New Mexico sees record 6,200 home insurance non-renewals as insurers retreat over fires

While New Mexico homeowners are facing a growing threat as wildfire flames inch closer to their front doors, they also have another problem to contend with.

According to Source NM, insurers refused to renew policies on more than 6,200 New Mexico homes in 2025 — the highest total ever recorded in the state — underscoring how climate-fueled disasters are reshaping one of the most basic household costs.

What's happening?

Rio Arriba, Taos, Sandoval, and Santa Fe counties appear to be the counties most at risk, Source NM reported. State insurance superintendent Alice Kane also told lawmakers on July 21 that homeowner non-renewals are now nearly triple what they were in 2021, when about 2,200 people lost coverage.

Insurers are still writing policies in New Mexico, but they are scaling back in places they view as especially vulnerable to wildfire, flooding, and other disasters. Kane said the state's Office of the Superintendent of Insurance is gathering more detailed information from its 10 largest insurers to understand what is driving so many homeowners to lose coverage.

Premiums are still going up, although not as quickly as they did in recent years. Kane said average increases stayed below 5% in 2025 and 2026, after reaching 9.3% in 2024 and 15% in 2023. Even so, those smaller increases come after several years of steep cost growth that has already strained many family budgets.

Why does it matter?

A non-renewal can be financially destabilizing. Homeowners may be forced into more expensive policies, struggle to meet mortgage requirements, or spend time and money trying to make their homes insurable again.

Kane said the South Fork and Salt Fires caused major revenue losses for the state's 10 largest insurance providers in 2024 and 2025. She added, however, that those same carriers generally met profitability targets in New Mexico over the previous decade.

New Mexico has not seen an insurer leave the state entirely, as happened in California, Kane said, but thousands of families are still being pushed into uncertainty.

Source NM said State Farm, which controls more than one-fifth of New Mexico homeowners insurance policies, did not respond to its request for comment about non-renewals or rate increases.

What's being done?

Lawmakers also pressed Kane on the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, often described as the insurer of last resort for residents whose policies are not renewed or who cannot find coverage elsewhere.

In 2025, the Legislature gave $10 million to the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance for work that helps FAIR Plan customers lower wildfire risk around their homes. The money can support practical changes such as moving trees away from structures, adding screens to vents, and making roofs more flame-resistant.

Kane said the grant program is still just getting started, but insurers are expected to begin offering discounts to homeowners who can prove they have reduced wildfire risk. That could improve the odds of keeping coverage, or at least help limit future price increases.

"We've seen in a number of situations where there were going to be non-renewals," Kane said, according to Source NM. "If the homeowner has mitigated … sometimes the non-renewal is canceled. And they're able to keep their insurance."

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