It's harder to get home insurance. That's changing communities across the U.S.

toggle caption Ryan Kellman/NPR

Home insurance is getting more expensive in the United States, and insurers are pulling back from some regions as the cost of disasters grows. That trend is stretching the limits of what ordinary Americans can afford to protect their homes.

Community leaders across the country are sounding the alarm about a nascent, but growing, crisis — one that's likely to get worse as climate change drives more severe hurricanes, floods and wildfires.

"The risk of many weather-related extreme events is growing as the planet warms, and some of those impacts are coming fast and furious now," says Carolyn Kousky, an economic policy expert at the Environmental Defense Fund and longtime property insurance researcher.

toggle caption Ryan Kellman/NPR

Disaster costs are also rising because people continue to move to coastal regions vulnerable to hurricanes and to forested areas prone to wildfires. That means more property is in harm's way. And inflation, which has hit the cost of building materials particularly hard , has made it more expensive to rebuild.

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Nationwide, the cost of home insurance rose about 8% faster than overall inflation between 2018 and 2022, according to a landmark report published by the Treasury Department in January.

As losses from disasters mount, insurers are passing the costs on to consumers. "We've seen growing prices everywhere," Kousky says.

That's hitting family budgets that are already stretched thin by rising food and transportation costs. Home insurance is required for most homeowners in the U.S. who have a mortgage.