Home Insurance Estimator

Enter your home's finished square footage, construction quality, and whether it has an attached garage to get an honest dwelling-coverage (Coverage A) range — the rebuild cost that anchors your policy, not a premium quote.

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How this estimator works — and what it is not

This is a dwelling-coverage estimator, not a premium quote. Premiums are insurer underwriting — your roof's age, your ZIP code's hail history, your claims record, your deductible — and no honest calculator can predict them. What we can estimate is the number that drives the whole coverage conversation: Coverage A, the cost to rebuild your house from the foundation up at today's construction prices. Get that number roughly right and everything else in the policy (personal property, loss of use) follows from it, because insurers set those limits as percentages of Coverage A.

The per-square-foot rates come from published 2026 national construction data: Angi's rebuild-cost guide puts typical bands near $165/sq ft for basic tract construction, $230 for standard, and $320 for custom, and NAHB builder surveys average about $162/sq ft nationally. We round to clean rates of $160 / $220 / $320 and show the result as a ±15% range, because pretending to more precision than that would be lying to you.

The formula

Coverage A ≈ square footage × cost per sq ft × garage factor, shown as ±15%

Square footage is finished living area; cost per sq ft is $160 (basic), $220 (average), or $320 (custom); the garage factor is 1.08 if you have an attached garage — the midpoint of the common 5–10% rule of thumb, since garage space is cheaper to build than living space but still burns down with the house. Personal property is 50–70% of Coverage A and loss of use about 20%, the standard structure of a US homeowners policy.

Worked example

A 2,000 sq ft home of average construction with an attached garage: 2,000 × $220 = $440,000, times 1.08 for the garage = a point estimate of $475,200. With ±15% rounded outward to clean numbers, the estimated dwelling coverage is $400,000 – $550,000.

From that point estimate, personal property at 50–70% is roughly $237,000 – $333,000, and loss-of-use coverage at ~20% is about $95,000. Liability isn't a percentage — $300,000 to $500,000 is the commonly recommended range.

The land doesn't burn: rebuild cost vs market value

The single most useful thing to understand about home insurance: your Coverage A has nothing to do with what your house would sell for. Market value bundles the structure with the land and the location premium — and the land survives any disaster. A $750,000 bungalow in a coastal metro might cost $350,000 to rebuild; a grand 1920s foursquare in a small town might sell for $250,000 but cost $450,000 to reconstruct with anything resembling its original millwork. Insure to market value and you're either paying for coverage you can never use or — far worse — standing in the ashes 40% short.

Why underinsurance happens (and the 80% rule)

Industry studies consistently find that 10–25% of US homes are underinsured against their true rebuild cost. The mechanism is quiet: you set Coverage A when you buy the policy, then construction costs inflate 4–8% a year while your limit sits still. Five years later you're 25% short and nobody sent a memo. This matters even for partial losses because of the 80% rule: if your coverage falls below 80% of full replacement cost, many policies pay even small claims proportionally rather than in full. Two defenses: review Coverage A annually against current $/sq ft, and ask about an extended replacement cost endorsement (typically +25–50% above your limit) — it's cheap and it's exactly the buffer that saves people after a regional disaster spikes local construction prices.

What actually moves your premium

Since this tool won't quote you a premium, here's what will move the one your insurer quotes: location risk (hail, hurricane, wildfire — the dominant factor, and why identical houses can differ 3× between states), roof age and material (many insurers now surcharge or refuse roofs over 15–20 years old), your deductible (raising $1,000 to $2,500 commonly cuts 10–15%), claims history (even a single claim can follow you for 3–5 years), and credit-based insurance score in most states. The dwelling limit itself matters less than people expect — which is exactly why trimming Coverage A to save on premium is a terrible trade.

Frequently asked questions

Does this estimator tell me what my home insurance premium will be?

No — and be suspicious of any calculator that claims to. Premiums come out of insurer underwriting: your location's weather and wildfire risk, roof age, claims history, credit-based insurance score, and deductible. What this tool estimates is dwelling coverage (Coverage A) — the rebuild cost that determines how much insurance you need to buy. That number drives the coverage conversation; the premium is what the insurer quotes you for it.

How much dwelling coverage do I need?

Enough to rebuild your home completely at today's construction prices: square footage times your local cost to build per square foot. National 2026 averages run from roughly $160 per square foot for basic builder-grade construction to $320+ for custom homes, per Angi and NAHB construction-cost data. Your insurer will run its own replacement-cost estimator — that's the binding number — but knowing the ballpark keeps you from nodding along to a figure that's 30% short.

Why is my dwelling coverage different from my home's market value?

Because the land doesn't burn. Market value is land plus location plus the structure; dwelling coverage is construction cost only. In an expensive metro, a $700,000 house might need just $350,000 of Coverage A because most of the price is the lot. In a rural area with an ornate older home, rebuild cost can exceed market value. Insuring to market value is one of the most common — and most expensive — coverage mistakes in both directions.

What is the 80% rule in homeowners insurance?

Most insurers require your dwelling coverage to be at least 80% of the home's full replacement cost. Fall below that line and many policies apply a coinsurance penalty: even partial claims get paid proportionally. If your home would cost $400,000 to rebuild but you carry $280,000 (70%), a $50,000 kitchen-fire claim might pay out only $43,750. Construction inflation quietly pushes homes below the line, which is why coverage should be reviewed yearly.

How much personal property coverage do I need?

Standard policies set personal property (Coverage C) at 50%-70% of your dwelling coverage automatically, which is enough for most households. The catch is special limits: jewelry, firearms, art, and collectibles are typically capped at $1,500-$2,500 per category unless you schedule them separately. A quick phone-video walkthrough of every room and closet is the cheapest inventory documentation you'll ever make.

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