Updated 15 October 2026
Average Business Insurance Cost 2026: US Benchmarks by Policy, Industry, and Size
The published benchmarks for 2026 US small business insurance, by policy, industry, and carrier. Every premium on this page is a figure the named source publishes: Insureon's customer medians, carriers' own published averages, and the CIAB Commercial Market Index for rate direction. These are market reference points, not personalized quotes.
The 2026 Headline Numbers
No public source publishes a single "average business insurance cost" across all policies, because businesses buy different combinations. What is published is a median per policy. Insureon, an online broker, publishes the median cost of policies bought by its small business customers (its cost page was last updated 6 February 2026). Its customers are small: fewer than five employees, revenue from around $50,000 to more than $200,000, and five years or less in business. On that basis general liability costs a median of $45 a month ($538 a year) and a business owner's policy $83 a month ($990 a year). A BOP already includes general liability, so a business buying one does not usually add the separate GL premium on top.
The median hides wide variation by trade. Insureon's own industry split runs from $29 a month for general liability in consulting to $82 in construction, and from $34 a month for workers compensation in technology to $254 in construction. Use the median as a sanity check, not as a personal price expectation.
Median Monthly Premium by Coverage Type (US 2026)
| Coverage | Insureon monthly | Published annual figure |
|---|---|---|
| General liability | $45 (median) | $538 at the median |
| Business owner's policy | $83 (median) | $990 at the median |
| Workers compensation | $54 (median) | Not published |
| Professional liability (E&O) | $88 (median) | Not published |
| Cyber insurance | $129 (median) | Not published |
| Commercial property | $108 (median) | Not published |
| Commercial auto | $245 (average) | Under $375 to over $16,000 |
| EPLI | $257 (average) | About $750 to over $14,000 |
| D&O | $133 (average) | About $525 to over $12,000 |
| Commercial umbrella | $86 (average) | About $400 to over $7,000 |
Source: Insureon's small business insurance cost page and its per-policy cost pages, calculated from the median cost of policies sold to Insureon customers. The summary page was updated February 2026, the commercial auto page March 2026, and the EPLI and D&O pages July 2026 (all checked 15 October 2026). Insureon's per-policy pages describe their figure as an "average premium"; the label above follows the wording each page uses.
Median Monthly Cost by Industry
| Industry | General liability | BOP | Workers comp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consulting | $29 | $42 | $40 |
| Insurance | $29 | $45 | $39 |
| Therapy / counseling | $29 | $48 | $50 |
| Technology | $30 | $46 | $34 |
| Healthcare | $31 | $70 | $60 |
| Food and beverage | $44 | $148 | $106 |
| Cleaning | $48 | $76 | $136 |
| Landscaping | $51 | $94 | $169 |
| Installation | $73 | $118 | $193 |
| Construction | $82 | $98 | $254 |
Monthly medians by industry group, as published on Insureon's cost page (updated February 2026). Insureon publishes broad industry groups, not individual trades, so a roofer or a full-service restaurant with a liquor license will usually sit above its group median. Actual cost depends on revenue, payroll, claims history, location, and limits.
Cost by State
No public source publishes small business premiums for every line by state, so this page does not rank states with an index. Workers compensation is the line where state rules move the price most: Ohio, North Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming run monopolistic state funds, and Texas lets private employers opt out of the system altogether. For state-level detail see our pages on California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Ohio, Washington, and Georgia.
Cost by Company Size
The Insureon medians above describe very small businesses: 57 percent of the customers behind them have one employee and 29 percent have two to four. General liability and property premiums scale mainly with revenue and premises, while workers compensation and EPLI scale with payroll and headcount, so a business with 20 or 50 staff should expect those two lines to dominate its spend. For per-size detail see our Sole Proprietor and 1 to 5 Employees pages.
What Carriers Publish About Their Own Prices
| Carrier | Published figure | Where |
|---|---|---|
| The Hartford | General liability average $68/mo ($810/yr); BOP average $141/mo ($1,687/yr) | thehartford.com cost pages |
| NEXT Insurance (ERGO NEXT) | General liability from $19/mo for some businesses; 45% of its customers pay $45/mo or less | nextinsurance.com GL cost page, April 2026 |
| Hiscox | Professional liability from $23/mo | hiscox.com professional liability page |
| Progressive Commercial | Business auto average $276/mo per power unit | progressivecommercial.com commercial auto cost page |
Each carrier publishes these figures for its own customer mix, so they are not directly comparable with each other or with Insureon's broker medians. Checked between September and October 2026. For per-carrier detail see Hiscox, NEXT, Hartford, and Progressive Commercial.
The 2026 Rate Environment: Where Premiums Are Going
The hard cycle that ran from 2020 through 2023 has unwound, and 2026 has settled into a soft market. In its Q2 2026 Commercial Market Index, the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers reported an average premium decrease of 2.0 percent across all accounts, a second straight quarterly decline that deepened the softening which began in Q1 2026 (the first overall decrease since 2017). The market is split: most casualty and property lines are flat or falling, while commercial auto and umbrella keep climbing. The Q2 2026 line-by-line picture:
| Line | Q2 2026 rate change (CIAB) | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial property | -6.3% | Fourth straight quarterly decrease; capacity returned and reinsurance eased. Cat-exposed coastal and wildfire risks still carry surcharges |
| General liability | Still rising | Litigation severity keeps GL firm, though well off the 2023 peak (Q1 2026 was +2.6%) |
| Commercial auto | +4.5% | Repair-cost inflation and large verdicts; 60th straight quarterly increase |
| Workers compensation | -3.2% | Counter-cyclical, claims frequency falling, reserves strong |
| Cyber liability | -3.2% | Capacity glut after the 2021-22 spike; ransomware controls now baseline |
| EPLI | Softening | Down for a second straight quarter as competition returns |
| D&O (private) | Softening | Down again as competition returned to a previously hard line |
| Umbrella / excess casualty | +5.3% | Layered exposure to nuclear verdicts keeps this line firm; 35th consecutive quarterly increase |
Source: CIAB Commercial Property/Casualty Market Index, Q2 2026 (survey published 20 August 2026). CIAB published headline line percentages for commercial property, auto, umbrella, cyber, and workers compensation; the general liability, D&O, and EPLI entries above are shown by direction because CIAB did not separately publish those line percentages for Q2. A softening market is the best time to shop: carriers are quoting more aggressively and underwriting terms are loosening, so a renewal that rises sharply for no line-specific reason is a strong signal to remarket your account.
Methodology and Sources
How these benchmarks are compiled
This page compiles published third-party figures; it is not original survey research and we do not run a quote panel. Each premium is quoted as its source publishes it, with the source named beside it. Where no public source publishes a figure (for example a state-by-state premium index or a cross-policy total), the page says so rather than estimating one.
Data sources
- Insureon small business insurance cost data (customer median premiums, updated February 2026) and its per-policy cost pages
- CIAB Commercial Property/Casualty Market Index, Q2 2026 (line-by-line rate changes)
- Carrier cost pages: The Hartford, NEXT, Progressive Commercial
What this page is not
These are benchmark reference figures, not personalized quotes. Your actual insurance cost depends on your exact business activity, state, revenue, payroll, claims history, and operations. If your quote sits far above the median for your line and industry, that is a reason to ask why and to shop the account; if it sits far below, check what the policy leaves out.