Renters insurance

The cheapest policy you'll ever own, and the one most renters skip.

Your landlord's policy covers the building. It does not cover a single thing inside your unit, and it does not cover you. Koala prices what closing that gap actually costs.

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Free while in beta · An estimate, never a quote

What Koala prices this from

How this is calculated

Data source: IIIInsurance Information Institute state average annual renters premium
As of: 2023The year the underlying figures describe
Estimate band: ±20%Around the midpoint, per policy
Coverage levels priced: StandardExtended

What it covers

The policy, in plain English.

Renters insurance covers your belongings, your liability, and your living costs if the unit becomes unlivable. The national average sits near $180 a year in the published data, which is why the honest framing is rarely 'can you afford it' and almost always 'do you know it exists'.

Personal property: your belongings, wherever they are
Personal liability if someone is injured in your unit
Loss of use: a hotel and meals if the unit is unlivable
Medical payments to guests

What moves the price

The levers, and the ones Koala can't see.

An estimate is only as honest as the list of things it ignores. Here is both halves.

Koala models these

How much stuff you're insuring
The personal-property limit is the main dial. Standard and extended tiers differ mostly in that limit and the liability that rides with it.
Where you rent
State averages capture theft and weather risk. The spread between states is real but small in absolute dollars; this is a cheap line almost everywhere.

Koala does not model these

Replacement cost versus actual cash value
Whether a stolen four-year-old laptop pays out as a new laptop or a four-year-old one. Koala's tiers assume replacement-cost thinking; a real policy may not, and it's the first thing to check.

Estimated range based on published state/national rate data for similar profiles. This is not a quote and not an offer of insurance. Actual pricing depends on the specific insurer's underwriting and may differ from this estimate.

Worked example

The same model, running.

Not a mock-up. This is a live renters estimate for a sample household, computed by the engine that will run on yours, with every step it took printed underneath.

Standard

Sample household · Texas · renting, at the standard personal-property limit

$168 to $252

per year · ≈$18/mo at the midpoint

What this assumed

State: state-level average for TX
Coverage level: Standard

The arithmetic

1Renters standard base (state-level average for TX): $210/yr
2× coverage factor for Standard: ×1
3= estimated annual mid-point $210, shown as a ±20% range

The range shown is the midpoint ±20%. That band is not a confidence interval; it is the spread published rate data implies, and a real quote can land outside it.

Coverage-to-price metric

coverage-to-price = $30,000 (assumed personal-property limit, $) ÷ $210 (estimated annual price) = 142.9

Higher means more assumed coverage per dollar. Comparable only within this line: a computed metric, never a recommendation.

Source: Insurance Information Institute state average annual renters premium · data as of 2023

An estimate, never a quote

That is the whole calculation. There is no second model behind it. Build your profile to run it on your own household, or see the worked sample estimate.

FAQ

Renters questions

The things worth knowing before you compare a single price.

My landlord already has insurance. Why do I need my own?

Because theirs covers their building, not your belongings and not your liability. If a fire starts in your unit, their policy rebuilds the walls. Yours replaces everything you owned, and defends you if the damage spread.

Does it cover my things outside the apartment?

Usually yes, at a reduced limit: a laptop stolen from a car or a bag taken on a trip is typically covered. The exact off-premises limit is in your policy and it is worth reading before you need it.

Is $180 a year really the number?

That's the published national average annual premium, not a promise. Your actual price depends on your limit, your state, your deductible, and your carrier. Koala shows a ±20% band around a state-adjusted midpoint for exactly that reason.

Want to go deeper? Read the guides or see how Koala works.

If it goes wrong

Already filed a renters claim?

Understanding the price is one job. Getting paid what you're owed is another. Koala reads the insurer's document and drafts your response for a flat fee, never a percentage.

See claim help

The Koala advisor

Have a question about any of this?

Ask the advisor. It's an AI that teaches you how insurance actually works in plain English: what a coverage does, what a word on your policy means, and what happens next. Nobody is trying to sell you a policy at the end of it.

Every account gets 10 questions a month, free. They come back on the 1st.

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