Does Gender Affect Car Insurance Rates? What the Data (and Laws) Say

Two drivers with the same car, same ZIP code, and same clean record can still get different quotes if one is male and the other female. Insurers in most states use sex as a rating factor because IIHS data shows male drivers cause 72% of all U.S. traffic deaths and have a 63% higher fatal crash rate per mile than female drivers. That risk gap shows up in your premium, but only if you live in a state that lets carriers use it.

How Much Gender Actually Changes Your Rate

The national average gap is small. Men pay $2,184 per year for full coverage while women pay $2,151, per The Zebra's analysis of 32 million quotes. That works out to $33 a year, or about $2.75 a month. But the average hides huge variation by age.

For drivers under 21, men pay roughly 10% more than women. At age 16, the gap is $1,082 per year, according to Insure.com's 2026 rate data. By 25, the gap shrinks to $71 a year. By 35 it's $5. By 40, men pay $2 more than women, which is statistical noise rather than meaningful pricing.

Age	Male Annual Rate	Female Annual Rate	Difference
16	$10,928	$9,846	+$1,082 (M pays more)
20	$4,387	$3,851	+$536 (M pays more)
25	$2,295	$2,224	+$71 (M pays more)
35	$1,949	$1,944	+$5 (M pays more)
60	$1,717	$1,710	+$7 (M pays more)

Source: Insure.com 2026 full-coverage rate analysis. National averages for a driver with a clean record, 100/300/100 liability limits, and $500 deductible.

The shrinking gap matches what actuaries see in crash data. Insurers price young men higher because IIHS data shows male teens have a fatal crash rate of 6.4 per 100 million miles, more than six times the rate of female drivers aged 60-69. The risk premium fades as drivers age out of that high-fatality bracket.

If you want to see how age and gender interact with the other 10 factors carriers use, our breakdown of every rating factor insurers use walks through the full pricing math.

Six States That Ban Gender-Based Pricing in 2026

Six states currently prohibit insurers from using sex as a rating factor in auto policies. The list shrank by one in 2021, and most competing articles haven't caught up.

State	Year Ban Took Effect	Authority
Massachusetts	1988	State regulation
Hawaii	1989	State regulation
North Carolina	1989	Rate Bureau
Pennsylvania	1989	State regulation
Michigan	2019	Auto reform law
California	2019	Department of Insurance regulation

Source: California Department of Insurance and state insurance regulators. California's rule took effect January 1, 2019, under regulations finalized by then-Commissioner Dave Jones.

The six states that still ban gender pricing also restrict several other personal factors. California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Michigan are also among the states that ban credit score in auto insurance, treating personal data points as off-limits when they don't reflect actual driving.

In a banned state, two identical applicants get the same quote regardless of sex. The carrier still rates everything else: ZIP code, vehicle, driving record, mileage, coverage limits, deductible. The California Department of Insurance estimated that eliminating gender there would give young male drivers with under three years of experience about a 5% break, with some of that cost redistributed to young female drivers.

Four States Where Women Pay More Than Men

The national average masks a reversal in a handful of states. Per The Zebra's 32-million-quote analysis, women pay more than men in Florida, New York, Oklahoma, and Oregon, plus the District of Columbia. The gap in these places runs from 0.04% to 2%, much smaller than the male-pays-more average.

The states with the largest pro-male premium gap are Idaho, Missouri, Texas, and Wyoming, where men pay 4-5% more than women. In dollar terms that's between $59 and $140 a year. Texas tops the list at a 4.77% male premium, which adds about $118 to a typical 6-month policy.

Why Men Pay More: The Crash Data Behind It

Insurers don't pull gender pricing from gut instinct. They pull it from claim frequency, claim severity, and federal fatality data. Three sources drive the math:

• Fatal crash rate per mile. Male drivers had 2.1 fatal crashes per 100 million miles driven in 2016-17, versus 1.3 for women, per NHTSA's most recent gender-stratified study. That's a 63% gap, and it's held steady for nearly five decades.
• Share of all traffic deaths. Men account for 72% of U.S. traffic deaths, per IIHS Fatality Facts 2023. From 1975 to 2023, male crash deaths exceeded female deaths every single year, usually by more than 2 to 1.
• Risky behavior measures. NHTSA attributes most of the gap to three behaviors: speeding, alcohol impairment, and not wearing a seatbelt. Male drivers test positive for these factors at consistently higher rates in crash reports.

The risk gap is most concentrated in young drivers. Male teens 16-19 have a fatal crash rate roughly six times that of female drivers in their 60s, per IIHS. That single statistic explains why a 16-year-old boy pays $1,082 more per year than his sister with the same record on the same car. The premium tracks the claim probability, which tracks the federal data.

If you've had a recent ticket or crash, gender becomes a much smaller piece of your rate. Our guide to how a speeding ticket raises your insurance shows that a single moving violation adds roughly 24% to your premium, swamping the typical 2% gender effect.

Carrier-Level Differences in the Gender Gap

Not every insurer prices gender the same. Some carriers narrow the spread, others widen it. At age 25, the male-to-female gap looks like this for top carriers:

Carrier	Female Annual Rate	Male Annual Rate	Gap
USAA Smallest Gap	$1,721	$1,778	+$57
Nationwide	$1,786	$1,875	+$89
GEICO	$1,892	$1,964	+$72
State Farm	$2,041	$2,138	+$97
Progressive	$2,194	$2,326	+$132

Source: Insure.com 2026 carrier rate comparison for a 25-year-old driver with clean record, full coverage, in a non-banned state. Rates vary by ZIP code and discounts.

USAA shows the smallest spread, which fits its book of mostly military-affiliated drivers where claims data is tighter. Progressive shows the widest spread at this age band, particularly because Progressive's Snapshot telematics tends to reveal driving patterns that correlate with gender. If you're shopping, the lesson is the same advice we give for every variable: use the best time to shop for car insurance and compare three or more carriers rather than assuming all insurers price gender identically.

How Non-Binary Drivers Are Quoted

Twenty-two states plus D.C. now allow an X marker on driver's licenses, but auto insurers haven't fully aligned their quote systems. Most carriers still ask for male or female on the application form. A few approaches you'll run into:

• Default to lower-risk pricing. Carriers like Progressive and California Casualty have stated they default non-binary applicants to the rate class that produces the lower premium, which is typically the female class.
• Use the gender on file with the state DMV. If your license says X, some insurers map it to female pricing internally to comply with anti-discrimination rules. Others request a binary self-identification.
• Quote the same as a banned state. National Association of Insurance Commissioners guidance suggests treating X-marker drivers as gender-neutral, the way California or Massachusetts already treats everyone.

If you're filling out a quote and the form doesn't include X, the most common workaround is to enter the gender that matches your license. The carrier will pull your motor vehicle record either way, so consistency matters more than which box you check on the quote form.

How to Get a Lower Rate Regardless of Gender

Gender accounts for $5 to $1,082 a year depending on your age. Other factors move your premium far more. Focus on these:

If you're a teen driver or the parent of one, the gender premium is real but it's secondary to the age premium. Our guide to car insurance rates by age shows that even the cheapest 16-year-old policy runs three times the national average. Telematics programs, good student discounts, and driver education completion certificates each shave 10-20% off that, regardless of sex.

For adult drivers in non-banned states, the practical move is to get quotes from at least three carriers. USAA, GEICO, and a regional mutual often produce the widest spread, and the carrier with the smallest gender gap for your age might not be the one with the cheapest base rate.

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