The stats are well-known: Less than 60 percent of the United States population has life insurance. Most consumers think they need more coverage, but don’t think they can afford it. In part, this is because the cost of life insurance is not widely understood: 80 percent of consumers misjudge the expense associated with term life insurance.
Despite these challenges, revenue from life insurance premiums is on the rise. In 2014, the most recent year for which SNL Financial has complete published data, revenue from life insurance premiums in the U.S. totaled $133.8 billion, a 6.2 percent increase over the prior year. Total premium revenue across all product lines — life insurance, annuity, accident and health insurance — grew by 15.1 percent, to $647.3 billion.
So where is the most life insurance sold? Our list looks at the ten states that post the biggest premium numbers. Rankings are sorted by life insurance premiums, but we’ve also included numbers for annuities, accident and health insurance premiums, deposit-type contract funds and other considerations, to give a full picture of the industry revenue generated by each state.
Editor’s Note: All data is from SNL Financial, and includes direct premiums written before reinsurance transactions. It excludes state funds.
