01Start with rebuild cost, then check every coverage
Coverage A is the estimated cost to rebuild the structure with similar materials and labor, not the home's market value or the land underneath it. Square footage and finish quality are useful starting points, but a calculator cannot see custom work, local labor, code upgrades or the condition of your roof. Use the custom $/sq-ft control, an insurer valuation or a local appraisal before choosing a limit.
The six coverage lines do different jobs. B is commonly a percentage of A for detached structures, C covers belongings, D covers additional living expense, E addresses legal responsibility and F is no-fault guest medical payments. A $0 D selection is shown as $0, not as unlimited coverage. Replacement-cost contents and actual cash value are different settlement bases.
Extended replacement and coinsurance answer different questions. The first increases the total-rebuild ceiling; the second is an 80%-of-replacement comparison that can affect a partial-loss settlement under the actual policy.
- A — dwelling and attached structure; B — detached structures; C — personal property.
- Coverage D — additional living expense; Coverage E — personal liability; Coverage F — medical payments to others.
- A 25% extended endorsement on a $400,000 A limit creates a $500,000 illustrated ceiling, subject to the endorsement.
- The sample ISO-style illustration uses $150,000 of A against a $200,000 rebuild: 80% requires $160,000, so a $100,000 partial-loss example uses a 93.75% ratio before deductible.
02What the 2026 premium benchmark actually represents
The state anchors come from Insurance.com's September 2026 Quadrant Information Services tables. The neutral contract is $300,000 of dwelling coverage, $300,000 of liability, a $1,000 deductible and good credit. The published national annual anchors are $2,156 at $200,000, $2,872 at $300,000, $3,579 at $400,000 and $4,960 at $600,000 of dwelling coverage. The $1 million national row is $7,025 with a $2,500 deductible; Swiftly normalizes that row before interpolating so unlike deductibles are not mixed.
A published national average is not the unweighted mean of the 50 states plus D.C. The calculator keeps those figures separate. It also keeps rating assumptions separate from the source: home age, roof age, form, claims and discounts are illustrative adjustments, while the neutral state rows are exact calibration points.
The published $300,000-dwelling comparison prices a $2,500 deductible at $2,621 versus $2,872 at $1,000, about 9% less. Liability is a small additive adjustment in the published rows: moving from $100,000 to $300,000 adds $25 at $300,000 dwelling, $30 at $400,000 and $38 at $600,000. It is not a 20% whole-policy multiplier.
- Credit tiers use published relative rates; CA, MD and MA are held neutral as a modeling convention, not as a legal conclusion.
- One claim is calibrated to a published +10% comparison; multiple claims are a disclosed extension.
- Home age uses a published relative curve centered on a 1997 neutral profile; newer does not mean risk-free.
03Flat, wind and hurricane deductibles are not interchangeable
The source benchmark includes a 2% hurricane deductible in exactly 19 states: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. That is the source's comparison contract, not a promise that every policy or county uses the same trigger. Hawaii's benchmark excludes separate hurricane coverage.
A percentage deductible is calculated on Coverage A, not on the size of the claim. Two percent of a $400,000 dwelling is $8,000. Selecting 0% in the model means no separate percentage deductible, so the flat deductible is the illustrated claim out-of-pocket amount; it does not mean a $0 deductible. Actual named-storm, wind and hurricane provisions must be read on the declarations page.
The deductible ladder holds coverage and rating adjustments constant. Break-even divides the extra cash required for a higher deductible by the annual premium saving. It is a cash-flow comparison, not a prediction of when you will file a claim or a recommendation to choose the highest deductible.
04Flood and valuables need separate policy decisions
Standard homeowners forms exclude flood. FEMA said in August 2025 that about 40% of National Flood Insurance Program claims occur outside high-risk areas, and a typical NFIP policy has a 30-day waiting period. A zone designation is therefore not a complete risk assessment. Swiftly's flood dollar figure is an illustrative damage scenario, not an address- or depth-based estimate; its separate-policy allowance is a planning assumption, not a quote.
Standard NFIP residential limits can also differ from your homeowners limits. The model flags building value above $250,000 and contents above $100,000 for review rather than calling a flood policy automatically sufficient. Private flood contracts and actual NFIP eligibility need separate comparison.
The sample HO-3 theft-only limits are $1,500 for jewelry, $2,500 for firearms, $2,500 for silverware and $200 for money. They are not universal limits for every cause of loss, and there is no universal art sublimit in this model. Scheduling is item-specific; published guidance commonly places specialized jewelry coverage around 1%–2% of value annually, so the displayed range is illustrative.
05Use the estimate to ask better quote questions
Ask each insurer to quote the same dwelling, liability, medical, contents-settlement and deductible terms. Then ask about water backup, ordinance or law, roof settlement, extended or guaranteed replacement, inflation guard, scheduled property and flood or earthquake options. A lower premium can reflect a different contract rather than a better price for the same protection.
Net worth is only an educational liability comparison. An umbrella can add excess liability above underlying home and auto policies, but insurers commonly require minimum underlying limits and apply their own eligibility rules. The model's umbrella allowance is not an offer or a recommendation.
This anonymous benchmark cannot know your ZIP-level territory, protection class, exact roof, prior carrier, claims details, underwriting tier or carrier-specific discounts. Get several quotes and read the declarations page before treating any estimate as a coverage decision.