How Much Does Life Insurance Cost in Massachusetts?

Life insurance: It’s something that you don’t ever want to use, so of course it isn’t something you’re going to be thrilled about paying for. 

But it’s no reason to not get the important coverage. Plus, the good news is, life insurance premiums have come down significantly in the last several years.

We’ve seen it firsthand here at Berry Insurance. We’ve provided great life insurance plans to several folks, and many of them were shocked at how affordable life insurance can actually be.

Today, we’re going to enlighten you on the topic as well. In this article, we’ll give you an estimate on what life insurance can cost, get into the factors that influence it, and give some real examples of insurance premiums for Massachusetts people.

This is how much you can expect life insurance to cost:

Without knowing anything about you, it’s impossible to give you an accurate estimate of what a life insurance policy will cost for you.

But let’s start somewhere. We’ll give you a range of the lowest and highest amounts you can expect to pay for a policy.

Depending on several factors, you can generally expect a life insurance policy to fall somewhere between $100 - $1,000 per year or $8 - $83 per month.

For a more accurate estimate, you would need to factor in several other pieces of information, which we will get into in the next section.

Factors that affect life insurance cost:

We know the range of $100 to $1,000 we provided above is less than specific. But that’s because each life insurance policy can vary based on several factors. Here’s what you can expect to play a role:

Type of life insurance:

There are two different types of life insurance, term and permanent, and there is a significant price gap between the two.

Term insurance provides coverage for a certain time period, often 10 to 30 years. If the insured passes away during the term, their beneficiaries receive a death benefit payment, but the policy loses all value once the term ends. 

Permanent insurance offers lifetime coverage including both a death benefit, which is the compensation paid to the beneficiary once the insured passes away, and a cash benefit, which is a savings account available to the insured while he or she is still alive.

Term life insurance plans are more cost effective than permanent life insurance mainly because the policies are temporary and have no value unless the insured dies during the term. Due to the short policy period and the large number of insurance companies offering these policies, term insurance is often very affordable. 

Permanent life insurance carries a higher premium because it gains value over time as an invested portion of the premium can progressively yield cash accumulation.

Let’s take a look at how much the costs may vary: If a 40-year-old healthy male were looking into acquiring a $50,000 life insurance policy, this is an estimate of what he might pay for each type of policy:

20-year term policy: $107/year

Permanent policy: $1,036/year

These numbers can of course vary based on many other factors, but as you can see, the term insurance cost is significantly lower than both types of permanent coverage. 

Age of the applicant:

Life insurance is going to be cheaper the younger and more healthy you are — simple as that.

In the eyes of life insurance carriers, life expectancy is a measurement of risk. The better your life expectancy is, the less of a risk you are to the insurance company. 

Insurance companies don’t want to have to pay out life insurance, so they charge more (or deny coverage) to older, less healthy individuals who they see are more likely to cost them money.  

If you’re young and in exceptional health, not only will you qualify for life insurance, but you may qualify for even lower preferred premium rates.

Health of the applicant:

As we mentioned briefly, in addition to age, health also plays a role in the cost of your premium.

If you have any underlying conditions, or even a strong family history of medical issues, your premium will be more expensive than that of a person without underlying conditions or family history issues.

However, even if you do have underlying conditions or a family-history of conditions, it doesn’t mean you should put off applying for life insurance. It will still be more affordable for you the younger you are, and you don’t want to wait until it’s too late.

For more information, read this article: When are the Best (and Worst) Times to get Life Insurance?

The amount of coverage being purchased:

When buying life insurance, you will need to choose the limits on the policy. Those limits represent how much the insurance company would pay to your beneficiary if you were to die.

The limits each person chooses are very individual to their lives and needs. 

How much income would your family lose if you were to die? How many children would there be to support? How much debt would you be leaving behind? 

These are all factors people need to consider when deciding how much life insurance to buy. 

You can buy policies with limits anywhere from $100,000 to several million, but we generally see people get policies between $500,000 and $1M. 

But of course, the more insurance you buy, the more your policy will cost.

MA life 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 life insurance.

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

• A healthy, 34 year old female with a 20-year, $1,250,000 policy: $540 annual/$46 monthly
• A healthy, 34 year old female with a 20-year, $1,500,000 policy: $635 annual/$54 monthly
• A healthy, 42 year old male with a 20-year $500,000 policy: $550 annual/$47 monthly
• A healthy, 42 year old male with a 20-year, $750,000 policy: $800 annual/$69 monthly
• A healthy, 44 year old male with a 20-year, $1,500,000 policy: $1,800 annual/$153 monthly
• A healthy, 44 year old male with a 20-year, $2,000,000 policy: $2,400 annual/$205 monthly
• A healthy, 44 year old male with a 30-year, $2,000,000 policy: $4,200 annual/$400 monthly

Find the right, affordable life insurance policy for you

Compared to other types of insurance, life insurance is a (generally) affordable tool that can provide pivotal protection to your family.

But you’ll want to make sure you are working with a reputable agent you trust to manage your policy, whether that be us, or another reputable independent insurance agency in the area.

To help you find the right insurance agency for you, check out this article: What to Look For when Selecting an Insurance Agency or Company. To learn about which life insurance companies we recommend you work with, read our guide on the top life insurance companies in Massachusetts.