State Farm and Allstate Stopped Writing New Policies in California. What That Means for You
The biggest names paused new business and started shedding policies. It looks alarming, and it is real, but it does not mean you are out of options. Here is what actually happened and what to do.
Starting in 2023, several of California's largest home insurers stopped writing new policies and began trimming the ones they had. State Farm paused new business, Allstate did the same, and others limited where they would write. It is real, and it reshaped the market. But it does not mean you cannot get covered. It means the search has to go wider than the household names. Here is exactly what happened and what your move is.
What did State Farm do?
State Farm General, the largest home insurer in California, stopped accepting new homeowners and most commercial applications in May 2023. In 2024 it went further and non-renewed tens of thousands of existing policies. As of 2026 it still is not writing most new California homeowners business.
The timeline matters. State Farm paused new applications in May 2023, citing construction-cost inflation, catastrophe exposure, and reinsurance costs. In 2024 it moved to non-renew about 30,000 homeowners policies and tens of thousands of commercial apartment policies. After the January 2025 Los Angeles fires it paused non-renewals in the hardest-hit areas and agreed to hold off on new block non-renewals, and it received an interim rate increase through the state's review process. The short version: if you are a State Farm customer who was non-renewed, or you cannot get a new State Farm policy, you are experiencing a deliberate, statewide pullback, not a problem with your specific home.
What did Allstate and Farmers do?
Allstate paused new California homeowners and condo policies in 2023 and still services its existing customers. Farmers capped how many new home policies it would write each month starting in 2023, then re-expanded as conditions improved. Different approaches, same underlying pressure.
Not every carrier handled it the same way, which is actually useful to understand. Allstate stopped taking new homeowners business but kept serving the people it already covered. Farmers did not fully exit; it put a monthly cap on new policies and has since loosened it. Other national carriers limited specific risk classes or geographies. The takeaway is that "the market" is not monolithic. At any given moment some carriers are pulling back while others are quietly opening up, which is the entire reason shopping broadly works.
Why did they all pull back at once?
The same forces hit every carrier together: rising wildfire losses, sharply higher reinsurance costs, rebuild-cost inflation, and, until recently, state rules that did not let them price for catastrophe risk or recover reinsurance costs. Faced with rates they considered inadequate, several chose to stop writing rather than write at a loss.
I went through these forces in detail in why homeowners insurance got so expensive, and they are the same ones behind the carrier exits. The piece worth repeating here is the regulatory one. For years California did not let insurers use forward-looking catastrophe models or include reinsurance costs in their rates. The 2024 Sustainable Insurance Strategy changed that, and part of the reason carriers are slowly returning in 2026 is that they can now price the way they wanted to. That is also why prices are higher.
I am with one of these carriers. What should I do?
If you still have coverage, do not cancel it. If you were non-renewed, treat the notice as a 75-day clock and start shopping immediately across the whole market, including specialty carriers and, if needed, the FAIR Plan with a wrap. Most owners who get dropped end up covered somewhere else.
- Keep what you have until it ends. A coverage gap makes you harder to insure and can violate your mortgage. Let any current policy run to its expiration date.
- Read the non-renewal notice for the date. California requires 75 days' notice for a residential non-renewal, which is your runway to find a replacement.
- Go wide, fast. The carrier that dropped you is one of dozens. An independent broker can reach admitted carriers you have not heard of, specialty surplus-lines carriers, and the FAIR Plan.
- Document your wildfire mitigation. Hardening work and defensible space can change both whether a carrier will write you and what they charge.
- If all else fails, build from the FAIR Plan up. The FAIR Plan plus a difference-in-conditions wrap can rebuild comprehensive coverage when the standard market is closed.
Does a big carrier leaving mean I should panic?
No. It means the easy, brand-name option got harder, not that coverage disappeared. The market is slowly stabilizing in 2026, specialty carriers are active, and a broker's whole job is finding the door that is open for your specific home. The owners who struggle are usually the ones who call one or two carriers and give up.
I understand why a non-renewal from a company you have been with for twenty years feels like the floor falling out. But in this market it is routine, and it is solvable. The difference between a stressful month and a quick fix is usually whether the search went wide enough. If you are with a carrier that paused or dropped you, send me your current policy or just your address, and I will shop it across the market and tell you where you stand.