--- title: "What Is A Home Insurance Deductible?" canonical: "https://www.simplyinsurance.com/home-insurance-deductible/" description: "There are several different parts to a home-insurance policy, and one of the most critical parts of a policy is the home insurance deductible." silo: "homeowners" published: "2026-05-21" updated: "2026-05-21" author: "sa-el" source: "Simply Insurance" --- There are several different parts to a [home-insurance policy](https://www.simplyinsurance.com/compare-homeowners-insurance-quotes-online/), and one of the most critical parts of a policy is the home insurance deductible, but understanding them can seem complicated. **Well, here’s the thing:** Figuring out [how your homeowners insurance](https://www.simplyinsurance.com/types-of-homeowners-insurance/) deductible works isn’t complicated and it almost works like any other deductible. In this post today, I will go over exactly how homeowner insurance deductibles work, how to choose the best one for your needs and the different types of deductibles that are attached to a home insurance policy. ## What Is A Home Insurance Deductible? A home insurance deductible is the amount you pay out of pocket before your insurer covers the rest of a claim. Every time you file a claim, that deductible applies first. Think of a deductible as the amount of money you have to pay before your home insurance company will come in and cover their part. Whenever you file a homeowners insurance claim, you will be responsible for the deductible related to the claim. ## How Does A Homeowners Insurance Deductible Work? Your deductible is the amount you pay out of pocket before your insurer covers the rest, and different parts of your policy can carry separate deductibles. Just like health insurance, homeowners insurance has a different deductible for different parts of the policy. For instance, let’s say you file a claim from a tree falling into your home ([hazard coverage](https://www.simplyinsurance.com/hazard-insurance-vs-homeowners-insurance/)).You have a guest over your home, and they are hurt by the falling tree (liability coverage)  you would only need to pay the deductible for the hazard claim. If your guest came back and sued, the deductible you paid would cover both claims. ## What Are The Different Home Insurance Deductibles? Home insurance has two deductible types: percentage deductibles and dollar amount deductibles. Both require you to pay your share before your insurer covers the rest of a claim. There are two types of home insurance deductibles, they are percentage deductibles and dollar amount deductibles. They both work the same way in that you have to pay them before the insurance company pays out the remainder of a claim.  However, this usually means the insurance company will take out your deductible before paying the claim. ### Percentage Deductibles A percentage deductible is going to be based on a percentage of your home’s insured value, no a specific set amount. What this means is that: If your home is insured for $250,000 and your policy has a 2% deductible, $5,000 is how much you would be responsible for. The amount would basically be deducted from your claim payment, so if your total loss were $35,000 the coverage amount would be $30,000.00 ### Dollar Amount Deductible A deductible based on dollar amount is going to have a set amount that you must pay out of pocket when you file a claim for a covered loss. Usually, these dollar amount deductibles can range from $500 up to $4,000 depending on your policy and age of your home. Remember, the deductible you choose will affect your monthly premium, the lower the amount of coverage you want, the higher your premiums. If you choose a higher deductible, your premiums will be lower. ## How To Choose Your Deductible? Pick a deductible you can comfortably afford monthly, but also one you could actually pay out of pocket if you need to file a claim. You should choose your deductible based on what you can comfortably afford to pay every month. It is also a good idea to base it on an amount you know you could come up with if you had to file a claim. As I stated above, the higher the deductible, the more affordable the policy will be. I would say get the maximum amount of benefits that you can on the policy and then play around with the [deductible](https://www.simplyinsurance.com/home-insurance-faqs/) to get the most affordable price. Overall it is primarily based on what you can afford now and how much you can pay out of pocket later. ## Can Your Deductible Affect Your Premiums Yes, your deductible directly affects your premiums. A lower deductible means the insurer covers more, so you pay higher premiums, while a higher deductible shifts more risk to you, lowering your premiums. Yes, your deductible will have a significant effect on your monthly premiums because the insurance company is always thinking about risk. If you have a lower deductible, the insurance company is on the hook for more money. Insurance companies are going to charge you more money up-front since they take on more of the risk in the future. If you decide to go with a higher deductible, the insurance company is on the hook for less money, so they will charge you less money up-front because their future risk is much lower. ## What Are Disaster Deductibles? Just like health insurance can have a separate deductible for prescription drugs, homeowners insurance policies have different deductibles for certain types of storm damage. Even though hurricanes, wind, and hail are [covered by your homeowners insurance policy](https://www.simplyinsurance.com/what-does-homeowners-insurance-cover/), they still have their own separate deductible if a covered loss happens from a specific disaster. ### Hurricane deductibles In hurricane-prone areas, special deductibles may be applied to claims if it was figured by the insurance company that the covered loss was a result of a hurricane. So, how is it determined if your home was damaged by a hurricane? You will find that most homeowners insurance companies wait for an official ruling from the National Weather Service and if they name the storm or declare a hurricane watch. You will find your hurricane deductible to be higher than your standard deductible and depending on the company can come as either a percentage of your home or a fixed dollar amount. ### **Wind/Hail deductibles** These deductibles are also going to be higher than your standard deductible but lower than or the same price as a hurricane deductible. Think of Tornado Alley (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Nebraska) and specific Midwestern states like Ohio. This is where you will find this type of deductible often being used. ### **Flood & Earthquake insurance deductibles** Your homeowners policy will not cover floods or earthquakes. Those policies will need to be purchased from insurance companies that cover floods or earthquakes. However, flood insurance deductibles come in both dollar amount and percentage options. Earthquake insurance is usually based on a set percentage of the insured home value. ## Taking Action Now that you know *how the deductibles work for a homeowners insurance* plan, you should be better equipped to purchase the best policy for you and your family. And with more than [70% of people not shopping](https://hippo.com/infographic)for their homeowners insurance, you are already ahead of the game. **Click on any of the above buttons to get your home insurance policy today.**