California earthquake insurance
The USGS puts the 30-year odds of a Northridge-size quake somewhere in California above 99 percent. Fewer than one in eight California policies carry earthquake coverage. Here is how to close that gap.
What would your earthquake deductible be?
Educational only. CEA deductibles apply to the combined Coverage A and B limit, and the 5 and 10 percent options are not offered on every home; private carriers set their own terms. Your quote is the number that counts.
The two numbers that should decide this for you
Most California homeowners have never priced earthquake coverage, and the reason is not the cost. It is that the risk feels abstract. Two figures from the people who measure it make it concrete.
Magnitude 6.7 is not an arbitrary line. It is the size of the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which remains the costliest earthquake in United States history for insurers. The forecast does not say where or when. It says that over the life of the loan on your house, one of these is very close to certain.
California earthquake risk in numbers
The Third Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF3) is the official long-term forecast produced by the U.S. Geological Survey, the California Geological Survey, and the Southern California Earthquake Center. Its 30-year probabilities, counted from 2014, are the figures every California earthquake conversation should start from (USGS Fact Sheet 2015-3009; regional detail from the USGS earthquake probability FAQ).
| Region | Magnitude 6.7 or larger | Magnitude 7 or larger | Magnitude 7.5 or larger |
|---|---|---|---|
| All of California | Greater than 99% | Not itemized | Not itemized |
| Northern California | 95% | Not itemized | Not itemized |
| Southern California | 93% | Not itemized | Not itemized |
| San Francisco Bay region | 72% | 51% | 20% |
| Los Angeles region | 60% | 46% | 31% |
The same forecast puts the 30-year chance of a magnitude 8 or larger earthquake in California at about 7 percent, up from 4.7 percent in the previous model, because scientists now believe ruptures can jump from one fault to the next. The California Geological Survey counts hundreds of identified faults in the state, roughly 200 of them considered potentially hazardous, and notes that California gets two or three earthquakes large enough to damage structures (magnitude 5.5 and up) in a typical year (California Geological Survey).
What the big ones cost
Insured loss is what the insurance market actually paid out. The scenario figures are what the USGS expects the next big one to cost the region as a whole, which is the number that decides how long rebuilding takes and how scarce contractors become.
| Event | Magnitude | Cost | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northridge, Los Angeles (1994) | 6.7 | $15.3 billion insured at the time; $33.0 billion in 2024 dollars | III |
| Loma Prieta, Bay Area (1989) | 6.9 | $960 million insured at the time; $2.4 billion in 2024 dollars | III |
| HayWired scenario, Hayward Fault (East Bay) | 7.0 | More than $82 billion in property and direct business-disruption losses; 800 deaths; 18,000 injuries | USGS |
| ShakeOut scenario, southern San Andreas | 7.8 | About $213 billion in economic losses; about 1,800 deaths | USGS |
Northridge is the reason the CEA exists. After 1994, insurers that were required to offer earthquake coverage stopped writing homeowners policies at all rather than carry the exposure, and the state created the CEA in 1996 to take the earthquake risk off their books. That history matters today: it is why earthquake coverage is a separate purchase, and why the offer keeps arriving in your mail.
Why your homeowners policy will not pay
Earthquake is excluded from every standard California homeowners (HO-3), condo (HO-6), and renters (HO-4) policy. So is the ground movement that comes with it: landslide, settling, and liquefaction. The exclusion exists because a major quake damages hundreds of thousands of homes at once, and no ordinary policy is priced for a loss that correlated.
One important carve-out: California law requires both homeowners and renters policies to cover fire that is caused by or follows an earthquake (California Department of Insurance). If the quake cracks the foundation and breaks the windows, that is an earthquake claim. If it ruptures a gas line and the house burns, the fire portion is on your regular policy.
Also excluded: a bare California FAIR Plan policy, and the difference-in-conditions wrap that usually sits on top of it. If you are in that structure, see does a DIC policy cover earthquake or flood? before you assume anything.
How few Californians are covered
The California Department of Insurance collects earthquake policy counts from every residential insurer each year. The 2025 figures are the most recent published (CDI Earthquake Premium and Policy Count Data Call, 2025 residential totals).
| Policy type | Policies with earthquake coverage | Average annual earthquake premium |
|---|---|---|
| Homeowners | 15.2% | $1,440 |
| Condominium unit owners | 14.1% | $538 |
| Renters | 13.3% | $87 |
| Mobilehome | 19.0% | $340 |
| Dwelling fire (landlord and FAIR Plan) | 2.9% | $953 |
| All residential | 12.5% | $956 |
Read that against the forecast above. In a state where a damaging earthquake over the next 30 years is close to certain, roughly 85 percent of homeowners and 87 percent of renters are carrying the whole risk themselves. The average renters earthquake premium is under $100 a year.
Your two paths to coverage
1. The California Earthquake Authority (CEA)
The CEA is a publicly managed, privately funded, not-for-profit provider of residential earthquake insurance. You cannot buy it directly: a CEA policy is sold alongside your home, condo, renters, or mobilehome policy by a participating insurer, and only households insured by one of those companies are eligible. It writes nearly two-thirds of California's residential earthquake policies and reports about $19 billion in claim-paying ability, with a legal cap of 6 percent of premium on operating expenses (CEA financial strength).
2. A private earthquake carrier
Private earthquake insurers write standalone policies that do not have to be paired with your home insurer. They compete on the things the CEA form does not do: lower deductibles on some risks, higher personal-property and loss-of-use limits, coverage for detached structures and pools, and eligibility for homes the CEA declines or rates up. Some are admitted carriers; some write through surplus lines, which means no California Insurance Guarantee Association backing. As a broker we look at both and tell you which fits.
| Issue | CEA | Private earthquake carrier |
|---|---|---|
| How you buy it | Through a participating home insurer, attached to your home policy | Standalone policy, any home insurer |
| Eligibility | Must be insured by a CEA participating company | Carrier-specific; a path when the CEA says no |
| Deductible | 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25% of the dwelling limit; 5 and 10% unavailable on some homes | Varies; often 5 to 25%, sometimes with a flat option |
| Dwelling limit | Must match your homeowners dwelling limit | Set by the carrier's underwriting |
| Contents and loss of use | Fixed menu of limits | Often broader menus and higher caps |
| Backstop | Not a state guarantee, but $19 billion in capacity and a not-for-profit structure | Admitted carriers are CIGA-backed; surplus lines carriers are not |
| Best next step | Ask your home insurer or a broker for the CEA quote | Have a broker price it against the CEA |
The deductible is a percentage, and the arithmetic surprises people
Earthquake policies do not use a flat $1,000 or $2,500 deductible. The deductible is a percentage of your dwelling limit, and on a CEA policy the choices are 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 percent of the combined Coverage A and B limit (CEA coverages and deductibles). The 5 and 10 percent options are not offered on a dwelling limit above $1,000,000, or on a pre-1980 wood-frame home off a slab foundation that has not been retrofitted.
| Dwelling limit | 5% | 10% | 15% | 25% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $400,000 | $20,000 | $40,000 | $60,000 | $100,000 |
| $600,000 | $30,000 | $60,000 | $90,000 | $150,000 |
| $800,000 | $40,000 | $80,000 | $120,000 | $200,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 | $150,000 | $250,000 |
This is why earthquake coverage should be understood as protection against the event that takes the house, not the one that cracks the plaster. A $600,000 home with a 15 percent deductible sees no payment until damage passes $90,000, and then the policy responds to everything above it. The right deductible is less about your appetite for risk than about whether you could actually absorb that number in cash after an event that may also have disrupted your job. Use the calculator above to see your own figure.
What a policy pays for beyond the structure
The dwelling limit gets the attention, but on a CEA policy the other parts are where households come up short, because the defaults are low (CEA).
- Dwelling (Coverage A and B) - the house and attached structures, subject to the percentage deductible; on a CEA policy the limit must equal your homeowners dwelling limit
- Personal property - your belongings; the CEA Homeowners Choice policy offers $5,000 or $25,000, and $25,000 does not refurnish a house
- Loss of use - hotel, rent, and extra living costs while the home is unsafe; CEA limits run from $1,500 up to $100,000, and after a regional quake rebuilds run long because every contractor is booked
- Building code upgrade - the cost of rebuilding to current code; $10,000 is included and $20,000 or $30,000 can be bought, which on an older California home is a real number
- Emergency repairs - a small allowance to make the home safe and secure right after the event
Private carriers vary on every one of these lines, which is exactly why they are worth pricing. The dwelling limit is fixed by your home policy either way; the contents and loss-of-use limits are where a policy is actually sized to your household.
What earthquake insurance costs in California
The statewide picture from the Department of Insurance data call: the average California homeowners earthquake policy cost $1,440 a year in 2025, at an average rate of about $1.62 per $1,000 of coverage; across all residential lines the average premium was $956 (CDI, 2025 residential totals). Applied to a dwelling limit, that average rate gives a rough starting point.
| Dwelling limit | Annual premium at the statewide average rate |
|---|---|
| $400,000 | About $650 |
| $600,000 | About $970 |
| $800,000 | About $1,300 |
| $1,000,000 | About $1,620 |
For a deeper walk through what moves the number, see how much earthquake insurance costs in California.
Cut the premium: retrofit discounts and Brace + Bolt grants
If your home is a pre-1980 wood-frame house, the single biggest lever on both eligibility and price is a seismic retrofit: bolting the house to its foundation and bracing the short cripple walls in the crawl space. The CEA gives a verified retrofit a premium discount of 25 percent on a raised-foundation home built 1939 or earlier, 20 percent for 1940 to 1979, and 15 or 10 percent on other foundation types; mobilehomes with a certified bracing system get 21 percent (CEA premium discounts). A retrofit also unlocks the 5 and 10 percent deductible options the CEA withholds from unretrofitted older homes.
The state helps pay for it. The Earthquake Brace + Bolt program offers grants of up to $3,000 toward a code-compliant retrofit, plus up to $7,000 in supplemental funds for households with income at or below $89,040, and has assisted more than 32,500 homeowners since 2013 (CEA, August 2025). Registration windows open and close, so check the program before you hire a contractor.
We have written the whole sequence up in earthquake retrofits, Brace + Bolt grants, and the insurance discount. The short version: do the work, keep the paperwork, and tell your broker, because a discount an underwriter cannot verify is a discount you will not get.
Why your insurer keeps mailing you an earthquake offer
California law requires any insurer that sells you a homeowners policy to offer you earthquake coverage, and to repeat the offer every other year. You have 30 days from the mailing date to accept it (California Department of Insurance). Most of those offers go unread, which is a large part of why the take-up figures above look the way they do.
Two things to know about that offer. First, it is almost always the CEA policy through your current insurer, so it is one price from one path, not a comparison. Second, declining it does not lock you out: you can ask for the CEA policy at any time you are insured by a participating company, and a private policy does not depend on the offer at all.
Condo owners and renters
A condo owner's HOA master policy usually does not carry earthquake coverage, and when it does, the association's percentage deductible is spread across every unit as a loss assessment. A unit-owner earthquake policy covers your interior, your belongings, your loss of use, and a loss-assessment limit that responds to exactly that bill. See California condo insurance for how the two policies fit.
Renters do not own the building, so a renters earthquake policy covers the two things a renter can lose: belongings and somewhere to live. The average California renters earthquake premium was $87 a year in 2025. Our guide to renters insurance and earthquakes covers what it pays and how to add it.
Quote earthquake coverage online: coming soon
Earthquake is the next line we are wiring into our online marketplace, and it will sit next to renters insurance, which you can already quote and buy in a few minutes. Until it is live, we quote earthquake coverage by hand: tell us the address, the dwelling limit on your current home policy, the year the house was built, its foundation type, and whether it has been retrofitted, and a licensed broker will price the CEA policy and the private alternatives against each other.
Not sure whether it is worth it for your house? Start with is earthquake insurance worth it in California?, then CEA vs private earthquake insurance for how the two paths differ in practice.
Where we serve
InsuranceMonster is licensed in California and writes coverage statewide - all 58 counties and every major city. Insurance is transacted by Michael Kassing, a licensed California insurance broker, CA DOI licence #4445775. Quote renters online or send us your details for anything else.
Frequently served: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach, Oakland, Bakersfield, Anaheim, Riverside, Stockton, Irvine, Chula Vista, Fremont. See the full county and city directory.
Sources
Figures and definitions on this page come from the regulator or the body that publishes them. Each link was checked on the review date above.
- UCERF3: A New Earthquake Forecast for California's Complex Fault System (Fact Sheet 2015-3009) U.S. Geological Survey
- What is the probability that an earthquake will occur in the Los Angeles area? In the San Francisco Bay area? U.S. Geological Survey
- Earthquake Premium and Policy Count Data Call - Summary of 2025 Residential Totals California Department of Insurance
- Earthquake Insurance (consumer guide) California Department of Insurance
- CEA's Financial Strength California Earthquake Authority
- Homeowners earthquake insurance coverages and deductibles California Earthquake Authority
- How to qualify for an earthquake insurance premium discount California Earthquake Authority
- Earthquake Brace + Bolt grant program opens again for 2025 California Earthquake Authority (press release, August 20, 2025)
- Facts + Statistics: Earthquakes and tsunamis Insurance Information Institute
- The HayWired Earthquake Scenario (Fact Sheet 2018-3016) U.S. Geological Survey
- The ShakeOut Scenario (Open-File Report 2008-1150) U.S. Geological Survey
- Earthquakes (California Geological Survey) California Department of Conservation, California Geological Survey
Frequently asked questions
Does homeowners insurance cover earthquakes in California?
No. Every standard California homeowners, condo, and renters policy excludes earthquake damage and the ground movement that comes with it. You add it with a separate earthquake policy, either through the California Earthquake Authority via a participating insurer or from a private earthquake carrier. The one exception is fire: California law requires home and renters policies to cover fire that follows an earthquake.
How likely is a major earthquake in California?
The U.S. Geological Survey's UCERF3 forecast puts the 30-year likelihood of at least one magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake somewhere in California above 99 percent, with 95 percent for Northern California and 93 percent for Southern California. For the San Francisco Bay region it is 72 percent and for the Los Angeles region 60 percent. Magnitude 6.7 is the size of the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
How many Californians have earthquake insurance?
Not many. The California Department of Insurance's 2025 data call found 12.5 percent of residential policies carry earthquake coverage: 15.2 percent of homeowners, 14.1 percent of condo owners, and 13.3 percent of renters. Roughly seven in eight California households are uninsured for the state's signature risk.
What is the California Earthquake Authority?
The CEA is a publicly managed, privately funded, not-for-profit provider of residential earthquake insurance created after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Its policies are sold through participating home insurers alongside your home, condo, renters, or mobilehome policy. It writes nearly two-thirds of California's residential earthquake policies and reports about $19 billion in claim-paying ability.
How does the earthquake deductible work?
It is a percentage of your dwelling limit rather than a flat amount. CEA deductibles are 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 percent of the combined Coverage A and B limit, so a $600,000 home with a 15 percent deductible pays nothing until damage exceeds $90,000. The 5 and 10 percent options are not offered above a $1,000,000 dwelling limit or on unretrofitted pre-1980 raised-foundation homes.
How much does earthquake insurance cost in California?
The statewide average homeowners earthquake premium was $1,440 a year in 2025, at about $1.62 per $1,000 of coverage, according to the California Department of Insurance. Renters averaged $87 and condo owners $538. Your price depends on location, soil, the home's age and construction, the deductible, and whether it has a verified retrofit.
Is earthquake insurance worth it?
It depends on three things: how much equity you would lose if the house were badly damaged, whether you could absorb the percentage deductible in cash, and how vulnerable the structure is, with older unretrofitted homes near active faults at the top of the list. If losing the house would mean losing most of your net worth, the policy is protecting that, not the drywall. We can price it so you decide with a real number.
Can I get a discount for retrofitting my home?
Yes. The CEA discounts a verified brace-and-bolt retrofit by 20 to 25 percent on a pre-1980 raised-foundation home and 10 to 15 percent on other foundation types, and a retrofit unlocks the lower deductible options. The Earthquake Brace + Bolt program offers up to $3,000 toward the work, with up to $7,000 more for income-eligible households.
Can I quote earthquake insurance online with InsuranceMonster?
Not yet. Earthquake is the next line coming to our marketplace, where renters insurance can already be quoted and bound online. Until it is live, send us your address, dwelling limit, year built, foundation type, and retrofit status, and a licensed broker will quote the CEA policy and private alternatives by hand at no cost.
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