What actually happened with State Farm in California.

State Farm General Insurance Company writes homeowners insurance in California. It stopped accepting new applications for property and casualty insurance, except personal auto.

That took effect May 27, 2023. The company cited historic increases in construction costs, rapidly growing catastrophe risk, and a challenging reinsurance market. Personal auto was not affected, and existing policies were not ended by the announcement.

In March 2024, the company announced a second step. About 30,000 California homeowners, rental-dwelling, and other property policies would be non-renewed on a rolling basis, beginning July 3, 2024.

That came along with a withdrawal from about 42,000 commercial apartment policies. All together that was roughly 72,000 policies, just over 2% of its California policy count. The same notice confirmed the pause on new business remained in place.

Then came January 2025. After the Los Angeles wildfires, California's insurance commissioner imposed a mandatory one-year moratorium on non-renewals and cancellations in affected Los Angeles County ZIP codes. State Farm was the first insurer to commit to renewing all pending non-renewals for LA County customers.

That covered anyone whose policy was still active when the fires began.

The company then sought an emergency rate increase. A 17% interim increase on homeowners took effect June 1, 2025, backed by a $400 million surplus note from State Farm's parent company. One condition was a halt on new block non-renewals through the end of 2025.

On September 18, 2026, the California Department of Insurance announced State Farm General had filed to resume accepting new homeowners applications, for the first time since May 2023.

The filing commits the company to write homes anywhere in the state that meet the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Wildfire Prepared Home Enhanced standards. The Department said homes that meet the Essential standards would qualify only in low and moderate wildfire severity zones. When it announced the filing, the Department said State Farm was not yet open for new business.

Existing policies are being serviced. The 2023 announcement closed the door to new applicants.

It did not end coverage for people who already had policies. In a May 2026 update, State Farm stated the new-business pause was still in effect. It also reported more than $5.7 billion paid to date on 2025 Los Angeles wildfire claims.

In March 2026, the California Department of Insurance, Consumer Watchdog, and State Farm General settled the company's full rate case. The settlement received the commissioner's final approval on July 23, 2026.

The settlement kept the 17% homeowners increase with no further increase.

It cut the condo increase to 5.8%, and rental-dwelling to 32.8%. It also extended the moratorium on non-renewals, including the policies slated under the March 2024 plan, through the end of 2026. Customers owed reductions get refunds plus 10% interest retroactive to June 1, 2025.

If a non-renewal notice reaches you, during that pause or after it ends, California law requires it at least 75 days before your policy expires. Your coverage continues unchanged until the expiration date in the notice. Check the postmark against that date. If the notice went out late, your policy stays active for 75 days from the day it was mailed.

It does not mean your home is uninsurable. A pullback this size is a decision about one company's overall risk and costs. That is how the company itself framed it: construction costs, catastrophe risk, and reinsurance. It is not a finding about your house, your roof, or your claims history.

It also does not mean the market closed. One insurer's willingness to insure is not the market. Other standard insurers continue to write California homes. And specialty insurers, which exist for the homes standard insurers step away from, wrote more than 300,000 California home policies in 2025.

Standard insurers first. A home non-renewed by one standard insurer can still qualify with another. Insurers buy different wildfire models and set different limits on how much they will write in an area. This is where a search has to start: standard policies come with filed pricing and the state guaranty fund behind them.

Then specialty insurers, sometimes called the surplus lines market. This is the regulated part of the industry built for the homes standard insurers turn down.

It wrote more than 300,000 California home policies in 2025, up from about 50,000 in 2023, according to the Surplus Line Association of California. It is arranged through licensed specialty insurance agents. Most homeowners have never had it searched for them, because its policies are sold only through licensed agents and brokers.

The California FAIR Plan, the state's fallback fire insurance program, comes last. It is real coverage, and for some homes it is the only option. But it covers less than a full homeowners policy. It does not cover water damage from a burst pipe, theft, or someone getting hurt on your property. Treat it as the floor, not the default, and arrive there only after a full search.

Start with which situation you are in. If you have no notice, your coverage is active, and the settlement barred new block non-renewals through the end of 2026. Use that time to compare the market calmly instead of under a deadline. If a notice has arrived, find the expiration date, confirm the 75-day math against the postmark, and work backward from there.

Either way, the work is the same short list.

• Pull your declarations page so you know your current rebuild amount, deductible, and yearly price.
• Gather what every market asks: roof age and material, year built, and square footage. Also gather the years of plumbing, wiring, and heating updates, and any claims in the last five years.
• Search in one pass: standard insurers first, then specialty insurers.
• Compare the yearly price, the rebuild amount, and the deductible together, not the bottom line alone.
• If you are replacing the policy, start the new one with no gap. If you have a mortgage, make sure the new policy lists your lender correctly.