Renters Insurance Statistics in 2025: Understanding the Cost of Being Uninsured

According to MoneyGeek data from November 2025, 45% of U.S. renters don’t have renters insurance. This leaves nearly 50 million people just one accident away from financial disaster.

Why such a high number? Many renters aren’t aware of the risk of not having insurance. Presented with the data, it’s actually more costly not to have insurance than to pay somewhere between $14-$18 a month to protect yourself.

The misconception about renters insurance is that it’s a nice-to-have. The reality: it’s essential for peace of mind and protection. And the good news is that it’s completely affordable.

This article breaks down all the numbers on why renters’ insurance is a wise investment and what you’re risking if you choose to forfeit it.

Key Renters Insurance Stats at a Glance

The table above is a snapshot of the average monthly cost of renters insurance and its potential coverage. There are three types of renters insurance claims, each with its own corresponding coverage limit. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Personal Property Coverage (thefts, natural catastrophes, non-weather water damage): $10,000 to $50,000+, depending on your policy and the value of your belongings.

Liability Coverage (injuries, negligence, damage to others’ property): typically starts at $100,000, with options to increase to $300,000 or $500,000.

Loss of Use Coverage (hotel stays, temporary housing, extra food/transportation while your home is uninhabitable): usually 20%–30% of your personal property limit, or a fixed amount (commonly $3,000–$10,000), depending on the insurer.

How Pine can Help with Renters Insurance

“When a disaster happens, the last thing you want to do is spend 8 hours on the phone with a claims adjuster. That's our job. Pine AI can initiate and manage your claim. We'll handle the hold times, submit your documentation, and track the follow-ups." - Stanley Wei, CEO of Pine

The Great Divide: Who Has Renters Insurance (and Who Doesn't)?

The 45% Gap: Why Are So Many Renters Unprotected?

Based on MoneyGeek's November 2025 report, about 45% of renters are uninsured because they believe their landlord's insurance covers them and because they overestimate the cost of renters insurance.

Let’s look deeper into these two reasons. First, many renters assume that the landlord’s insurance covers them as well. This is not the case. Landlord's insurance covers the property and the owner's liability. And since you’re not the owner, your belongings and any incidents that occur inside your apartment while you live there are not protected. Put simply:

• Landlord insurance protects the building structure and appliances and pays for legal liability if anything owned by the landlord injures a tenant or their guest.

• Renters insurance covers tenants’ personal property and provides liability coverage if the tenant is responsible for injuries or damage to others.

The second reason almost half of renters don’t get insured is yet another assumption we touched on in the introduction of this article. We should preface this by saying that, these days, it’s not unfair to think insurance is expensive. The average car insurance is $2697 per year, according to data from Bankrate in November, 2025.

Health insurance—although the market price varies based on several factors (employer-sponsored, age, etc.)—is very costly. For example, a “Silver Health Plan” averages $621 a month for a 40-year-old. (Value Penguin, August 2025)

Renters insurance is the exception here. At a national average of $170 a year (that’s $14 a month!), it pays for itself with the coverage and security it provides, proportional to what you pay.

Valuable or not, there is still a major disconnect for renters, as these numbers show a massive overestimation of the monthly cost and an underestimation of the risk.

Average Cost of Renters Insurance by State (2025)

In 2025, the average cost of renters insurance ranges from about $186 to $262 per year across the states listed below, with Mississippi being the most expensive.

Source: Insurance Information Institute (2025)

You might be wondering, “Why these states?”. Short answer: renters insurance is more expensive in states that experience hurricanes and other natural disasters.

On an individual basis (rather than on a state level), another factor that can impact your insurance quote is an old or poorly maintained property. Because this is riskier to insurers than a new apartment or home, they charge a premium.

What Are the Real Risks? The Most Common Claims

Fact: Theft Is More Common Than You Think

Burglaries are far more common than people realize, with over 580,000 reported each year and an estimated real total above 800,000, according to trends identified in Insurify’s analysis of FBI data. (July 2023)

Another fact: 89% of burglaries go unsolved. Because burglars steal when no one’s watching, it’s hard to track down the culprit. At the evidence and police resource levels, catching them is usually unfeasible.

Based on a BJS (Bureau of Justice Statistics) June 2013 study that spanned 17 years, renters were consistently more likely to be burglarized than property owners. The reason: in apartment buildings, the likelihood of diffusion of responsibility is greater. All it takes is one person to forget to lock the building door, and a culprit gets in.

Renters insurance can cover stolen items, but the exact amount depends on how much you own and your policy.

Fire, Lightning, and Water: The "It Won't Happen to Me" Disasters

Fire, lightning, and water damage are more common—and far more expensive—than most renters assume.

When people think of natural disasters, the typical inclination is to assume that they’re rare. The data proves otherwise. In 2024, lightning-related homeowners' insurance claims totaled $1.04 billion, according to the Insurance Information Institute (June 2025). That number includes 55,537 lightning claims nationwide; an average of 150+ claims a day.

While we can’t control the natural forces of the universe, we can protect ourselves from the financial catastrophes that they can cause. Queue: renter’s insurance.

As we mentioned earlier, there are 3 main coverage categories when you purchase renters insurance: personal property coverage, loss of use coverage, and personal liability coverage.

Two of these protect you from natural disasters. Personal property coverage pays for damaged belongings caused by lightning, storms, hurricanes, or fire. If your apartment becomes uninhabitable after a fire or water incident, loss-of-use coverage kicks in and pays for hotel stays and temporary living expenses.

And it’s not just storms or dramatic weather events where renters insurance comes in handy. Everyday water problems inside a building cause far more damage than people expect. ConsumerAffairs (March 2024) states:

“Every year, approximately 1 in 60 insured homes seeks a property damage claim caused by water damage or freezing.”

Unlike homeowners, these risks can often come from outside your own unit as a renter:

• Your upstairs neighbor’s tub overflows

• A pipe bursts in the hallway ceiling

• A washing machine leak from another unit spreads into yours

Even if you never cause the damage, you still deal with the consequences. Destroyed belongings, expensive cleanup, and if it’s bad, being displaced temporarily. That’s why these “it won’t happen to me” disasters are the ones renters insurance was designed for.

Liability: The $100,000 Problem You Didn't Know You Had

Most renters carry a sneaky $100,000+ liability risk without realizing it. The only protection against it? You guessed it: renters insurance.

Personal liability coverage in renters insurance protects you if you accidentally injure someone or damage someone else’s property. Rather than protecting your stuff, you’re shielding yourself from paying out of pocket if you legally owe someone else. Most renters' policies start with $100,000 in liability protection, yet many renters don’t even realize it’s included.

Here are a few examples of when you can be held financially responsible that you may not have considered: A friend trips over your rug and breaks their wrist.

• Your dog bites someone at the park.

• You leave a pan on the stove, a grease fire starts, and smoke damage spreads to your neighbor’s unit.

• You forget the tub is running and it overflows into the apartment below, damaging their belongings.

• You assist a friend with moving furniture and they get injured in the process.

Any of these can lead to medical bills, repairs, or legal claims that fall on you personally.

Here’s why this matters for renters: landlords fix the building, not the damage you cause to other people. Without liability coverage, you could be sued directly. And if you can’t pay the massive sum? Your wages may be garnished for that purpose.

You can negate all of this unnecessary risk with a standard renters insurance policy and shield yourself from $100,000+ mistakes you’d never think you’d be responsible for.

The Real Hassle: Filing a Claim (and How to Win)

What You Need: The "Home Inventory" (and Why 53% of People Don't Have One)

A home inventory is a simple record of your belongings, yet III's 2023 consumer survey shows that 53% of people don’t have one because it feels like a chore, and they assume they’ll remember everything.

What a running list of your stuff can look like: photos of what you own, a quick video walkthrough, a few notes or values. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Taking the time to do this is the difference between a smooth claim and a nightmare.

Why? Because if you can’t prove you owned something, you can’t claim it. Adjusters aren’t trying to be villains, but without documentation, they default to skepticism. And that means smaller payouts.

Most people don’t have a home inventory because they overestimate how long it takes and, quite frankly, it feels like a chore. So they tell themselves, “I’ll remember everything I own,”. Truth: nobody does, especially after an intense situation like a fire, leak, or theft. And people almost always underestimate how much their stuff is worth until it’s gone.

It’s important to know that claims can drag on for a long time without an inventory. You waste hours, even days, trying to recreate your entire apartment for memory. And because you can’t prove value, you usually end up getting the short end of the stick and settling for less.

Join the proactive side of this statistic (the 47%), and take a five-minute video walking through your place and narrating what’s what. Take pictures of any serial numbers or receipts you have. Dump everything into a folder on your computer labeled “insurance”. Boom. Done. Just spend 30 minutes to an hour once a year updating this.

The Process: Documentation, Deductibles, and Delays

The claims process requires detailed documentation, time, and patience, and the majority of renters don’t know how much work it actually can be. Imagine you’re in a situation where you’d need to file a claim. Would you be prepared? Most people aren’t.

Documentation is your first key to getting ahead of the issue. You’ll need photos of the damage, timestamps, receipts, screenshots of purchases, and maybe even repair estimates.

Sent your documentation? Great. One thing to keep in mind: claims adjusters often follow up with questions. Sometimes more than once. And yes, there can be delays. Claims can take weeks, especially during busy seasons. Expect to spend hours on hold, anxiously stare at your inbox for email updates, and go back and forth with documents.

That said, the fastest claims come from the most organized people. They have their inventory ready, their receipts in one place, and they reply to adjuster emails the same day.

That’s how you keep things moving fast and save your precious energy for things that matter most to you.

How Pine can Help Save You Time

“Don't have a policy? Don't waste your day filling out 10 different forms. Pine AI can take your information once and call the top 5 insurance providers on your behalf to get you the best, most comparable quotes for the coverage you actually need. We don't just find links; we make the calls.” - Stanley Wei, CEO of Pine

FAQ

Is renters insurance required by law in the US? No. There is no federal or state law mandating renters insurance. However, landlords can include it as a lease requirement.

Does renters' insurance cover my roommate? Typically, no. Standard renters insurance covers only the named policyholder. Your roommate would need a separate policy or specifically be listed on yours.

What’s the difference between "actual cash value" and "replacement cost"? Actual cash value (ACV) pays what your item is worth after depreciation. Replacement cost pays what it would cost to buy a similar new item.

Does renters' insurance cover pet damage? It depends. Standard policies generally cover pet liability if your pet hurts someone. Damage caused by your own pet to your property or the unit may require an add-on.

Will filing a claim increase my premium? Possibly. Filing a claim can impact your claims history and may raise your rate. This also depends on your insurer and your state’s rules.

How much renters insurance do I actually need? At baseline, you should cover the replacement value of your belongings and provide sufficient liability protection ($100,000+). Need more coverage? Adjust the limits based on item value, risks, and living situation.

Sources:

MoneyGeek, “Facts and Statistics About Renters Insurance” (2025)

Bankrate, "Average Cost of Renter's Insurance" (2025)

Apollo Cover, "5 Tenant’s Insurance Claims Every Renter Should Know" (2025)

Prestizia Insurance, "Renters Insurance Liability Limits: How Much Coverage You Need" (2025)

III, "Facts + Statistics: Homeowners + Renter's Insurance" (2025)

BankRate, "Average Cost of Car Insurance" (2025)

Value Penguin, "Average Health Insurance Cost" (2025)

Insurify, "Burglary Statistics 2025: Trends and Insights" (2025)

III, "Triple-I: Lightning Caused $1.04B in US Homeowners Claim Payouts in 2024..." (2025)

ConsumerAffairs, "Water Damage Insurance Claims Statistics" (2024)

Experian, "Is Renter's Insurance Required?" (2024)

Bankrate, "What Does Renter's Insurance Cover?" (2024)