Northeast: City rates, country rates
The Northeast keeps insurance actuaries dancing with its unique mix of city mouse, country mouse risk factors.
Take the topography: Mountains, oceans and Great Lakes meet skyscrapers and thruways. "Upstate New York is a lot different than New York City," says Luedke.
| | Pain states | Tame states |
| Auto insurance | New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island | Connecticut
Maine
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Ohio
Vermont |
| Home insurance | Massachusetts
New York
Rhode Island | Connecticut
Maine
New Hampshire
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Vermont |
Then there's weather: intermittent brutal winters and the occasional hurricane swipe.
And demographics include rural populations overshadowed by dense urban populations that span the economic spectrum. Baranoff says "redlining," or rating insurance based on risk in poorer neighborhoods, is still a reality in urban centers.
"You have redlining because past losses indicate that you're going to be charged more," she says. "It can change from ZIP code to ZIP code."
On the auto front, New Jersey, which on average pays the third most expensive auto rates in the nation at $1,081, ranks just 21st on the pain meter because the median income is the highest in the nation at $103,261.
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