A house on Sandy Meadow Circle on the banks of Big Sandy Creek near Leander, Texas, seen on July 9, 2025, was heavily damaged in the Fourth of July weekend flood. | Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
By Robert Channick | Chicago Tribune
As Texas grapples with the massive flooding that struck Hill Country and killed at least 119 people during the July Fourth weekend, many Illinois homeowners will soon see their home insurance rates skyrocket due to the increase in such extreme weather events.
State Farm is raising homeowners insurance rates in Illinois by a whopping 27.2% beginning Aug. 15, according to a filing with the state last month. The rate hike, one of the largest in the state’s history, will affect nearly 1.5 million policyholders. New policyholders will pay the higher rates as of July 15.
In its filing, Bloomington-based State Farm said the rate increase is driven by catastrophic losses related to extreme weather events in Illinois.
“Over the last several years, our catastrophe provision has proven to be inadequate when compared to our actual catastrophe loss experience,” State Farm said in the filing. “While there is volatility associated with extreme weather events, our Illinois catastrophe losses have exceeded the year’s catastrophe provision in 13 of the last 15 years, signaling the provision used in rating has been insufficient in recent history.”
A State Farm spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In February, Northbrook-based Allstate raised homeowners insurance rates by 14.3% for nearly 248,000 Illinois customers, as the broader insurance industry struggles to keep up with the increasing frequency of extreme weather events across the country.
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