Over the last seven years, consumers have seen their auto and homeowners insurance premiums rise dramatically. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, auto insurance costs have increased 55% since February 2020, and a Consumer Federation of America (CFA) report found that from 2021 to 2024, homeowners insurance costs increased by an average of 24% nationwide. The insurance companies claim that they have to raise rates because of increased losses and risk, but their CEO compensation tells a different story. 

CFA’s new release found that in 2025, executives at ten of the largest insurance companies earned over $155 million in total compensation. At a time when many consumers are struggling to afford coverage, these executives raked in millions, sometimes tens of millions of dollars. Furthermore, the companies spent an enormous amount of money on mediocre advertising, gave lavish payments to their stockholders, and even bought private jets for their top executives. 

The information on insurance company CEOs and the money they received comes from the Nebraska Department of Insurance. Nebraska requires insurance companies that sell policies in that state to provide information about the salaries, bonuses, and additional compensation of their CEOs and other top executives. This information may exclude salaries and bonuses paid to CEOs by affiliated insurance companies, so it is likely an underestimate of what the executives actually earn. 

And these figures are astonishing. To cite a few examples: in 2025 State Farm’s CEO earned $10.2 million, Liberty Mutual’s CEO earned $14.4 million, and Progressive’s CEO earned over $17 million—all three executive salaries went up from 2024. And the three companies that paid their CEOs the most: Nationwide paid its CEO $20 million, Allstate paid its CEO $22.9 million, and Travelers paid its CEO a little more than $24 million. In 2025, the median American household income was $87,460.

Some of the insurance companies spent immense sums of money on dividends. Travelers paid $924.98 million in dividends to its shareholders. Allstate paid $1.030 billion to its shareholders, and Progressive was the champion, paying $2.86 billion to its shareholders. That is a lot of cash to have lying around, and it is very strong evidence that insurance companies are making massive profits. 

Additionally, insurance companies spent a lot of money on advertising in 2025. Liberty Mutual spent $881 million on advertising, promoting a very creepy and off-putting mascot. GEICO devoted $1.99 billion to commercials and promotion, attempting to make their gecko mascot ubiquitous. Allstate spent $2.079 billion on advertising; those celebrity endorsements don’t come cheap! Finally, Progressive was the advertising champion, spending a whopping $4.5 billion in this area. 

Finally, several of the insurance companies maintain private jets—expensive luxuries for their top CEOs so they can jet around the country at a whim. Progressive has one private jet, Liberty Mutual has three, and State Farm and Travelers each have four private jets. 

All this information is clear evidence that insurance companies are not in financial trouble, and are doing quite well for themselves. How should legislators and regulators respond? First, by enacting prior approval of insurance rates, which would require insurers to disclose and justify both their claim costs and their administrative expenses, including executive compensation, to state regulators.

And second, states should adopt a rule similar to the California Department of Insurance, which limits the amount of executive compensation and advertising expenses that can be passed on to policyholders in the form of higher insurance rates. Right now insurance companies can pay their CEOs whatever they want and include advertising money in their rates. Under this rule, the companies could still pay CEOs lavish salaries and bonuses and spend lots of money on advertising, but they would have to pay for it out of their own pockets and could not transfer the costs to consumers. 

Insurance is unusual because in many cases it is required. Drivers have to buy and maintain auto insurance, and homeowners have to buy insurance in order to get a mortgage. As a result, lawmakers and regulators need to supervise insurance companies and make sure people aren’t charged unfair and unreasonable premiums. And that includes protecting consumers’ wallets from these extraordinary CEO pay packages and corporate excesses that are currently helping to drive up insurance rates.