How Much Does Flood Insurance Cost in Massachusetts?

Maybe your mortgage lender is requiring you to get flood insurance. Maybe you have flooding concerns of your own and want to make sure your home and belongings are reinforced against flood waters.

Regardless of your reasoning, if you need flood insurance, you are probably wondering exactly how much you can expect to pay for the insurance. We get it! You’re already paying for several other types of insurance, so when it comes to adding flood insurance, cost can be a concern.

Well, at Berry Insurance, we’ve issued many flood policies for homeowners and renters in Massachusetts and beyond. So we’re pretty familiar with what goes into determining the cost of a policy in general.

In this article, we’ll give you an estimate on what flood insurance can cost, get into the factors that influence it, and give some real examples of insurance premiums for Massachusetts flood insurance.

What a MA flood insurance policy costs:

A lot goes into the cost of flood insurance, so it can really vary quite a bit. So without any context, giving you an estimate on what flood insurance will cost you is difficult to do.

But we can give you a rough estimate based on what we usually see for premium prices.

For homes:

Depending on several factors, you can generally expect a flood insurance policy on a home to fall somewhere between $500 to $12,000 annually.

We know: this is a huge range. But as we mentioned, the cost is dependent on several factors (which we will get into more below.)

For apartments:

If you’re renting, flood insurance is much cheaper.

Since the flood insurance would only cover your personal belongings (not the actual apartment building which is your landlord’s responsibility) that type of policy would generally cost a couple hundred dollars.

For condos:

For a standard condo in a low-risk zone, you can expect a flood insurance premium to be around $500. 

For a more accurate estimate, you would need to factor in several other pieces of information.

Factors that influence the cost of MA flood insurance:

We know the range we provided above is a little vague. But that’s because each flood policy varies significantly from property to property, based on many factors. Here’s what you can expect to play a role.

Flood insurance limits:

Each type of insurance has limits. These amounts are the total amount the insurance carrier would pay out if you were to have a claim.

When purchasing flood insurance, you can buy up to $250,000 in dwelling coverage and $100,000 in personal property coverage for a total of $350,000. Higher limits are sometimes available with excess flood coverage.

How much you choose to buy will depend on how high you perceive your risk, your budget, and any requirements from your mortgage lender.

The higher the limits you choose, the higher your premium will be.

Deductible:

Another factor that influences the price of personal insurance is your deductible. A deductible is the amount you would have to pay out before an insurance carrier paid you any claim money. And usually you have a few deductible options for you to choose from.

With flood insurance, you can generally choose between deductibles ranging from $1,000 to $10,000.

The higher your deductible, the lower your premium will be.

Your flood zone:

The flood zone your home is located in is generally the factor that will impact your flood insurance cost the most.

When calculating a quote, insurance companies will evaluate how likely they think you are to have a claim based on your risks. 

That means if you are in a high risk flood zone, your flood insurance will be more expensive.

Flood zones are divided into six different categories, labeled with the following letters:

High risk areas: A, V

Moderate to low risk areas: B,C,X

Not yet mapped (unknown): D

To view flood maps of your area, you can visit the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.

And for more information on this topic, check out this article: Do I Need Flood Insurance Even if I’m Not in a Flood Zone?

Prior claims:

If you’ve ever had a flood insurance claim, your carrier will consider you more of a risk to have another and will charge you more because of it.

Whether it’s your primary or secondary residence:

If you’re insuring your primary residence, flood insurance is cheaper than if you’re insuring a second, or vacation property (in some cases, significantly). This is because the risk of flood is considered higher with secondary properties.

Other factors that may influence cost:

To determine the cost of your flood insurance, the insurance carrier will also consider other factors that influence flood risk. Some of these include:

• Home structure
• Foundation type
• Where belongings are located

MA flood insurance premium examples:

You know the factors that influence price, but you probably still don’t have a clear idea of how exactly they will impact your Massachusetts flood insurance.

So to help give you some more insight, we’ll give you some specific examples of some of the flood insurance policies we’ve issued.

• A primary home in Franklin, MA in flood zone X with $350,000 in coverage and a $5,000 deductible: $676.16
• A primary home in Blackstone, MA in flood zone X with $350,000 in coverage and a $1,250 deductible: $572
• A secondary home in Chelsea, MA in flood zone AE with $250,000 in coverage and a $10,000 deductible: $6,748
• A secondary home in Mattapoisett, MA in flood zone VE with $196,000 in coverage and a $10,000 deductible: $24,110

For the best price, insure your home through a reputable agent

If you’re looking for the right price for your flood insurance, you’ll want to make sure you’re working with a reputable insurance agent. You’ll want to work with someone who won’t oversell you on insurance to make some extra money. Conversely, you also don’t want to work with somebody who will provide you the minimum coverages to make the quote more appealing (because then you could be stuck with a huge out of pocket expense down the road.)

That’s why research is important. At Berry Insurance, we pride ourselves at being transparent and honest while providing high quality insurance. We also like to help people find the right agent for them (whether it be us, or another one of the reputable agencies in the area.)

So as you begin your search for your insurance agency, check out this article: What to Look For when Selecting an Insurance Agency or Company.