Average Car Insurance Rates by State for Minimum-Liability Coverage

What's Behind This Number

A published "average rate for minimum liability" is a modelled quote, not a billed premium. The 2026 figures most often cited come from Insurance.com's work with Quadrant Information Services, which fielded average rates in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. for one profile: a 40-year-old driver with a Honda Accord LX, good credit, a clean driving record and a 12-mile commute with 10,000 annual miles, priced at state minimum, 50/100/50 liability-only, and full coverage at 100/300/100 with $500 deductibles (Insurance.com, 2026). Change any one of those inputs and the number moves.

For regulator-reported data rather than modelled quotes, the NAIC Auto Insurance Database Report (2022/2023 edition, published December 2025) tracks average premiums and expenditures by state for 2019–2023, compiled from state-level liability written premium data reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Four things explain most of the state-to-state gap:

• What "minimum" legally means where you live. California's minimum rose from 15/30/5 to 30/60/15 effective January 1, 2025; New Jersey's rises from 25/50/25 to 35/70/25 and Hawaii's from 20/40/10 to 40/80/20, both effective January 1, 2026 (InsuranceRateGuard, 2026). The published prices are not like-for-like.
• Whether the state is no-fault or at-fault. No-fault states require personal injury protection inside the minimum package, which lifts the floor price.
• Credit-based insurance scoring. California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Michigan prohibit insurers from using credit scores in auto pricing (MoneyGeek, 2026), and California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oregon and Utah place strict limits on its use (Experian). In most states, insurers are barred from using a credit-based insurance score as the only reason to raise a rate or to deny, cancel or non-renew (NAIC, via CNBC, April 2026).
• Garaging zip code. Rates are filed by territory, so two drivers in the same state with identical records can be quoted very different premiums. A few states also bar gender as a rating factor: California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania (ValuePenguin, 2026).

Average Rates by Category

Every row is labelled with its coverage tier and its dataset. The nationwide and credit rows come from the Quadrant-fielded benchmark profile described above; the state rows are labelled individually because the published figures come from two different 2026 surveys.

Two cautions. The credit rows are full-coverage figures, so they show the direction and scale of the credit effect, not the dollar effect on a minimum-liability policy. And the Nevada and Wyoming figures sit in a different survey from the Florida, Delaware, California and Hawaii figures, so read the ranking and rough scale rather than a precise difference between any two states.

What Pushes You Above or Below Average

• A DUI conviction. Rates rise by an average of 88% after a DUI (ValuePenguin, 2026), and the dollar result swings by state and carrier: a driver with a DUI pays $4,062 a year with GEICO in Arizona, while State Farm charges the same driver $6,113 a year in Georgia (Insurance.com, 2026). A DUI may also trigger an SR-22 or equivalent filing requirement.
• An at-fault accident. An average increase of 49% (ValuePenguin, 2026). Claim size and your state's loss costs both feed the surcharge your insurer has actually filed.
• One speeding ticket. About 24% on average nationally, but the spread is wide: California rates rise 44% after a single speeding ticket, while New York shows the smallest increase at 11% (ValuePenguin, 2026).
• Credit tier, where it is legal. Drivers with good credit pay 50% less for full coverage than drivers with poor credit (ValuePenguin, 2026); in dollars, the full-coverage national average runs $2,578 with good credit, $3,280 with fair and $5,478 with poor — about $242 more a month at the poor end (Insurance.com, 2026). It does not apply at all in California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Michigan (MoneyGeek, 2026).
• A lapse in coverage. Drivers with three or more years of continuous coverage are usually charged a lower rate (ValuePenguin, 2026). A gap can also move you into a non-standard underwriting company inside the same insurer group, which files higher rates.
• A statutory minimum increase. If your state raises its floor — California to 30/60/15 in 2025, New Jersey to 35/70/25 and Hawaii to 40/80/20 in 2026 (InsuranceRateGuard, 2026) — your minimum-liability premium rises at renewal even with a clean record, because you are buying more coverage.
• Garaging zip code and annual mileage. The benchmark assumes a 12-mile commute and 10,000 annual miles (Insurance.com, 2026). More miles, or a higher-loss territory in the same state, are rated upward.

How to Lower Your Rate Without Cutting Coverage

1. Compare at least three carriers at every renewal, and again after any violation ages off. Comparing quotes across multiple carriers is the largest single lever (Insurance.com, 2026). Compare identical liability limits, deductibles and listed drivers. A quote is an estimate; the bound premium can change once the insurer verifies your record.
2. Price 50/100/50 liability-only against your state minimum. Nationally the step up is $829 versus $738 a year, about $91 (Insurance.com, 2026) — more liability protection, not less. Your state's gap may differ, so ask for both side by side.
3. Ask your insurer to list every discount it has filed in your state, by name: defensive driving course, good student, paperless billing and automatic payments (Insurance.com, 2026). Trade-off: a defensive driving discount usually needs a state-approved course and may be limited by age or frequency.
4. Bundle home or renters with auto at the same company (Insurance.com, 2026). Trade-off: price the two policies separately as well, since a bundle only saves if the home side is competitive too.
5. Keep coverage continuous. Three or more years without a gap usually earns a lower rate (ValuePenguin, 2026). If you sell your car, a non-owner policy averages $486 a year nationally (CarInsurance.com, 2026) and preserves continuity.
6. Raise your comprehensive and collision deductible — only if you carry them. Raising the deductible is a recognised saving (Insurance.com, 2026); the benchmark full-coverage profile uses $500 deductibles. Trade-off: more out of pocket on every physical-damage claim, and on a liability-only policy there is no deductible to raise.
7. Ask whether your carrier has a usage-based or telematics discount filed in your state, and what the filed range is. If your mileage is well under the 10,000-mile benchmark it may help (Insurance.com, 2026). Trade-off: some filings allow a rate increase at renewal, so ask whether the discount runs one way.