Which States Require the Most (and Least) Car Insurance?

Minimum Liability Limits, All 50 States

Splits are written the way your state writes them: bodily injury per person / bodily injury per accident / property damage, in thousands of dollars. Where a cell reads "Confirm with state DMV schedule," check the single-state guide in the last section and the current statutory schedule rather than relying on a number a legislature may have revised.

Michigan is the clearest example of why a split alone does not describe the requirement. Its 50/100/10 liability minimum sits alongside PIP — defaulting to 250/500 with 50/100 available by election — and $1 million in property protection insurance for in-state damage (CarInsurance.com, 2026). Wisconsin layers in $1,000 of MedPay, which drivers may reject (CarInsurance.com, 2026).

What a lender or lessor requires is a separate list. No state statute makes you buy collision or comprehensive coverage; a finance contract or lease commonly does, often with a maximum deductible written into the agreement. Meeting the state minimum does not discharge that contractual obligation, and satisfying your lender does not prove financial responsibility to the DMV.

No-Fault vs. Tort States

• No-fault, no opt-out. Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota and Utah mandate no-fault coverage, and drivers there cannot elect out of it (Insurify, October 2026; WalletHub, 2026). You file injury costs with your own insurer under PIP first, and you can only pursue the at-fault driver for injury damages once your claim clears the state's verbal or monetary threshold.
• Choice no-fault. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky are the only no-fault states that let a driver choose between a no-fault policy and a traditional liability policy (WalletHub, 2026). Your election at purchase decides whether you file your own injury claim first or retain a full right to sue the other driver, so the form you sign changes how the next claim gets filed.
• Add-on first-party benefit states. Arkansas, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and Washington offer or require first-party medical benefits but are not treated as true no-fault states by the Insurance Information Institute, because they do not restrict a driver's right to sue (WalletHub, 2026). You can collect from your own coverage and still file a liability claim against the at-fault driver.
• At-fault/tort. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming settle injury claims against whoever caused the crash, so the claim is filed with the at-fault driver's liability insurer — and in New Hampshire, where insurance is not required by law, that driver may be paying personally (CarInsurance.com, 2026).

Which system you are in does not tell you whether a specific crash will be paid or how long it will take. Thresholds, PIP coordination with health insurance and the handling of a non-resident driver all vary by state and by the insurer's filed policy language.

Regional Patterns in Coverage Requirements

The clearest pattern in the table is that the no-fault states cluster at the bottom of the property damage column. Pennsylvania requires just 15/30/5, Michigan 50/100/10, New York 25/50/10 and Florida 0/0/10 (CarInsurance.com, 2026). Every one of those is a mandatory no-fault jurisdiction.

That is not coincidence. No-fault systems were built around first-party injury benefits, so the legislative attention — and the mandated dollars — went into PIP rather than into third-party liability limits. Michigan makes the trade explicit: its liability split carries only the 10 in 50/100/10 for property damage, but in-state property damage runs through a separate $1 million property protection insurance requirement, and PIP defaults to 250/500 with 50/100 available by election (CarInsurance.com, 2026). A low property damage figure looks alarming until you see what sits next to it in the same statute — and it should still alarm you in Pennsylvania, where the property damage figure in 15/30/5 will not replace a late-model vehicle (CarInsurance.com, 2026).

A second pattern runs through the Northeast and mid-Atlantic: states that mandate PIP frequently mandate uninsured motorist coverage too. New Jersey requires UM/UIM and PIP alongside its 35/70/25 limits, New York requires UM and PIP, Massachusetts requires UM and PIP with 25/50/30 liability, and Maryland pairs 30/60/15 with UM/UIM, UMPD and $2,500 of waivable PIP (CarInsurance.com, 2026). The common thread is that these systems are designed to pay the policyholder's own bills regardless of who caused the crash, which only works if there is coverage behind an uninsured at-fault driver.

Cost follows. Michigan, New York and New Jersey — all no-fault states — ranked as the three most expensive states in WalletHub's Cheap Car Insurance Study (WalletHub, 2026). Higher mandated first-party benefits mean more claims paid out of your own policy. Your own premium still depends on your limits, deductible, vehicle, record, zip code, credit-based insurance score where it is permitted, and the specific underwriting company inside the insurer you apply to.

At the high end, the states with the largest bodily injury floors are geographically scattered rather than regional: Alaska and Maine both require 50/100/25, Virginia requires 50/100/25 plus mandatory UM/UIM, and North Carolina tops the property damage column at 50/100/50 (CarInsurance.com, 2026). Louisiana, by contrast, sits at 15/30/25 (CarInsurance.com, 2026). High minimums track state politics and claims history more than they track the map.

Look Up Your State's Full Requirements

Each state guide sets out the statutory split, proof-of-insurance rules, penalties for a lapse and any PIP or UM/UIM mandate. Start there before you change limits.

Northeast

• Connecticut requirements
• Maine requirements
• Massachusetts requirements
• New Hampshire requirements
• New Jersey requirements
• New York requirements
• Pennsylvania requirements
• Rhode Island requirements
• Vermont requirements

Mid-Atlantic and South

• Alabama requirements
• Arkansas requirements
• Delaware requirements
• District of Columbia requirements
• Florida requirements
• Georgia requirements
• Kentucky requirements
• Louisiana requirements
• Maryland requirements
• Mississippi requirements
• North Carolina requirements
• Oklahoma requirements
• South Carolina requirements
• Tennessee requirements
• Texas requirements
• Virginia requirements
• West Virginia requirements

Midwest

• Illinois requirements
• Indiana requirements
• Iowa requirements
• Kansas requirements
• Michigan requirements
• Minnesota requirements
• Missouri requirements
• Nebraska requirements
• North Dakota requirements
• Ohio requirements
• South Dakota requirements
• Wisconsin requirements

West

• Alaska requirements
• Arizona requirements
• California requirements
• Colorado requirements
• Hawaii requirements
• Idaho requirements
• Montana requirements
• Nevada requirements
• New Mexico requirements
• Oregon requirements
• Utah requirements
• Washington requirements
• Wyoming requirements