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FAIR Plan residential policy growth, Sep 2021 — Sep 2025
SRC CA Dept. of Insurance
Independent navigator · Updated April 2026
California is uninsurable. Here’s how to keep your home covered.
After January 2025’s Los Angeles fires erased $31 billion in property and tipped the FAIR Plan into a $4 billion shortfall, finding standard homeowners insurance in California has stopped being routine. FireGrade is a free, independent guide for homeowners who have been dropped, denied, or are bracing for what’s next.
02 THE CRISIS, IN NUMBERS
A backstop carrying $633 billion of California.
In four years the FAIR Plan—California’s insurer of last resort—has more than tripled in exposure. Forty-six of fifty-eight counties now write more nonrenewals than new policies. The numbers below are not estimates; they are public filings.
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Residential FAIR Plan policies in force, Sept 2025 (up from 242,440 in 2021)
SRC Insurance Business Magazine
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Estimated FAIR Plan losses from the January 2025 Los Angeles fires
SRC CA Dept. of Insurance
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Homeowner policies nonrenewed statewide in 2023, the most ever recorded
SRC Stateline / CDI filings
For a generation, the conversation about California fire risk happened in the language of evacuation orders and CalFire press conferences. After January 2025, the conversation shifted into the actuarial: what your home is worth, who will write the policy, and at what rate. The Department of Insurance has approved a 17 percent rate hike for State Farm and is reviewing a 36 percent request from the FAIR Plan itself.
The collapse is not uniform. A home in flat-grid Sacramento sits in a different market than an identical home in Pacific Palisades. FireGrade exists for the second one—and for the millions of homeowners who only learned, in the last 18 months, that they were the second one all along.
03 THE FIREGRADE
A letter grade for how an insurer sees your home.
Five questions. No login, no email. The FireGrade is a directional read on how a wildfire-specialty underwriter would price you today, based on the variables they actually weigh: zone, materials, defensible space, age, and access.
Step 1 / 5
04 WILDFIRE-SPECIALTY BROKERS
When the regular agent can’t place you.
A short list of independent California brokers who actively place homes in high-hazard zones, including FAIR Plan + DIC pairings. Filter by region. This demo lists representative firms; production will require explicit broker opt-in and license verification (CA DOI lookup).
05 HARDEN YOUR HOME
The list insurers actually score you on.
California’s Public Resource Code 4291 and the Safer From Wildfires framework define three concentric zones around your structure. Work outward. Save your progress—this checklist persists in your browser.
06 THE FAIR PLAN, DECODED
The backstop that became the front line.
What it actually is.
A privately-funded syndicated insurance pool, mandated by California law since 1968, that every admitted insurer in the state must participate in proportional to their market share. It is not a state agency. It is the insurer of last resort.
What it covers.
Dwelling fire only—up to $3M for residential structures plus up to $1M for contents (raised in 2024 from $1.5M). It does not include theft, liability, or water damage. To get full HO-3 coverage you pair it with a Difference in Conditions (DIC) policy from a private carrier.
When you should consider it.
- You’ve received two or more nonrenewals in 24 months.
- Your address is in a Cal Fire FHSZ Very High or High zone and a wildfire-specialty broker has already shopped 6+ admitted carriers.
- You’re in a fire-affected ZIP under Newsom’s January 2025 emergency moratorium and your existing carrier is preparing nonrenewal for after the protection lapses.
What to expect on price.
The FAIR Plan filed for an average 36% rate increase in late 2025. Even before that, FAIR + DIC routinely runs 2–4× what an admitted carrier would have charged the same home five years ago. Bundling, mitigation discounts, and Safer From Wildfires compliance can claw back 5–25%.
07 SOURCES & METHODOLOGY
Every number on this page is footnoted.
FireGrade is informational, independent, and not licensed to sell insurance. It earns nothing from the broker listings shown above. Production will introduce a paid “verified” tier with full CA DOI license validation.