of policies to calculate an average premium overall.
The average premium in the 94563 ZIP code covering Orinda is just under $5,200. Homeowners with the FAIR Plan in the 95441 ZIP code, overlapping Geyserville north of Santa Rosa, pay an average of $11,900 a year. In the 93920 ZIP code along Big Sur, the average FAIR Plan premium is just over $11,000 a year.
These averages are greatly impacted by two factors: the wildfire risk of the homes and how much an insurer would be on the hook for if the home was destroyed. That's why some areas, such as the 94074 ZIP code running along the coast of San Mateo County, have high average premiums despite low-risk policies — because the homes themselves are more expensive. You can select a ZIP code to see the average exposure in that ZIP code and the average premium in different risk categories calculated by the FAIR Plan.
Premiums are also influenced by other factors, including the deductible a homeowner chooses and any discounts they may get for doing wildfire mitigation work on their home.
These premiums in this dataset represent only a portion of what most FAIR Plan policyholders pay for insurance overall. That's because the FAIR Plan only covers damage from fire; to be insured for anything else, from burst pipes to liability payments, policyholders must purchase a second policy from a different insurer. As of 2023, roughly two-thirds of FAIR Plan policy holders also bought one of these secondary policies, according to the Department of Insurance.
Four years ago, the average FAIR Plan premium was about $1,800, Roach said at the May hearing — about 50% lower than it is today.
Surprisingly, the increase is not because the FAIR Plan has been raising rates.The insurer actually hasn't increased its prices since 2023, when rates rose by an average of 15.7%. But it has begun to take on hundreds of thousands of new homes, many of them much more expensive to insure.
In 2021, the average coverage limit for a FAIR Plan customer was about $680,000, according to Roach. Today, it is greater than $1 million. Up until 2020, the FAIR Plan capped coverage limits at $1.5 million per home, but now it insures up to $3 million per policy.
The FAIR Plan isn't set up to be profitable, but it is mandated to be actuarially sound. That means it should ideally collect enough premiums each year to pay for its operation costs and anticipated claims. For over a year, Roach has been warning that the FAIR Plan's rates aren't high enough to support all of the new customers it's taken on, putting the insurer at risk of running out of money in the event of a large wildfire.
That's exactly what happened earlier this year, when claims from the Eaton and Palisades fires quickly overwhelmed the FAIR Plan's limited reserves. The FAIR Plan then turned to its reinsurance, insurance for insurers, and to an infrequently used state statute that allows it to collect money from all of the private insurers in the state to cover the cost of claims. Some of those costs are expected to trickle down to consumers, unless an ongoing lawsuit prevents that.
So far, the FAIR Plan has not filed for any new rate increase. A spokesperson for the FAIR Plan said the insurer plans to submit a new filing 'as soon as this year.'
Its last residential rate filing was submitted in 2021 as a request for a 48.8% increase, though it was approved in 2023 at just 15.7%. (As part of his quest to get insurance companies to write more policies in the state, Lara has pledged his department will work to process filings more quickly.)
Roach said in May that the FAIR Plan's rates are so low it can sometimes be cheaper to sign up for the FAIR Plan than private market insurance, though private insurance policies include more types of coverage and at times higher limits. She said a rate hike would both bolster the FAIR Plan's finances and hopefully motivate some FAIR Plan policyholders to renew their efforts to get back on the private market.
'We are working with the department today to talk about our next dwelling filing to try to get to an actuarially sound rate,' she told the committee. 'The closer we can get to that, the better we're all going to be when that next catastrophe hits.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
15 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
UC admits more California freshmen than ever — but fewer at top campuses
The University of California admitted more than 100,000 California first-year students for fall 2025 — a systemwide record — even as the most selective campuses extended fewer offers to in-state applicants. According to data released Monday by the UC Office of the President, 100,947 California residents received offers of admission, a 7.4% increase over last year's total of 93,990. The admission rate for California students rose to 77%, up from 70% in 2024. 'We continue to experience significant growth — a clear indication that Californians recognize the value of a UC degree,' UC President Michael V. Drake said in a statement. Four of the UC system's nine undergraduate campuses — Merced, Riverside, Davis and Santa Cruz — accounted for the increase in first-year admissions of California students. UC Merced in particular saw a whopping 71.9% surge in admissions of in-state students, after a 45% increase in applications following several changes that made it easier for students to apply and enroll there. UC Riverside also had a robust 46% increase in admissions of California students. Admissions of in-state first-year students fell slightly at its most competitive campuses: Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Irvine and Santa Barbara. Systemwide, UC admitted 149,368 first-year students from a pool of 205,348 applicants, increasing the overall admission rate to 73% from 66% last year, though not all are expected to accept the offer. Offers to domestic nonresidents rose by 9%, while international offers grew by 17%, despite lower anticipated enrollment from those groups. Among California admits, 41.8% reported low family incomes, up from 40.6% last year. While the proportion of first-generation college students dipped slightly to 42.4%, the actual number rose by more than 2,300. Admissions officials attributed the increase to the university's adherence to the California Master Plan for Higher Education, which guarantees admission to a UC campus for students in the top 9% of their high school class or statewide, regardless of standardized test scores. UC Berkeley, one of the most competitive campuses, admitted approximately 14,500 first-year students — 787 more than in 2024 — from a record 126,798 applicants. The campus also admitted more than 5,600 transfer students. Among freshman admits, 68% come from California and one in four identify as first-generation students. 'At Berkeley, we seek to find the most exceptional students wherever they are in the state, country or world, and it's especially rewarding when we can offer admission to more of these incredible students,' said Olufemi Ogundele, Berkeley's associate vice chancellor and dean of enrollment, in a statement. UC Davis admitted 55,739 undergraduate students for fall 2025, an 8.6% increase over the previous year. The total includes a record 45,963 first-year admissions — up 10.4% — and 9,776 transfer admissions, a slight increase from 2024. Of those admitted, 34,088 are California residents, representing 61.1% of the admitted class. The gains in admissions support UC's broader 2030 plan, which aims to gradually expand capacity for California undergraduates over the next five years.
San Francisco Chronicle
15 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
California's major home insurers are likely to raise rates soon. Here's why
California home insurance companies could begin requesting rate increases within weeks, after state regulators approved a key step that will undergird new rate filings. Insurance rates have soared in California in recent years, but insurers say they still don't reflect the cost of doing business in the expensive, wildfire-prone state. To prevent insurers from further pulling back coverage or leaving the state, the California Department of Insurance recently enacted a set of reforms, called the Sustainable Insurance Strategy, that will make it easier for insurers to justify rate increases — though the state plans to ensure that the carriers continue to cover, and even expand, in parts of the state considered at risk for wildfires. A key step in the reform process occurred last week, when the Department of Insurance said it would allow insurers to use a catastrophe model to evaluate future risks. Previously, insurers have only been allowed to use backwards-looking information as the basis for rate increase requests — and thus could not take global warming or other predicted future changes into account. Insurers and regulators have long said that a more accurate assessment of future risks is critical for them to remain viable in California. California is an outlier: Other states already allow carriers to forecast risks using catastrophe models. The newly approved model was created by the New Jersey company Verisk. Two other catastrophe models, made by Moody's and Karen Clark, are now under review, according to Deputy Insurance Commissioner Michael Soller. 'I'm expecting (that) within a matter of weeks we could have our first filing from a major carrier,' Soller said in an interview Thursday. Exactly how much rates are likely to rise in the immediate future is unknown, and will undoubtedly vary by insurer. Mercury, a Los Angeles-based insurer that is one of California's largest carriers, said it is currently preparing a rate change request for homeowners insurance using the Verisk model. 'The move is a direct result of the ongoing implementation of (Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara's) Sustainable Insurance Strategy, which the company believes will provide California homeowners with more insurance options and lead to a more resilient insurance marketplace,' the company said. The use of catastrophe models is one of several key changes made by Lara under his Sustainable Insurance Strategy. Another key change is allowing insurers to partially pass on the cost of reinsurance (insurance for insurance companies) to policyholders — something not previously allowed in California, though it is common in other states. As soon as they file for updated rates, insurance companies will be required to tell regulators if they plan to write new policies, and if so, how many new policies. Insurers will also be asked to describe how they'll be seeking new policies to write — for example, if they'll offer full coverage to customers whom they partially cover under a companion policy to California's FAIR plan. (The FAIR Plan is California's insurer of last resort and covers only damage from wildfires, whereas traditional insurers include other risks such as liability and plumbing problems.) There have been virtually no rate increase requests filed after the devastating Los Angeles wildfires in January. In prior years, large rate increase requests tended to flow in after major fires, Soller said. But this time, insurers have been waiting for the catastrophe models to be approved. 'It's why we are doing this,' Soller said, noting that really large rate increases after wildfires are 'not a sustainable path for us.'
San Francisco Chronicle
16 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Reports: Palestinian activist previously detained at SFO killed in West Bank
Israeli settlers in the West Bank allegedly killed one of two Palestinians who were deported from San Francisco International Airport in June after they arrived in the U.S. for a speaking tour, according to Bay Area Palestinian activists and news reports. Awdah Hathaleen — who came to the Bay Area in June with his cousin as part of an interfaith speaking tour about the occupation in Palestine — was allegedly shot by Israeli settlers on Monday, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center Lara Kiswani said. Kiswani said Hathaleen died of his injuries Monday night, Palestine time. The Chronicle could not immediately independently confirm Hathaleen's death, though it was reported by at least one media outlet in Israel. There are disputing accounts of what led to Hathaleen's killing. Jewish Voice for Peace posted on Instagram that Israeli settlers invaded the small village of Umm al-Kheir — where Hathaleen is from — with a bulldozer on Monday. The post said that as Awdah and his family attempted to defend their homes, a settler shot Awdah in the chest. Awdah later died from his injuries after being taken by an Israeli ambulance, the post said. The Times of Israel reported, based on another Israeli publication, that dozens of rioters from Umm al-Kheir were throwing stones at a man 'doing permitted construction on a new neighborhood in Carmel.' The report said Israeli police arrested one Israeli citizen involved in the shooting. Police told the Times that four Palestinians were detained by Israel Defense Forces, as well as two foreign tourists. Awdah was an activist and English teacher. He is survived by his wife and three young children. During the clash Monday, Hathaleen's relative was run over by a bulldozer and was in the hospital, according to the Jewish Voice for Peace post. 'His death was the result of brutal settler violence,' the post said. 'We reject settler violence and expansion, and we recommit ourselves to the courageous, loving resistance that Awda embodied — a spirit that inspired all who had the privilege of knowing him.' The Palestinian West Bank has been under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in June 1967 and has since become deeply divided in part due to the construction of more than 100 Israeli settlements, which are widely considered illegal. Tensions have only grown in the past two years after the October 7, 2023, attacks that began the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Masafer Yatta, the area where Awdah was killed, has frequently featured in news reports and documentaries as an example of tensions in the region. The recent Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land documented the ongoing Israeli occupation, settler violence and demolitions of Palestinian homes in Masafer Yatta. One of the documentary's journalists, Yuval Abraham, claims to have captured a video of the Israeli settler who shot Hathaleen in a post on X. Kiswani told the Chronicle she felt crushed. She said her organization is in contact with family members and others in Palestine to get more details about what happened. 'They have deep ties to folks in the Bay Area, that's why we wanted him to speak out about what's happening in Palestine,' Kiswani said in an interview. Hathaleen and his cousin were scheduled to speak in Alameda, Santa Clara, Oakland and other Bay Area cities, but they never made it out of SFO. U.S. Customs and Border Protection deported the two back to Qatar a day later. CBP said in a statement at the time that 'after an interview by CBP, the individuals failed to establish they were admissible to the U.S. As such, they withdrew their applications for admission and departed the U.S.' Phillip Weintraub, a member of Piedmont's Kehilla Community Synagogue, told the Chronicle he was shocked by the news of Hathaleen's killing. He organized one of the speaking events that Hathaleen was meant to participate in in June. 'I'm just devastated,' he said. 'Still in shock that this has happened.' Weintraub said that on Sunday night, Awdah gave a talk via Zoom about his treatment during his stay at SFO. Weintraub said Awdah told the audience he was treated 'harshly the first day and… much kinder the second day.' Weintraub said the two were initially told they would be banned from coming into the U.S. for five years, but after conversations with immigration officials, they opted to return to Qatar and have their visas revoked. 'Our impression was that the political pressure had some impact on how harshly immigration officials were responding,' Weintraub said. Ko Lyn Cheang contributed to this report.
