Women Pay More for Auto Insurance Than Men in 37 States

Written by  Maggie Davis

Edited by  Dan Shepard

+ 1 More

Updated Feb 20, 2024 Content was accurate at the time of publication.

Women often face pricier auto insurance premiums than men.

According to a new LendingTree analysis of insurance rate data, women pay more annually for premiums than men in 37 states, with the difference hitting triple digits in a half-dozen of them.

Here’s what else we found.

Key findings

On average, women pay more for auto insurance than men in 37 states

By analyzing Quadrant Information Services data to determine average car insurance premiums for minimum- and full-coverage policies for 35-year-old male and female drivers with clean records, we found women pay more annually than men in 37 states.

Nationally, the difference isn’t large, with women paying an average of $32 more annually for auto insurance than men — $1,488 versus $1,456. By state, however, that gap can widen: Women in Florida pay an average of $2,687, while men pay $2,488 — a difference of $199 annually in car insurance costs.

Oregon ($130) and Delaware ($118) have the next largest differences. Overall, women pay at least $100 more, on average, in six states.

States with the biggest differences in average annual car insurance premiums for men and women

According to LendingTree auto insurance expert and licensed insurance agent Rob Bhatt, how insurance companies determine risk plays the largest role in these differences.

“Insurance companies hire actuaries to assess the level of risk various drivers pose based on a number of factors,” he says. “In most states, insurance companies include gender among the many factors they use to determine how risky you may be to insure. The insurance companies in those 37 states probably claim their data shows that women have more claims than men and use this to justify charging women higher rates than men.”

On the other hand, men pay more — on average — in just seven states. The gap is significantly smaller in these states: Wyoming leads, with men paying $1,020 and women paying $989 (a $31 difference). Vermont and Ohio tie for second, with a difference of $27 for both. Meanwhile, men and women pay the same amount for auto insurance in seven states.

Full rankings: States with the biggest/smallest differences in average annual car insurance premiums for men and women

Female drivers have a higher incident rate in most states

To paint a fuller picture, we analyzed tens of millions of QuoteWizard by LendingTree insurance quotes from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2023, to calculate incident rates by gender.

Notably, female drivers in Massachusetts have the biggest disparity in incident rates. Female drivers in the state had 66.4 incidents per 1,000 drivers in 2023, while male drivers had 48.5 incidents — a difference of 17.9 incidents. For our purposes, driving incidents are:

Bhatt says drivers in these states can expect incident rates to play a role in insurance rates — if permitted.

“In areas where the discrepancy between male and female crash rates is noticeable, the gender with the higher crash rates can expect to pay more for insurance — assuming the practice isn’t banned in that state,” Bhatt says. “However, a lot of other factors can come into play. Credit, where allowed, and your driving history are often more significant than gender, particularly after you hit your 30s.”

Notably, Massachusetts doesn’t allow insurance companies to use gender as a factor — which may be why it’s one of the seven states where average auto insurance rates are the same for both genders despite the incident rate gap.

Following Massachusetts, the District of Columbia has the next highest discrepancy in incident rates, with 15.1 more incidents per 1,000 drivers among female drivers. Rhode Island (14.9) rounds out the top three.

States with the biggest discrepancies in incidence rates by gender

The gap is much smaller in the states where men have higher incident rates. Hawaii — another state where auto insurers aren’t allowed to use gender as a factor for rate-setting — has the biggest gap, with male drivers having 3.6 more incidents per 1,000 drivers. It’s followed by Arkansas (1.1) and Maine (1.0).

State-by-state data: Driving incidents per 1,000 drivers by state and gender

Both genders pay the most for auto insurance in Michigan

As for where men and women pay the most for auto insurance, both genders see the highest rates in Michigan. On average, both men and women pay $3,814 annually in the state.

That high cost can largely be attributed to the state’s no-fault law, which results in high insurance claim payouts, especially for personal injury protection (PIP) claims. These payouts are among the highest in the country. The state also has high minimum insurance requirements, which means higher prices for more required coverage.

Florida ranks second for both genders, with women paying an average of $2,687 and men paying $2,488. Florida’s high rate of uninsured drivers plays a role here: When these drivers are involved in accidents, the costs have to be covered by insured drivers.

States with the highest average annual car insurance premiums

Nevada rounds out the top three, where women pay $2,481 and men pay $2,371.

On the other hand, women and men both pay the least in Vermont, at $687 for women and $714 for men. Following that, Maine ($747) ranks second and Idaho ($780) ranks third for women. Those rankings swap for men, with Idaho ($768) second and Maine ($771) third.

Full rankings: States with the highest/lowest average annual car insurance premiums for men

Full rankings: States with the highest/lowest average annual car insurance premiums for women

Male teen drivers pay more for auto insurance than female teen drivers

While adult women generally pay more for auto insurance than adult men, the reverse is true for teen drivers ages 15 to 19 with stand-alone policies. Nationally, male teen drivers pay an average of $4,755 annually for car insurance, while female teen drivers pay $4,251 — a difference of $504.

According to Bhatt, this, too, largely boils down to risk.

“There’s a wide body of research that shows that male teens are involved in fatal car accidents, which are the most severe, at an alarmingly higher rate than female teens,” he says. “Insurance companies generally charge the highest rates to those with the greatest likelihood of costing them money in the form of a claim and the lowest rates to the least risky drivers.”

That holds true for all younger Americans, not just teens. In another LendingTree study on incident rates by age, we found that Gen Zers ages 18 to 26 had 49.07 incidents per 1,000 drivers, nearly double that of the second-highest group.

Breaking it down further, male teen drivers pay more than female teen drivers in 45 states. Connecticut has the biggest gap, where male teens pay an average of $9,268 and female teens pay an average of $7,882 — a difference of $1,386. That’s followed by New York ($1,174) and Maryland ($1,124).

States with the biggest differences in average annual car insurance premiums for female and male teen drivers

Notably, female teen drivers don’t pay more than male teen drivers in any state. In the remaining six states, male and female teen drivers pay the same amount, on average, with Hawaii ($1,207) having the lowest average annual insurance costs.

Full rankings: States with the biggest/smallest differences in average annual car insurance premiums for female and male teen drivers

Looking to lower insurance rates? Top expert tips

When discussing tackling gender disparities in auto insurance, it’s worth reiterating that six states — California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — prohibit insurance companies from using a person’s gender as a factor in determining their car insurance rate. (While Montana used to ban gender rating, the state began allowing it again in 2021.)

Bhatt says there’s been further political pressure in other states to stop the practice. “Insurance companies are always evaluating the effectiveness of their ratings systems internally,” he says. “The most successful ones tend to be those that move away from using outdated information to set their rates.”

In the meantime, Bhatt recommends shopping around to find a lower rate. “Car insurance companies weigh each rate factor differently,” he says. “Some place greater emphasis on your driving record or credit than your gender. Others are more forgiving of a ticket or accident, regardless of your gender. Some give men and women deeper discounts than others for bundling your car insurance with a home or renters policy.”

Methodology

Researchers analyzed tens of millions of QuoteWizard by LendingTree insurance quotes from Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023.

To determine the best and worst drivers by gender in each state, researchers calculated the number of driving incidents per 1,000 drivers by gender and by state. This main category included accidents, DUIs, speeding-related incidents and citations.

Our analysis also used insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services. These rates were publicly sourced from insurer filings and should be used for comparative purposes only. Your own quotes will likely be different.

Unless otherwise noted, rates for male and female drivers reflect the average of premiums available for minimum- and full-coverage policies for a 35-year-old driver with a clean record. Rates for teen drivers were the same as above but for those ages 15 to 19. Rates for teen drivers were for those with a stand-alone policy. Minimum-coverage policies meet each state’s minimum requirements for liability insurance. Uninsured-motorist coverage and/or personal injury protection (PIP) are included in states where these coverages are required. Full-coverage policies include the following coverages, limits and deductibles: