Gov. Jared Polis and Division of Insurance Commissioner Mike Conway unveiled a “roadmap” on Thursday that they say will save the average Coloradan $800 a year on homeowner’s insurance.

Colorado has some of the highest homeowners’ insurance rates in the country, according to the National Association of Realtors. While premiums nationwide increased by about 58% from 2018 to 2024, Colorado saw a 100% increase over the same period.

“Colorado is focused on expanding housing options Coloradans can afford, and homeowners’ insurance is a big cost for so many in our state,” Polis said during a press conference on Thursday. “There is more we must do to lower the cost of homeowner’s insurance, and this roadmap outlines our plan to reduce  insurance costs, making our communities safer and more resilient in the face of  unpredictable weather conditions and natural disasters.”

According to Polis and Conway, the two biggest drivers of those high costs are hail and wildfires, respectively.

Their roadmap includes three pillars, which they say will bring Colorado’s average homeowner’s insurance costs from the sixth-most-expensive in the country to the 13th by late next year.

Pillar 1: Strengthen homes against severe weather

In 2023, lawmakers passed a bill creating the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, or FAIR, Plan, a program designed to provide property insurance to homeowners and business owners who can’t otherwise obtain coverage.

“Now we have a situation where everyone in the state can find insurance coverage, even if the private insurance market doesn’t want to offer them that coverage,” Polis said. “That’s a true key piece of bringing stability to the market to make sure that we really can keep everybody covered.”

According to Polis, the state’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control is currently supporting local governments in adopting the most recent Wildfire Resiliency Code requirements, established by its board last summer.

The division also received funding from the Congressional Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026 to bolster work in improved imagery and expanded satellite data to detect adverse weather events.

A bill currently making its way through the Colorado legislative process would establish an enterprise, or government-owned business, to collect fees from insurance companies, which would ultimately be used to assist homeowners in paying for ‘resilient roof systems’ that can withstand wildfire and hail damage.

Pillar 2: Recognize wildfire and hail mitigation

In 2025, lawmakers approved a bill requiring insurance companies that use wildfire risk models or scoring systems to explain to policyholders what a wildfire risk score means, the range of possible scores for their property, and the specific reasons their property received its score.

The bill also allows homeowners to appeal their scores if they believe they are inaccurate.

The state is also pursuing local and multistate fire mitigation efforts, Polis and Conway said.

Pillar 3: Help communities rebuild faster

While the cost of rebuilding homes after wildfire is determined by a number of factors, including ones outside the state’s control like tariffs and war, “there are steps that we can take to reduce that cost and therefore help have a downward pressure on premiums,” Polis said.

Emergency funding is available through the Department of Local Affairs for local governments following natural disasters, such as the Marshall Fire, the costliest wildfire in state history. Over 1,000 homes in the Boulder, Louisville and Superior areas were destroyed by the fire, and of those, about two-thirds have been rebuilt.

“With the Marshall Fire, we learned important lessons about what worked to support a faster rebuild, but also what we can do better,” Polis said.