Some States Don't Look at Gender When Determining Car Insurance Rates—And It Makes a Difference
Lisa Steuer McArdle
· 3 min read
Most people know that when
car insurance
companies determine rates, gender is one of the factors they look at. But this practice is becoming more controversial, as some argue that it’s unfair to base rates on a factor a driver cannot control. So some states are making the move to ban gender as a factor in determining car insurance rates. Here at
Jerry
, we decided to look at what average premiums look like among men and women in those areas. 
Car insurance rates and gender ban states
Car insurance companies traditionally look at several factors when determining your car insurance premium, including driving record, where you live, mileage, age, and what kind of car you drive. Companies consider age and gender because young male drivers especially are seen as some of the riskiest drivers.
Jerry analyzed over 1 million car insurance quotes from July 2020 to July 2021, comparing premiums in states that have banned companies from using gender as an insurance pricing factor to the states that still allow it. Gender ban states include California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
The data reveals that in states that ban the use of gender as an insurance rating factor, the difference between male and female driver insurance premiums is 6%. In states where gender is used as a rating factor, the difference is 10%.
In states with the gender ban, women have an average monthly premium of $182, while for men it is $194. In states without the gender ban,
women pay
an average monthly premium of $227, while men pay about $250. Interestingly, it seems that no matter what, men pay more than women—but both genders tend to pay more on average in the states without the ban.
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Are we seeing a shift in how car insurance rates are determined?
Over the last few years, more states have been passing legislation banning car insurance companies from using gender as a factor in determining car insurance rates. The idea is to move away from using factors that drivers cannot control, like gender, as reported by
Business Insider
. According to a Business Insider report from 2019, an economic analysis on removing the gender factor predicted that female drivers with three or fewer years of driving experience could possibly see the biggest impact when the ban is put in place, with rates going up 6% on average. The report also indicated that male drivers with similar driving experience could see a decrease of about 5%.
Looking at those numbers and our data today, it seems that the 2019 report may have been onto something. At least according to our data, it seems that banning gender may have an impact on car insurance rates.
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