Where America's Insured Dogs Live: Pet Insurance by State, 2025
California is home to 18.1% of America's insured pets and 19.9% of all pet-insurance premium, according to NAPHIA's 2026 State of the Industry Report. Nationally, the average accident-and-illness policy cost $836 a year for a dog in 2025 — but how premium dollars and insured pets spread across states varies widely. This page tracks the official state shares and what they show about premium levels in each state.
This is the first Wagopedia data study. We took the state distribution table published by the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA) — every state, plus the District of Columbia — and put it in one place, with charts, one carefully labeled calculation of our own, and an honest account of what these numbers can and cannot say. One caution up front, because it shapes everything below: the state figures are shares of the national total, and they cover all insured pets — dogs and cats together — across all plan types. Dogs are most of that market (74.9% of insured pets and 84.5% of premium dollars in 2025), but no state figure on this page is a dog-only figure.
The short answer: California holds 18.1% of U.S. insured pets and 19.9% of premium dollars — more than New York and Florida combined. Four states (California, New York, Florida, Texas) hold 37.8% of insured pets and 40.1% of all premium. Compared with the average U.S. policy (= 1.00), premium levels per insured pet run highest in Massachusetts and Connecticut (premium intensity index 1.18) and lowest, among states with enough insured pets to measure, in Oklahoma (0.60). The one true national price: accident-and-illness coverage for a dog averaged $836 a year in 2025 (NAPHIA). And only 5.99% of America's dogs are insured at all.
Key findings
- California is the market. With 18.1% of insured pets and 19.9% of gross written premium, California holds more of both than New York (7.4% / 8.1%) and Florida (6.2% / 6.5%) combined. Nearly one insured pet in five lives in California.
- The market is concentrated. The top four states — California, New York, Florida, and Texas — account for 37.8% of America's insured pets and 40.1% of premium dollars. The top ten states hold roughly three-fifths of insured pets.
- Premium levels run highest in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Both states post a premium intensity index of 1.18 — premium per insured pet about 18% above the U.S. average. New Hampshire (1.12), California (1.10), Maryland (1.10), New York (1.09), and New Jersey (1.09) follow.
- Texas is big but below-average on premium level. Texas is the fourth-largest market (6.1% of insured pets) but holds only 5.6% of premium — an index of 0.92, about 8% below the national average per insured pet.
- The lowest premium levels are in the South and Midwest. Oklahoma posts the lowest index among measurable states (0.60), then Alabama and Kentucky (0.67), Missouri (0.73), and Indiana (0.75) — premium per insured pet roughly a quarter to two-fifths below the U.S. average.
- Almost no dogs are insured. Just 5.99% of U.S. dogs had insurance in 2025 (5.23 million dogs), and 2.29% of cats. Total U.S. premium reached $5.7 billion, up 19.7% in a year — growth driven more by rising premiums than by newly insured pets.
- The national average premium keeps climbing. Accident-and-illness coverage for a dog averaged $836 in 2025, up 11.5% from $749 in 2024 and up from $625 in 2021 (NAPHIA, Section 4).
The national picture: what NAPHIA actually measures
NAPHIA's report publishes exact national averages — these are measured figures, not estimates — and they are the only dollar figures in this study:
| Year | Dog, accident & illness | Cat, accident & illness |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $625 | $370 |
| 2022 | $640 | $387 |
| 2023 | $675 | $383 |
| 2024 | $749 | $386 |
| 2025 | $836 | $435 |
Average annual premium per pet, United States. Source: NAPHIA, 2026 State of the Industry Report, Section 4.
- Other 2025 national averages: accident-only coverage averaged $190 a year for a dog; comprehensive plans with embedded wellness averaged $1,414.
- 5.23 million dogs and 1.75 million cats were insured in the U.S. at year-end 2025 — dogs up 6.8% in a year, cats up 16.3%.
- Penetration is still tiny: 5.99% of the 87.3 million U.S. dogs and 2.29% of the 76.3 million cats (pet population: AVMA Pet Owner Survey 2025, as cited in the NAPHIA report).
The map: premium intensity by state
Divide a state's share of premium dollars by its share of insured pets and you get a simple read on premium levels: above 1.00, the average policy in that state carries more premium than the average U.S. policy; below 1.00, less. We call this the premium intensity index. It is a Wagopedia calculation from NAPHIA's published shares — an index, not a price — and it blends dogs and cats and every plan type, because that is how NAPHIA publishes the shares. The full methodology, including why we suppress the index for small states, is below.
1.15 or higher 1.05–1.14 0.95–1.04 (near average) 0.85–0.94 Below 0.85 Small base — shares only
Embed these charts on your own site, free:
<iframe src="https://wagopedia.com/research/pet-insurance-by-state/embed-pet-insurance-2025/" width="100%" height="1080" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="Pet insurance premium intensity by state, 2025 — NAPHIA data via Wagopedia"></iframe>The biggest markets: top 10 states by insured pets
Share of all U.S. insured pets, 2025, all species and plan types combined. Virginia also holds 3.0% of insured pets (and 3.1% of premium) — tied with Colorado on pet share. Source: NAPHIA 2026 State of the Industry Report (2025 data). Chart: Wagopedia.
The full table: pet insurance by state, 2025
Every figure below is transcribed from NAPHIA's published table (Section 5, "U.S. Market (Full)") exactly as printed. The index column is Wagopedia's calculation (premium share ÷ insured-pets share). Because the shares are published rounded to one decimal, the premium shares sum to 99.8% rather than exactly 100% — that is the source's rounding, not a missing state. Select a column heading to re-sort the table.
| Rank | State | Share of U.S. insured pets | Share of U.S. premium (GWP) | Premium intensity index | vs. U.S. average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 100.0% | 100.0% | 1.00 | U.S. average | |
| 1 | California | 18.1% | 19.9% | 1.10 | Higher than US average |
| 2 | New York | 7.4% | 8.1% | 1.09 | Higher than US average |
| 3 | Florida | 6.2% | 6.5% | 1.05 | Higher than US average |
| 4 | Texas | 6.1% | 5.6% | 0.92 | Lower than US average |
| 5 | New Jersey | 4.7% | 5.1% | 1.09 | Higher than US average |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | 4.5% | 4.6% | 1.02 | Near US average |
| 7 | Washington | 3.8% | 3.8% | 1.00 | Near US average |
| 8 | Massachusetts | 3.4% | 4.0% | 1.18 | Higher than US average |
| 9 | Illinois | 3.3% | 3.5% | 1.06 | Higher than US average |
| 10 | Colorado | 3.0% | 3.2% | 1.07 | Higher than US average |
| 11 | Virginia | 3.0% | 3.1% | 1.03 | Near US average |
| 12 | North Carolina | 2.7% | 2.5% | 0.93 | Lower than US average |
| 13 | Ohio | 2.6% | 2.2% | 0.85 | Lower than US average |
| 14 | Georgia | 2.3% | 2.0% | 0.87 | Lower than US average |
| 15 | Maryland | 2.1% | 2.3% | 1.10 | Higher than US average |
| 16 | Arizona | 2.1% | 2.1% | 1.00 | Near US average |
| 17 | Michigan | 2.0% | 1.7% | 0.85 | Lower than US average |
| 18 | Connecticut | 1.7% | 2.0% | 1.18 | Higher than US average |
| 19 | Oregon | 1.7% | 1.6% | 0.94 | Lower than US average |
| 20 | Nevada | 1.4% | 1.2% | 0.86 | Lower than US average |
| 21 | Minnesota | 1.4% | 1.2% | 0.86 | Lower than US average |
| 22 | Wisconsin | 1.4% | 1.2% | 0.86 | Lower than US average |
| 23 | South Carolina | 1.3% | 1.1% | 0.85 | Lower than US average |
| 24 | Tennessee | 1.3% | 1.1% | 0.85 | Lower than US average |
| 25 | Indiana | 1.2% | 0.9% | 0.75 | Lower than US average |
| 26 | Missouri | 1.1% | 0.8% | 0.73 | Lower than US average |
| 27 | Utah | 0.8% | 0.7% | 0.87 | Lower than US average |
| 28 | New Hampshire | 0.8% | 0.9% | 1.12 | Higher than US average |
| 29 | Alabama | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.67 | Lower than US average |
| 30 | Kentucky | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.67 | Lower than US average |
| 31 | Maine | 0.6% | 0.5% | 0.83 | Lower than US average |
| 32 | Rhode Island | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1.00 | Near US average |
| 33 | Iowa | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.80 | Lower than US average |
| 34 | Louisiana | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.80 | Lower than US average |
| 35 | Hawaii | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1.00 | Near US average |
| 36 | Oklahoma | 0.5% | 0.3% | 0.60 | Lower than US average |
| 37 | Idaho | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.80 | Lower than US average |
| 38 | Kansas | 0.4% | 0.3% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 39 | New Mexico | 0.4% | 0.3% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 40 | District of Columbia | 0.4% | 0.4% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 41 | Delaware | 0.4% | 0.3% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 42 | Nebraska | 0.3% | 0.2% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 43 | Arkansas | 0.3% | 0.2% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 44 | Alaska | 0.3% | 0.3% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 45 | Vermont | 0.3% | 0.2% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 46 | Montana | 0.3% | 0.2% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 47 | West Virginia | 0.2% | 0.2% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 48 | Mississippi | 0.2% | 0.2% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 49 | North Dakota | 0.1% | 0.1% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 50 | Wyoming | 0.1% | 0.1% | — | Small base — directional only |
| 51 | South Dakota | 0.1% | 0.1% | — | Small base — directional only |
Source: NAPHIA, 2026 State of the Industry Report (© June 21, 2026), Section 5 — "Pets and GWP Distribution by State (2025)," U.S. Market (Full). Shares are NAPHIA member-contributed data, in-force at December 31, 2025, all species and plan types combined. Premium intensity index: Wagopedia calculation. Download the data: pet-insurance-by-state-2025.csv.
Where Florida lands
Florida is the country's third-largest pet-insurance market: 6.2% of insured pets — about one in every sixteen — and 6.5% of premium dollars. Its premium intensity index is 1.05, just above the U.S. average: the typical Florida policy carries slightly more premium than the typical U.S. policy, well below the Northeast's levels and well above the Southeast's. Florida is also the largest market in the South — Georgia, the next-largest Southern state, holds 2.3% of insured pets — so Florida's numbers, not the region's low-index states, are the better guide for most Florida dog owners.
What this means for dog owners
Your state sets the neighborhood your quote lands in. Insurers price where the vet bills are, and the index tracks that: owners in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and California should expect quotes above the national figures articles quote, while owners in Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky, and Missouri should expect quotes below them. The often-cited $836 is a national average, not a prediction for any one state.
The index is not your quote. It describes the average policy in a state — all breeds, all ages, all plan types mixed together. Your own price is set by your dog's breed and age and by the dials you choose: deductible, reimbursement percentage, and annual limit. Our guide to pet insurance for puppies compares plans on exactly those dials, and the break-even math shows when a policy pays for itself.
Coverage details move money more than geography does. The difference between the highest- and lowest-index states is real but modest next to the difference between a policy that covers hereditary conditions and one that excludes them. Before comparing prices, read what pet insurance doesn't cover — pre-existing conditions and waiting periods decide what a claim actually pays.
Insurance is one line in the cost of a dog. With only 5.99% of dogs insured, most owners pay vet bills out of pocket and budget around food and routine care instead. If you are costing out a dog's first year, pair this study with our dog feeding calculator for the food side of the budget — then decide whether a policy, a savings buffer, or both fit your situation.
Methodology and sources
Primary source. Every state figure on this page comes from one publication: the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA), 2026 State of the Industry Report — Highlights (© June 21, 2026), which reports calendar-year 2025 data. The state table is Section 5, "Pets and GWP Distribution by State (2025)," panel "U.S. Market (Full)"; the national average premiums are Section 4. The report's data are compiled by Willis Towers Watson from an industry survey; per the report's Appendix Footnote 2, the Section 5 distribution data are NAPHIA member-contributed data only, in-force at December 31, 2025. We transcribed the table as published; nothing was estimated, modeled, or filled in.
What the shares mean. "Share of U.S. insured pets" is the percentage of all insured pets in the United States located in that state. "Share of U.S. premium" is the state's percentage of gross written premium (GWP) — the total premium dollars insurers wrote. Both are shares of a national total, not counts and not prices.
The premium intensity index — a Wagopedia calculation. For each state we divided its share of premium by its share of insured pets. The U.S. as a whole is 1.00 by construction. An index of 1.18 (Massachusetts, Connecticut) means premium per insured pet in that state runs about 18% above the national average; 0.60 (Oklahoma) means about 40% below. The index reflects premium level in a state. It is not an average premium, not a dog-only figure, and not a quote.
Caveat 1 — species and plan mix. NAPHIA publishes the state shares for all species and all plan types combined. States differ in their mix of dogs vs. cats and of accident-only vs. comprehensive plans, and that mix moves the index alongside prices. Nationally, dogs dominate the market (74.9% of insured pets, 84.5% of premium), but no state figure here is dog-specific.
Caveat 2 — rounding. NAPHIA publishes shares rounded to 0.1%. The insured-pet shares sum to exactly 100.0%; the premium shares sum to 99.8%. We publish the figures as printed and note the gap rather than adjusting any state's number.
Caveat 3 — small states. For a state holding 0.1% or 0.2% of insured pets, rounding to 0.1% can swing the computed index wildly — a published 0.1% / 0.1% could honestly sit anywhere from about 0.7 to 1.4. So we show the numeric index only for the 37 states holding at least 0.5% of insured pets. The remaining 13 states and the District of Columbia show their shares with the index marked "small base — directional only." Their shares are real; a precise index from them would not be.
What we will not do. NAPHIA does not publish average premiums by state, and neither do we — beware any site that lists a precise dollar "average premium" for your state without quote data of its own. State dollar figures elsewhere on the web are either a quote platform's own proprietary quote data or a national average adjusted by a cost index — a model, not a measurement. This page sticks to what the industry's own report measures: national averages, state shares, and one transparent ratio of the two.
Updates. NAPHIA publishes the State of the Industry Report annually (the 2026 edition, covering 2025, is dated June 21, 2026). We will refresh this study with each new edition and keep prior-year tables available in the CSV.
Re-use. The state figures are © NAPHIA and are republished here as factual data with attribution. The premium intensity index is Wagopedia's calculation and is released CC-BY: reuse it, and the charts and CSV on this page, with credit to Wagopedia and a note that the index is calculated from NAPHIA's published shares.
Frequently asked questions
Does pet insurance cost more in California?
Premium levels are higher than average there: California's premium intensity index is 1.10, meaning premium per insured pet runs about 10% above the U.S. average — consistent with higher veterinary costs in California's metro areas, though the shares alone cannot prove the cause. NAPHIA does not publish a California dollar average, and neither do we; the only measured average is the national one, $836 a year for a dog's accident-and-illness policy in 2025.
What is the average cost of dog insurance in the U.S.?
$836 a year for an accident-and-illness policy in 2025, according to NAPHIA's 2026 State of the Industry Report (Section 4) — up from $749 in 2024. Accident-only coverage averaged $190 a year, and comprehensive plans with embedded wellness averaged $1,414. For cats, accident-and-illness coverage averaged $435.
Which state has the most insured dogs?
California has the most insured pets overall — 18.1% of the U.S. total, more than New York and Florida combined. NAPHIA's state table counts all insured pets together rather than dogs alone; since dogs make up 74.9% of insured pets nationally (5.23 million dogs), California's lead reflects the dog market as well, but no dog-only state split is published.
Why doesn't NAPHIA publish average premiums by state?
Its free public Highlights report publishes national average premiums (Section 4) and the state distribution of pets and premium (Section 5); the full report — with any deeper state detail — is confidential to member companies and survey participants. That gap is exactly why so many websites fill it with modeled numbers. We would rather show the measured shares and say plainly where measurement stops.
Sources consulted: North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA), 2026 State of the Industry Report — Highlights, © June 21, 2026 — Section 4 (average annual premiums, U.S., 2021–2025), Section 5 ("Pets and GWP Distribution by State (2025)," U.S. Market (Full) panel — the source of every state figure on this page), Section 2 (U.S. gross written premium), Section 3 (insured pets in-force), Highlights benchmarks (penetration rates), and Appendix Footnote 2 (member-contributed data). Full PDF: https://naphia.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/NAPHIA_SOI2026_Report_HIGHLIGHTS_26-06-24.pdf — industry data page: https://naphia.org/industry-data/. Pet population (87.3 million dogs, 76.3 million cats): American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Pet Owner Survey 2025, as cited in the NAPHIA report. Map outlines: U.S. Census Bureau state boundary data via the us-atlas project (public domain).
Wagopedia publishes general information only and does not sell insurance. Premium figures are industry averages from the source cited; your quote will differ by dog, plan, and state. Read the actual policy before buying.