Essential Houston, Texas Auto Insurance Guide [Companies & More]

When it comes to car insurance, there’s so much information out there that it can seem overwhelming. Having to hop from website to website to get all of the information you might need is definitely a lot of work.

That’s what we’re here to help with. If you’re a Houston, Texas resident looking to find out what kind of car insurance coverage you need, you’ve come to the right place.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover all of the topics you need to know about car insurance in Houston.

Ready to take the leap and compare your car insurance today? Don’t forget to use our FREE online tool today. All you need is your ZIP code.

The Cost of Car Insurance in Houston

Let’s get started. In this first section, we’ll discuss some of the factors that go into the cost of car insurance in the Houston area.

Male vs. Female vs Age

Did you know that your gender and age can play a factor in what you’ll pay for your car insurance? Unfortunately, this is the case across the nation. In this section, we’ll take a quick look at how your age and gender could affect the rates that carriers charge for car insurance in Houston, Texas.

First, we’ll tackle age. What age range you’re in can affect whether you pay more for your car insurance.

Teen drivers tend to pay the highest rates, as you can see from the table above. You can chalk this type of rate payment up to being experience-oriented, as the more experience you have behind the wheel, the less you tend to pay for your insurance rates.

But not only does your age count for or against you, but so does your gender. There’s a common saying in car insurance that men tend to pay more for their car insurance coverage simply because they’re labeled as more risky drivers than women.

We decided to find out if this was true in Houston and found the results below.

This is proven valid in the Houston area. Women typically pay about $4,500.91, while men typically pay around $4,770.73. Women do pay less in Houston.

In addition to your age and gender, your marital status can factor in.

Unfortunately for male teens in Houston, you’ll be paying the most for your car insurance coverage. Inversely, older female drivers will be paying the least for their coverage.

Cheapest ZIP Codes in Houston

Do you live in the downtown area? Maybe a suburb? Well, depending on what ZIP code you’re in, you could be paying for it.

As you can see from the table above, the ZIP code 77059 has the cheapest car insurance coverage, while the ZIP code 77036 sees the most expensive rates.

This would make sense, as the 77059 ZIP code is located close to the suburbs of Houston, bordering on the Pasadena area. The 77036 ZIP code, meanwhile, is located right in the downtown area.

The closer to the downtown area you are, the more you should expect to pay.

What’s the Best Car Insurance Company in Houston?

There are hundreds of different car insurance companies that you can choose from. And all of them are vying for your business, so it can feel pretty overwhelming.

In this section, we’ll break down the information you need to know about some of the best car insurance companies in the Houston area.

Cheapest Car Insurance Rates by Company

One of the largest factors for a lot of people shopping for car insurance is the price. In the table below, we’ve displayed some of the cheapest car insurance rates in the Houston area by company.

As you can see, out of all of the companies listed above, USAA has the lowest rates.

Best Car Insurance for Commute Rates

How far you travel on a regular basis (your commute) can affect what you pay.

As you can see from the table above, however, not all insurance providers charge for your commute. Providers such as American Family, Nationwide, Progressive, and State Farm all charge the same, no matter what your commute is.

Best Car Insurance for Coverage Level Rates

No one likes paying more for less. But if you aren’t careful, you could actually be paying more for your coverage plan that won’t even provide you with the right amount of coverage.

So if you were to get a low-coverage plan with American Family, you would be paying $6,295.82. If you were to get a high-coverage plan with USAA, however, you would be paying only $3,063.36.

That’s several thousand dollars extra for a plan that doesn’t even give you the same amount of coverage.

Best Car Insurance for Credit History Rates

At the end of the day, insurance providers want to know that you’re going to pay them for the coverage they provide you. So yes, they will check your credit history. The better your credit history, the less you’ll pay for your rates, as you’re seen as more responsible and more likely to pay for your coverage.

Those rates jump when you go from good credit to poor credit. Looking at Allstate alone, you’d jump from $6,064.69 to $8,285.94. So if you’re looking to cut down on your insurance rates, make sure you improve your credit history.

Best Car Insurance for Driving Record Rates

Similar to how providers want to ensure that you have a good credit history, they also want to ensure that you have a clean driving record.

After all, the more violations and accidents you have on your record, the more they will have to pay to cover you. So those with more dings on their record will have to pay more for their coverage.

The violation that will definitely send your insurance rates soaring is if you have a DUI on your record. Allstate, for instance, will charge you $8,167.54 if you have a DUI, adding a couple thousand dollars from what you’d pay even if you’d been in an accident.

Car Insurance Factors in Houston

What other kinds of factors should you know about getting car insurance in Houston? Well, there are several facts and statistics about what living in this area of the country is like.

Metro Report

We’ve gone through and collected data from the Brookings Institution’s annual Metro Monitor Report to give you an idea as to what kind of growth the Houston area is experiencing. What kind of information does this report show?

This report displays the top 100 city regions in the nation as well as their growth, prosperity, and inclusion data. The information displays trends for the past year, five years, and 10 years.

All this data is collectively broken down to give a performance ranking, comparing it to all the other cities in the nation.

The data below displays the information for the Houston region:

• Prosperity: 95th of 100
  • Productivity: -0.4 percent (86th of 100)
  • Standard of living: -0.9 percent (96th of 100)
  • Average annual wage: -0.4 percent (98th of 100)
• Growth: 85th of 100
  • Jobs: +0.9 percent (71st of 100)
  • Gross metropolitan product (GMP): +0.4 percent (91st of 100)
  • Jobs at young firms: +0.8 percent (76th of 100)

As you can see, Houston definitely has a lot of room for improvement, predominately in the prosperity category.

Median Household Income

What kind of wages are Houston citizens making these days? With the city’s growth increasing, and with their job market increasing as shown in the previous section, just how much are Houston dwellers getting for their work?

According to Data USA, the median household income for Houston citizens is $33,552, which is an increase of 3.45 percent from the previous year.

So what does this mean for your car insurance? Well, the average insurance premium in Texas is about $528.75, so compared to their median household income, Houston citizens pay about 1.58 percent of this income for their insurance coverage.

Want to know exactly how much of your income will go to your car insurance? Use the tool below to find out.

Homeownership in the Houston area

One of the biggest milestones in many people’s lives is when they finally become a homeowner. But not everyone wants the responsibility of owning a home and opts to rent instead.

What kind of homeownership can you expect to see in the Houston area?

According to Data USA, about 68.7 percent of the population in Houston owned their own homes in 2017.

This actually decreased from the previous year, when 70.4 percent of Houston citizens owned their own home. This is an odd phenomenon, as the average property value in 2017 was $80,200, an increase from 2016 when property values averaged about $77,400.

This speaks volumes, however. Since the property values are higher than the previous year, it means that homes will be more expensive to purchase—a seller’s market.

This could be a contributing factor as to why homeownership levels have decreased.

Education in Houston

Let’s take a quick look at the education in and around Houston and what you have available to you. The University of Houston is located conveniently in the city of Houston itself, and located nearby is Houston Community College.

Within these establishments, there are a vast number of educational opportunities and concentrations. In the table below, we’ve collected data for the most common concentrations in Houston.

Wage by Race & Ethnicity in Common Jobs

So we’ve discussed how age and gender can affect car insurance, but did you know that factors such as race and ethnicity can affect something such as your income?

The table below shows some of the most recent data from Data USA about race and ethnicity in common jobs in Houston in 2017:

As you can see from the table above, the highest-paid people in Houston are of Asian ethnicity in general managerial roles, while the least paid people in Houston are those of multiple races and ethnicities in cashier roles.

Wage by Gender in Common Jobs

It’s no secret that there is a wage discrepancy in the United States. Many people have brought this to light, even celebrities in Hollywood.

So who gets paid more in Houston, men or women?

According to Data USA, men get paid $64,953 on average, while women only receive an average of $45,959.

That means in Houston, men make, on average, $18,994 more than women do.

Poverty by Age and Gender

On the flip side of those who make more, there are those who live in poverty.

Houston has an above-average number living in poverty. The national average of people who live below the poverty line is 13.4 percent, while in Houston alone, that population is 24.7 percent.

The largest demographic of those living in poverty are actually women between the age of 18 and 24.

Poverty by Race & Ethnicity

How is the population of those in poverty divided by race and ethnicity?

According to Data USA, the results are as follows:

• White: 2,101
• Black: 2,001
• Hispanic: 879

So the largest demographic of those in poverty are white.

Employment by Occupations

It’s not hard to see why there is such a large population of those living in poverty in the Houston area, unfortunately. From the years 2016 to 2017, there was a decline in the employment rate by 4.84 percent. The number of employed people dropped from 8,003 to 7,640.

Keep in mind that although from 2016 to 2017 the rate was down by 4.84 percent, job growth is starting to rise in the Houston area. So don’t let these statistics discourage you.

What about those who are employed in the Houston area? What kind of jobs do they have? What are the most common types of job groups?

Well, those who have remained employed fall into a few common job groups:

• Office and administrative support occupations (864 people)
• Sales and related occupations (826 people)
• Production occupations (814 people)

This makes sense, as Houston is a very large city with plenty of companies and offices.

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Driving in Houston

Now that we’ve covered some of the factors contributing to your car insurance, we’ll move on to what it’s like to actually drive around the city of Houston.

 Major Highways

There are so many major highways in the nation, so we thought we’d make things a little easier for you by showing you which major highways you’ll need to know in Houston.

First, we’ll start with all of the major highways in the state of Texas. In Texas, there are about 25 active routes with about 3,501.15 miles worth of road. Considering how massive the state of Texas is, it isn’t too surprising.

The active highways in Texas are as follows:

• I-2, I-10, I-14, I-20, I-27, I-30, I-35, I-35E, I-35W, I-37, I-40, I-44, I-45, I-69, I-110, I-410, I-610, I-820, I-635, I-345, I-69C, I-69E, I-69W, I-169, I-369

Did you know that I-10 is the fourth-longest stretch of highway in the nation?

Of these active highways, which ones will you need to know if you are in the Houston area?

• I-10
• I-35
• I-45
• I-69
• I-410
• I-610
• I-345

Popular Road Trips/Sites

If you’re wanting to get some good rest and relaxation, what better place to take a vacation to than Houston? It’s a huge city with so many things to do that you might not even be able to fit all of it into one trip.

But if you had to choose from a few, we have the following recommendations of a few amazing places you definitely should see in Houston:

1. Downtown Tunnels
2. Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park
3. The Houston Zoo
4. JP Morgan Chase Tower
5. BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Temple
6. Discovery Green
7. Camino Market

Looking for more fun things to do in Houston? Check out the Expedia video below for a vacation travel guide of the Houston area.

Roads in Houston

When you’re out for a drive, you want to know that you’re driving on safe roads, right? So what kind of roads can you expect in Houston?

Road Conditions

You want to make sure you’re driving on structurally sound roads. Who wants to hit potholes constantly or feel unsafe when commuting?

The National Transportation Research Group conducted a study to find out the road conditions in some urban cities and see just how much more drivers have to pay for operating costs because of those conditions.

According to this study, Houston has the following road conditions:

• Poor: 24 percent
• Mediocre: 28 percent
• Fair: 11 percent
• Good: 38 percent
• Vehicle operating costs: $610

These results mean that while a higher percentage of roads fall under a good category, the combined percentage of poor and mediocre roads outweighs these good roads.

Does your city use speeding or red light cameras?

The state of Texas currently does not allow red light or speeding cameras, according to the IIHS. The city of Houston itself also recently decided to ban the use of these cameras, as seen in the video above.

Vehicles in Houston

What kinds of vehicles will you find in Houston? Are people out cruising the roads in big pickup trucks? Or will you find more economical hybrid cars in the city?

Vehicles Most Popular Vehicles Owned

The most popular vehicle in Houston is the F-250 Super Duty. A study done by YourMechanic found that this vehicle was by far the most popular vehicle owned in the city. It’s not hard to see why this vehicle is so popular. Check out the video below for a full review.

How many cars per household

Did you know that most American households own at least two vehicles? According to Data USA, the average American household owns two vehicles per household.

In Houston, this is accurate, as Houston citizens also have an average of two vehicles per household.

Households without a Car

While this average says a lot about the Houston area, not every household owns a vehicle. Some citizens use alternative methods of transportation such as public transit or carpooling.

As you can see from the table above, however, only about 8 percent of the population are without vehicles. Why would that be? Considering how large and spread out the city of Houston is, it’s harder not to have some form of reliable transportation.

Vehicle Theft in Houston

There are so many things drivers need to worry about when dealing with their vehicle, but one of the more worrisome things is whether your vehicle will be stolen. Houston citizens, in particular, should keep a close eye on their vehicles:

According to a crime report conducted by the FBI, Houston had over 13,595 vehicles stolen in 2013 alone.

To top that off, this data means that for every 1,000 Houston citizens, about five of them will have their vehicle stolen. That’s a large number of vehicles stolen—the most stolen in any city in Texas, in fact.

Traffic

Who likes getting stuck in traffic? Definitely not us. But unfortunately, it’s a common thing drivers in Houston, Texas have to deal with. The INRIX Scorecard has the following information on traffic congestion in Houston:

TomTom gives the following data on Houston’s traffic:

Finally, according to Numbeo, the following traffic data was collected for Houston:

Transportation

What kind of transportation works best for Houston citizens? Who prefers to drive alone to work? Who prefers to even work from home?

According to Data USA, Houston citizens have the following preferences:

• Drive alone: 85.5 percent
• Carpool: 8.35 percent
• Work at home: 3.84 percent

As you can see, an overwhelming number of citizens prefer to drive alone on their commute. This makes sense given just how vast and spread out the city of Houston is.

How Safe are Houston Streets and Roads?

How safe are the roads of Houston? Safety is a priority, and you should know what you will be dealing with when out cruising in Houston. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHSTA), you will find the following statistics on fatalities:

That’s 456 fatalities on the road. This is why you should make sure to drive safely when you’re out on Houston roads.

Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report

Allstate created a list of some of the top cities where drivers are the least likely to be involved in a car accident. Various factors went into the overall ranking of each city, from the city’s population density to weather conditions and more.

The table below displays the ranking for the city of Houston.

Houston, Texas was ranked as the 164th safest city in the nation to drive in.

EStar Repair Shops

Who likes dealing with car repairs? No one, but it’s something that can happen at any time. So you’re going to want to know where you can go to get it repaired, right?

We’ve taken some of the legwork out for you and have collected information on some of the top E-Star repair shops in the Houston area.

What exactly is an E-Star repair shop? An E-Star repair shop is repair facility that has been ranked as top-quality for repairs and customer service. .

Check out the list below if you’re ever in a pinch. For the data below we used the ZIP code 77002, for downtown Houston.

Weather

You know one factor a lot of people don’t take into consideration when it comes to driving? The weather. The weather can often affect the driving conditions that we deal with when we’re out on the road.

So what kind of weather can you expect for the Houston area?

Being one of the most southern states in the United States, Texas is known for its heat. But what also comes with extreme weather? Natural disasters, of course.

In the Houston area, there have been 22 major disasters, six of which were declared as emergencies. You can see these disasters broken up below:

• 6 – Storms
• 15 – Floods
• 15 – Hurricanes
• 7 – Tornadoes
• 3 – Tropical Storms
• 2 – Fires
• 2 – Wind Events

Given that Houston is fairly close to the coast, it makes sense that the area would see more hurricanes and flooding than in other more inland cities.

Public Transit

If you are one of the small percentages of people in Houston who don’t own a vehicle, you’ll want to know what other forms of transit you can take. Luckily for you, there are a number of transportation options that are available.

Here are just a few of the most common transportation options available for the Houston area:

Parking in Metro Areas

Parking in a downtown area of any city can be a nightmare, as we all know.

There are many parking garages located in the city, with about 100,000 parking spaces in the downtown area alone. Of these parking spaces, 2,200 are on-street, 24,000 of them are surface parking lot spaces, and 75,000 of them are garage spaces.

There are a few on-street parking facts that you need to know if you decide to park on the street:

• On-street metered parking is available during the day and on most downtown streets.
• You can park for up to three hours, and after that, you’ll have to move your vehicle.
• Meters are FREE after 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and are free all day Sunday.

The city of Houston also has a few parking tips that you could find helpful:

• Read signs carefully. When you park, check the signs on the block to become familiar with the parking regulations.
• Take a refresher course and review the Texas Transportation Code parking regulations. Signs are not required to be posted for these regulations.
• Know the mobility lane hours. To help get commuters in and out of downtown, several blocks become tow-away zones during commute hours. Check the signs carefully to know the hours of these restrictions.
• Commercial zones are for commercial vehicles only. Only a commercial vehicle (with company logos displayed) can park in marked commercial vehicle loading zones. Check carefully for the signs or red meters.
• Know the time limit. Check the signs, your receipt or the pay station for the time limit for the block. After the time expires, you must move your car to another block.
• The Downtown Hopper Pass allows you to park at multiple blocks throughout downtown. Your time on the block can’t exceed the posted time limit for the block.
• Try the ParkHouston app. You can start your parking session from the convenience of your mobile device. You can also receive an alert before your time expires; helping you to avoid a parking citation.

Air Quality in Cities

Have you ever seen the images from extremely crowded areas, such as some cities in China and India? You can see a thick layer of smog covering the city like a thick blanket, like in the video below:

That’s the kind of air quality we want to avoid. You want to make sure you’re breathing clean air. So you’ll want to know what the air quality is in Houston.

According to the EPA, Houston has the following air quality:

Luckily for Houston citizens, you won’t need to pull out the face masks just yet.

Military/Veterans

Did you know that there is a large military presence in the city of Houston?

Why is that? Well, considering that there are so many military bases located in the state of Texas, it’s a big contributing factor.

All of the following bases are located in Texas:

• Camp Bullish
• Dyess Air Force Base
• Fort Bliss
• Fort Hood
• Fort Sam Houston
• Goodfellow Air Force Base
• Joint Base San Antonio
• Lackland Air Force Base
• Laughlin Air for Base
• Naval Air Station Corpus Christi
• Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth
• Randolph Air Force Base
• Red River Army Depot
• Sheppard Air Force Base

A good number of military bases are actually located around San Antonio, but there are some bases located in the Houston area—Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, Houston MEPS, and the National Guard.

For those who serve or who have served at one of these bases, there are three periods of service that have been noted for the Houston area.

The three most common service periods for veterans in the Houston area are:

• Vietnam War: 20,569 veterans
• Gulf War (2000s): 17,611 veterans
• Gulf War (1990s): 10,103 veterans

That’s 48,283 veterans just in the Houston area. That’s not even including any other service period, of which there are several.

Based on this data, Houston actually has the largest population of military personnel who served in Vietnam That’s more than 117 times greater than any other conflict in history.

The Houston area definitely doesn’t let down its military personnel, with several insurance providers in the area who provide military discounts for both active and inactive military personnel.

The following insurance providers offer military discounts to drivers:

• Allstate
• Farmers
• GEICO
• Liberty Mutual (must be active duty)
• MetLife
• Safeco (both active and retired)
• USAA (you, your spouse or your parents must be active or retired military to get USAA auto insurance)

Houston, Texas Car Insurance FAQs

Still have questions about Houston, Texas? Read some of the common FAQs below.

How does the cost of living in Houston compare to other large metropolitan areas?

Did you know that Houston is actually considerably cheaper for its size compared to other large cities in the nation? The Houston area is actually 13 percent cheaper than Austin, Texas. This is likely due to the fact that house prices in Houston are considerably less costly than in the Austin area.

You can chalk that up to Austin being the capital of Texas, or the fact that Houston’s city is much more spread out than Austin is.

For job seekers, what are the biggest industries in the Houston area?

As we mentioned in an earlier section, job growth has been steadily increasing over the past couple of years. More and more jobs are cropping up than in previous years.

If you’re looking for a job in the Houston area, you should definitely check out one of the following industries:

• Energy
• Aerospace and aviation
• Distribution
• Manufacturing
• Life sciences/medical

These industries have seen a massive increase in job opportunities due to the young crowd coming into the city.

 What are some of the housing costs in Houston?

Whether you’re looking for a studio apartment in the downtown area or a nice house in the suburbs, you’ll find the average housing costs in Houston listed below.

 Rent

• One-bedroom apartment in the downtown area: about $1,000
• One-bedroom apartment outside the downtown area: about $700
• Three-bedroom apartment in the downtown area: about $1,600
• Three-bedroom apartment outside the downtown area: about $1,200

 Houston Home Purchase Prices

• Price per 10.7 square feet to buy in the downtown area: about $1,800
• Price per 10.7 square feet to buy outside the downtown area: about $1,000

What is the tax price of owning a vehicle in the Houston area?

The state of Texas, fortunately, does not have any state income taxes that you’ll need to worry about.

According to Immihelp, states such as Texas, Florida, Nevada, Washington, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Alaska don’t have state income tax.

It does, however, have property taxes that are specific to each city.

In Houston, the average cost of taxes (both state and local) for your car’s license, title and registration fees is $665 per year.

What other taxes will I need to pay in Houston?

In addition to the property tax on your vehicle (if you own one), which is listed in the section above, there are a few other tax costs that you’ll want to account for each year.

For those of you in Harris County (Houston area), you can expect to see an average county tax rate of 2.09 percent, and annual property taxes of $5,225 for your home.

This compares to a national average of $2,700 in property taxes for your home. Houston citizens, therefore, pay almost twice the national average for their home’s property taxes.

Ready to start comparing now? Use our FREE online rate tool below to get started. All you need is your ZIP code.