US Life Insurance Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Mia Scarlett | Last updated: October 11, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
Americans held $39.4 trillion of direct life insurance in force at the end of 2024 against $24.6 trillion of personal income. Axis Intelligence Research calculates a national Income Protection Multiple (IPM™) of 1.60 — every policy in the country, added together, replaces about 1.6 years of the nation’s income — while 92 million adults say they need coverage or more of it.
Quick Answer
52% of U.S. adults own life insurance in 2026, according to the 2026 Insurance Barometer Study from LIMRA and Life Happens, and 92 million adults need coverage or more of it. Axis Intelligence Research finds coverage in force equals 1.60 years of personal income nationally, ranging from 1.21 in West Virginia to 2.36 in South Dakota (excluding Delaware and D.C.), and estimates $816 billion of individual coverage lapsed or was surrendered in 2024.
Key Findings
- Ownership: 52% of American adults owned life insurance in January 2026, up one point from 2025, according to LIMRA and Life Happens’ 2026 Insurance Barometer Study.
- Income Protection Multiple: Axis Intelligence Research finds U.S. life insurance in force equaled 1.60 years of personal income in 2024 — $39.4 trillion of direct coverage against $24.6 trillion of income (ACLI, BEA).
- Coverage walked away from: Axis Intelligence Research estimates policyholders let about $816 billion of individual face amount lapse or surrender in 2024 — equal to 40.6% of the new individual coverage sold that year.
- Where the money actually goes: Death benefits were only 12.5% of the $707.5 billion U.S. life insurers paid to policyholders and beneficiaries in 2024, Axis Intelligence Research calculates from ACLI Fact Book data; annuity surrenders were 4.9 times larger.
- The job-tied gap: 41.0% of U.S. life coverage in force is group coverage (Axis Workplace Reliance Share), yet only 28% of the lowest-paid quarter of private-sector workers can get life insurance at work, per BLS March 2026 data.
How Many Americans Have Life Insurance in 2026?
Fifty-two percent. The 2026 Insurance Barometer Study from LIMRA and Life Happens — 5,237 U.S. household financial decision-makers aged 18 to 75, surveyed online in January 2026, margin of error ±3 points — puts adult life insurance ownership at 52%, one point above 2025. Pages still quoting lower ownership or a larger underinsured count are citing earlier editions of the same survey.
Two numbers inside the headline matter more than the headline. First, 18% of people who already own a policy say it isn’t enough. Second, the coverage is split: among owners, 53% hold only an individual policy, 27% rely only on workplace coverage, and 20% have both.
Life insurance ownership by generation, gender and income (2026)
| Segment | Ownership rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| All adults (18–75) | 52% | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 Barometer |
| Gen X | 58% | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 Barometer |
| Baby boomers | 53% | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 Barometer |
| Gen Z | 44% | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 Barometer |
| Men | 55% | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 Barometer |
| Women | 49% | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 Barometer |
| Household income under $50K | 29% | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 Barometer |
| Household income $150K+ | 64% | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 Barometer |
Source: LIMRA and Life Happens.
2026 is the first year Gen X leads every generation on ownership, at 58%. The income spread is the steeper one: a household earning $150,000 or more is more than twice as likely to hold a policy as one earning under $50,000 (64% vs 29%).
Analyst note — Mia Scarlett: Read ownership the way you’d read a policy count on a statutory filing: it tells you how many contracts exist, not how much risk they cover. A small group certificate and a seven-figure term policy both count as “owns life insurance.” The 18% of owners who call their own coverage inadequate is the more honest line in this survey, and it is the line most compilations drop.
How Big Is the Life Insurance Coverage Gap?
LIMRA and Life Happens count 92 million adults who need life insurance or need more of it — 38% of adults in 2026. That splits into about 70 million non-owners who say they need coverage and about 22 million owners who want more.
The direction is improving. The need gap peaked at 42% in 2024, fell to 40% in 2025 and to 38% in 2026. It is still four points above the 34% pre-pandemic average.
Life insurance need gap by year, 2011–2026
| Survey year | Need gap (% of adults) | Survey year | Need gap (% of adults) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 35% | 2019 | 35% |
| 2012 | 34% | 2020 | 41% |
| 2013 | 33% | 2021 | 40% |
| 2014 | 31% | 2022 | 41% |
| 2015 | 36% | 2023 | 41% |
| 2016 | 34% | 2024 | 42% |
| 2017 | 35% | 2025 | 40% |
| 2018 | 33% | 2026 | 38% |
Source: LIMRA and Life Happens, Insurance Barometer Study (2026 conference presentation series).
Who is most underinsured?
| Segment | Share with a need gap | Adults with a need (millions) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households under $50K | 54% | 24 | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 |
| Black Americans | 48% | 14 | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 |
| Hispanic Americans | 46% | 21 | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 |
| Gen Z | 45% | 22 | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 |
| Millennials | 43% | 32 | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 |
| Women | 41% | 49 | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 |
| Gen X | 39% | 25 | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 |
| Men | 36% | 44 | LIMRA / Life Happens, 2026 |
Women account for 49 million of the 92 million. Households earning under $50,000 carry the highest need rate, at 54%.
What happens to a household when the earner dies?
The same survey asks the question insurers price for. 47% of Americans say they would feel the financial impact within six months of losing a primary wage earner; only 29% say they could stay financially secure for more than two years.
Why people without coverage don’t buy
Among adults with a need gap, 45% cite cost, 35% cite other financial priorities, and 23% each say they don’t know how much or what type to buy, or simply haven’t gotten around to it. The cost answer rests on a misperception: roughly three-quarters of consumers overestimate what life insurance costs, 46% admit their estimate was a gut feeling or a wild guess, and adults under 31 overestimate the price of a $250,000, 20-year term policy by about five to six times.
Analyst note — Mia Scarlett: “Too expensive” is the top barrier, and it is mostly a pricing-information failure, not a pricing failure. When the buyer’s estimate runs five or six times the quote for a 20-year term policy, the product never gets a hearing. That is an underwriting-distribution problem the industry can fix, and the 2026 sales data says digital term platforms are starting to.
How Much Life Insurance Coverage Do Americans Have?
The ACLI 2025 Life Insurers Fact Book reports $22.0 trillion of life insurance in force at year-end 2024 on its industry basis, of which $14.1 trillion is individual and $7.8 trillion group. Its state chapter, which tabulates direct business written by U.S. life insurers and fraternal societies (NAIC data), totals $39.4 trillion — $23.2 trillion individual and $16.1 trillion group. The two totals are built on different bases; Axis Intelligence Research uses the direct-business table wherever coverage is compared across states, because it records where policies are written.
Individual life insurance in force and policy counts, 2014 vs 2024
| Measure | 2014 | 2024 | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual face amount in force | $11.8 trillion | $14.1 trillion | +19.0% | ACLI Fact Book 2025, ch. 7 |
| Individual policies in force | 142.7 million | 133.8 million | −6.2% | ACLI Fact Book 2025, ch. 7 |
| Group face amount in force | $8.2 trillion | $7.8 trillion | — | ACLI Fact Book 2025, ch. 7 |
| Average new individual policy | $168,000 | $209,000 | +24.4% | ACLI Fact Book 2025, ch. 7 |
Fewer contracts, larger ones. Individual face amount in force grew 19.0% over the decade while the number of individual policies fell 6.2% (Axis calculation from ACLI data). The average individual policy purchased in 2024 carried $209,000 of coverage.
Term vs whole life: what Americans buy
Term dominates on dollars, permanent on contracts. In 2024, term policies were 39.3% of new individual policies but 72.1% of new individual face amount; permanent plans were 60.7% of policies and 27.9% of face amount. Insurers sold 9.6 million new individual policies with $2.0 trillion of face amount.
Life Insurance Coverage by State: The Axis Income Protection Multiple (IPM™)
The Income Protection Multiple (IPM™) is Axis Intelligence Research’s measure of how many years of a state’s personal income its life insurance in force would replace:
IPM™ = direct life insurance in force (face amount, ACLI Table 10.3, 2024) ÷ personal income (BEA, 2024)
Nationally: $39,350,697 million ÷ $24,632,680 million = 1.60. The companion Workplace Reliance Share (WRS™) is group face amount ÷ total direct face amount — the share of a state’s coverage that is tied to an employer or association contract. Nationally it is 41.0%. Personal income comes from the Bureau of Economic Analysis release of March 28, 2025, archived on FRASER.
Delaware (3.89) and the District of Columbia (2.73) top the table, but both are booking artifacts more than household behavior: DC’s coverage is 70.8% group and Delaware’s is 56.3% group, consistent with group master contracts and federal-workforce coverage sited where employers are, not where insured people live. Read past them and the leaders are South Dakota (2.36), New Jersey (2.15), Minnesota (2.02) and Iowa (2.01). The thinnest protection relative to income is in West Virginia (1.21), Oregon (1.23), Wyoming (1.24), and Washington, Nevada and Maine (1.25 each).
Life insurance in force by state, 2024 — ranked by IPM™
| Rank | State | Life insurance in force, 2024 ($B) | Personal income, 2024 ($B) | IPM™ (years of income) | WRS™ (group share) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Delaware | 284 | 73 | 3.89 | 56.3% |
| 2 | District of Columbia | 207 | 76 | 2.73 | 70.8% |
| 3 | South Dakota | 161 | 68 | 2.36 | 22.9% |
| 4 | New Jersey | 1,718 | 799 | 2.15 | 42.4% |
| 5 | Minnesota | 876 | 434 | 2.02 | 42.7% |
| 6 | Iowa | 414 | 206 | 2.01 | 33.3% |
| 7 | Georgia | 1,310 | 698 | 1.88 | 40.9% |
| 8 | Utah | 421 | 233 | 1.81 | 37.9% |
| 9 | North Dakota | 101 | 57 | 1.79 | 32.0% |
| 10 | Connecticut | 609 | 343 | 1.78 | 38.0% |
| 11 | Illinois | 1,679 | 943 | 1.78 | 41.8% |
| 12 | Nebraska | 257 | 144 | 1.78 | 31.1% |
| 13 | Missouri | 710 | 404 | 1.76 | 45.5% |
| 14 | Rhode Island | 137 | 78 | 1.76 | 47.8% |
| 15 | Wisconsin | 700 | 403 | 1.74 | 40.3% |
| 16 | Louisiana | 488 | 282 | 1.73 | 36.4% |
| 17 | Tennessee | 813 | 469 | 1.73 | 40.9% |
| 18 | Alabama | 504 | 292 | 1.72 | 37.5% |
| 19 | Mississippi | 261 | 153 | 1.70 | 34.2% |
| 20 | Kansas | 339 | 202 | 1.68 | 38.9% |
| 21 | North Carolina | 1,203 | 716 | 1.68 | 39.9% |
| 22 | Virginia | 1,133 | 679 | 1.67 | 47.6% |
| 23 | Maryland | 819 | 492 | 1.66 | 44.3% |
| 24 | Massachusetts | 1,110 | 670 | 1.66 | 43.3% |
| 25 | Indiana | 719 | 442 | 1.63 | 47.6% |
| 26 | South Carolina | 536 | 329 | 1.63 | 38.8% |
| 27 | Hawaii | 161 | 101 | 1.61 | 29.8% |
| 28 | Ohio | 1,220 | 763 | 1.60 | 45.6% |
| 29 | Pennsylvania | 1,482 | 931 | 1.59 | 41.7% |
| 30 | New York | 2,699 | 1,703 | 1.58 | 35.5% |
| 31 | Michigan | 1,005 | 641 | 1.57 | 44.6% |
| 32 | Kentucky | 413 | 264 | 1.56 | 48.8% |
| 33 | Texas | 3,276 | 2,126 | 1.54 | 42.5% |
| 34 | Alaska | 85 | 56 | 1.53 | 39.2% |
| 35 | Colorado | 755 | 493 | 1.53 | 38.2% |
| 36 | Idaho | 181 | 124 | 1.46 | 34.5% |
| 37 | Arizona | 699 | 489 | 1.43 | 42.6% |
| 38 | New Hampshire | 164 | 117 | 1.41 | 39.8% |
| 39 | California | 4,706 | 3,372 | 1.40 | 40.3% |
| 40 | Florida | 2,297 | 1,645 | 1.40 | 34.2% |
| 41 | Arkansas | 253 | 184 | 1.37 | 39.6% |
| 42 | Oklahoma | 342 | 257 | 1.33 | 44.3% |
| 43 | Montana | 101 | 77 | 1.31 | 32.9% |
| 44 | Vermont | 60 | 45 | 1.31 | 38.5% |
| 45 | New Mexico | 156 | 123 | 1.27 | 51.0% |
| 46 | Maine | 120 | 96 | 1.25 | 45.2% |
| 47 | Nevada | 280 | 224 | 1.25 | 33.8% |
| 48 | Washington | 835 | 668 | 1.25 | 45.8% |
| 49 | Wyoming | 62 | 51 | 1.24 | 30.3% |
| 50 | Oregon | 370 | 302 | 1.23 | 43.7% |
| 51 | West Virginia | 118 | 98 | 1.21 | 47.0% |
| — | United States | 39,351 | 24,633 | 1.60 | 41.0% |
Sources: ACLI 2025 Life Insurers Fact Book, Table 10.3 (direct business, NAIC data); BEA personal income by state, 2024. IPM™ and WRS™ calculated by Axis Intelligence Research.
Which states depend most on workplace life insurance?
Outside DC and Delaware, New Mexico has the highest Workplace Reliance Share at 51.0%, followed by Kentucky (48.8%), Rhode Island (47.8%), and Indiana and Virginia (47.6% each). South Dakota is the outlier on the other side: only 22.9% of its coverage is group, the lowest in the country, and it is also the highest IPM™ state outside the two booking outliers. Hawaii (29.8%) and Wyoming (30.3%) are the next least dependent on employer coverage.
Analyst note — Mia Scarlett: A high WRS™ is a concentration flag, not a strength. Group life typically ends with the job, and a state where half the in-force book is group coverage carries a protection base that moves with its payrolls. The states pairing a low IPM™ with a high WRS™ — Washington (1.25, 45.8%), Oregon (1.23, 43.7%) and West Virginia (1.21, 47.0%) — have both a thin cushion and one that sits on employers’ balance sheets.
Who Gets Life Insurance at Work?
The BLS Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2026 release puts employer life insurance access at 63% of civilian workers, 59% in private industry and 84% in state and local government. Workers who have access almost always enroll: the private-industry take-up rate is 98%. The gap is access, and it follows pay.
Employer life insurance access by wage, hours and employer size (private industry, March 2026)
| Worker group | Access | Participation | Take-up | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All private-industry workers | 59% | 58% | 98% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| Lowest 25% of wages | 28% | 26% | 95% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| Second 25% of wages | 59% | 58% | 99% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| Third 25% of wages | 72% | 72% | 99% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| Highest 25% of wages | 87% | 86% | 99% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| Highest 10% of wages | 92% | 91% | 99% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| Full time | 74% | 73% | 99% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| Part time | 14% | 13% | 94% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| Union | 83% | 82% | 99% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| Nonunion | 57% | 56% | 98% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| 1–49 workers | 40% | 39% | 98% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
| 500+ workers | 86% | 85% | 99% | BLS NCS, Table 5 |
Source: BLS, Table 5, Life insurance benefits, March 2026.
Axis Intelligence Research calculates that a private-sector worker in the top wage quartile is 3.1 times as likely to be offered life insurance as one in the bottom quartile (87% vs 28%). Part-time workers sit at 14%. Small employers are the other hole: 40% access at firms with 1–49 workers, against 86% at 500 or more — the same small-firm pattern Axis documented in small business insurance statistics and in health insurance coverage.
How Much Do Life Insurers Pay Out Each Year?
Life insurers paid $88.5 billion in death benefits in 2024, slightly below 2023’s $89.1 billion, according to ACLI’s Fact Book (Table 5.2). That is the payout most readers picture. It is a minority of the cash.
Where life insurers’ payments went, 2024
| Payment type | 2024 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Annuity surrender benefits | $437.2 billion | ACLI Fact Book 2025, Table 5.3 |
| Annuity benefits | $109.8 billion | ACLI Fact Book 2025, Table 5.3 |
| Life insurance death benefits | $88.5 billion | ACLI Fact Book 2025, Table 5.2 |
| Life policy surrender values | $47.0 billion | ACLI Fact Book 2025, Table 5.2 |
| Life policyholder dividends | $18.8 billion | ACLI Fact Book 2025, Table 5.2 |
| Total payments to policyholders and beneficiaries | $707.5 billion | ACLI Fact Book 2025, Table 5.7 |
Axis Intelligence Research calculates three ratios from these lines:
- Death benefits were 12.5% of total payments to policyholders and beneficiaries ($88,525M ÷ $707,490M).
- Annuity surrenders were 4.9 times death benefits ($437,202M ÷ $88,525M).
- Cash surrendered from life policies equaled 53.1% of death benefits ($46,993M ÷ $88,525M) — for every $2 paid to a beneficiary, about $1 went to a living policyholder cashing out.
Total payments rose 11.8% in a year, from $632.7 billion to $707.5 billion, and the premium side tells the same story. Of $824.7 billion in 2024 premiums and considerations, life insurance premiums were $173.7 billion — 21.1% (Axis calculation) — against $432.5 billion of annuity considerations (ACLI Table 4.1). These are net figures after reinsurance, so the jump in the life line from $122.2 billion in 2023 should be read alongside reinsurance activity rather than as a 2024 sales surge.
Death benefits per U.S. death
The CDC’s Mortality in the United States, 2024 recorded 3,072,666 resident deaths. Dividing ACLI’s $88.5 billion in death benefits by that count gives $28,810 per U.S. death (Axis estimate). It is a ratio of national totals, not an average claim: most deaths trigger no payout, while some trigger several. It is still the cleanest single figure for how much life insurance actually reaches families when a death occurs.
Analyst note — Mia Scarlett: Strip the annuity book out of a life insurer’s statement and the death-benefit business looks small and steady: roughly $89 billion out the door two years running. The growth, and the liquidity risk, sit in the surrender lines. A carrier’s cash-flow testing in 2026 is mostly about who might walk with their annuity balance, not who might die.
How Many Life Insurance Policies Lapse?
ACLI reports a 2024 individual voluntary termination rate of 5.8% by face amount — 4.7% lapses plus 1.1% surrenders — above 5.4% in 2023 and 5.3% in 2014. By policy count the rate was 7.9%.
Axis Intelligence Research applies the face-amount rate to $14.1 trillion of individual coverage in force and estimates roughly $816 billion of individual face amount was lapsed or surrendered in 2024. Set against $2.0 trillion of new individual face amount purchased, that equals 40.6% of everything sold: for every $5 of new coverage written, about $2 left the books through voluntary termination.
| Year | Lapse rate (face) | Surrender rate (face) | Combined (face) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 4.3% | 1.0% | 5.3% | ACLI Fact Book 2025, ch. 7 |
| 2023 | 4.3% | 1.0% | 5.4% | ACLI Fact Book 2025, ch. 7 |
| 2024 | 4.7% | 1.1% | 5.8% | ACLI Fact Book 2025, ch. 7 |
Anyone weighing a cash-value product should read this next to our analysis of indexed universal life: a policy surrendered early returns its surrender value, not the death benefit the illustration was built around.
Life Insurance Sales in 2026: What Americans Are Buying
LIMRA’s quarterly survey, covering 85% of the U.S. market, shows new individual life premium of $4.5 billion in Q1 2026 (+7%) and $4.75 billion in Q2 2026 (+3%), for $9.25 billion in the first half (Axis sum). Policy counts rose 5% and 8%. Since Q1 2026 LIMRA reports on an annualized-with-excess-premium (AWEP) basis — 100% of planned recurring premium plus 10% of single and excess premium — so comparisons with older annualized-premium figures are not like-for-like.
U.S. individual life insurance new premium by product, Q2 2026
| Product | Q2 2026 new premium (AWEP) | YoY | Share | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole life | $1.77 billion | +9% | 37% | LIMRA, Aug 26, 2026 |
| Indexed universal life | $1.1 billion | −9% | 24% | LIMRA, Aug 26, 2026 |
| Term | $824 million | +6% | 17% | LIMRA, Aug 26, 2026 |
| Variable universal life | $811 million | +13% | 17% | LIMRA, Aug 26, 2026 |
| Fixed universal life | $233 million | −3% | 5% | LIMRA, Aug 26, 2026 |
Q2 brought IUL’s first premium decline since Q2 2023 (−9%), even as IUL policy counts rose 6%. Whole life led growth, largely through network-marketing distribution, and the strongest term gains came from online and digital platforms. Fixed UL fell for a seventh consecutive quarter.
Which Company Sells the Most Life Insurance?
On 2025 direct life insurance premiums, New York Life Group ranks first with a 7.40% share, according to the NAIC 2025 Top 25 Life/Fraternal market share report — not MetLife, which many pages still list based on older data.
| Rank | Group | 2025 direct life premiums | Market share | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Life | $15.56 billion | 7.40% | NAIC, 2025 data |
| 2 | Northwestern Mutual | $14.19 billion | 6.75% | NAIC, 2025 data |
| 3 | MetLife (Metropolitan Group) | $13.00 billion | 6.19% | NAIC, 2025 data |
| 4 | Prudential of America | $12.55 billion | 5.97% | NAIC, 2025 data |
| 5 | Lincoln National | $9.17 billion | 4.36% | NAIC, 2025 data |
| 6 | MassMutual | $9.15 billion | 4.35% | NAIC, 2025 data |
| 7 | Nationwide | $7.17 billion | 3.41% | NAIC, 2025 data |
| 8 | Pacific Life | $7.05 billion | 3.35% | NAIC, 2025 data |
| 9 | State Farm | $6.07 billion | 2.89% | NAIC, 2025 data |
| 10 | Guardian Life | $5.47 billion | 2.60% | NAIC, 2025 data |
| — | Industry total | $210.24 billion | 100% | NAIC, 2025 data |
Axis Intelligence Research calculates the top 10 groups held 47.3% of 2025 direct life premiums. The industry around them is shrinking in head count: 711 life insurers were in business at year-end 2024, down from 719 a year earlier, holding $9.26 trillion in assets (ACLI Table 1.1–1.2).
Analyst note — Mia Scarlett: Market share by direct premium rewards carriers with big in-force blocks of recurring premium, which is why mutuals cluster at the top. It is not a new-sales league table. For the share of new business, watch the product mix in LIMRA’s quarterly data — that is where whole life’s 37% share of Q2 premium shows up first.
Methodology
Axis Intelligence Research built this dataset between October 9 and October 11, 2026, from documents fetched and read during production; every figure appears as a row in the CSV with source organization, document, URL and retrieval date.
Sources. LIMRA and Life Happens 2026 Insurance Barometer Study (5,237 adults 18–75, January 2026, ±3 points); LIMRA quarterly U.S. individual life sales releases (June 12 and August 26, 2026); ACLI 2025 Life Insurers Fact Book (2024 data; chapters 1, 4, 5, 7 and 10); BLS National Compensation Survey, Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2026; CDC NCHS Data Brief 548; NAIC 2025 Top 25 Life/Fraternal market share report (filings received by March 18, 2026); BEA personal income by state, 2024 (release of March 28, 2025).
Income Protection Multiple (IPM™). IPM = total direct life insurance face amount in force in a state (ACLI Table 10.3, which tabulates NAIC direct-business data) ÷ that state’s personal income (BEA), both for 2024. A reading of 1.60 means coverage in force equals 1.6 years of the state’s aggregate personal income. The 51 state personal-income values sum to the BEA U.S. total within $2 million of rounding, and the 51 state in-force values sum exactly to ACLI’s U.S. direct total.
Workplace Reliance Share (WRS™). WRS = group face amount in force ÷ total direct face amount in force (ACLI Table 10.3, 2024).
Lapsed-coverage estimate. ACLI’s 2024 individual voluntary termination rate by face amount (5.8%) × ACLI’s 2024 individual face amount in force ($14,068,473 million) = $815,971 million, rounded to $816 billion. It is an estimate: ACLI publishes the rate, not the dollar amount, and the exposure base behind the rate may differ from year-end in force.
Death benefits per death. ACLI 2024 death benefits ($88,525 million) ÷ CDC 2024 resident deaths (3,072,666) = $28,810.
Scope. Barometer figures are survey estimates of adults 18–75. The ACLI chapter 7 totals and the chapter 10 state totals use different bases and are not mixed in any single calculation. Delaware and DC IPM™ readings reflect where coverage is booked. LIMRA’s 2026 sales figures use AWEP and are not comparable with pre-2026 annualized premium. All arithmetic was run twice in Python (floating point and exact rational fractions.Fraction).
About This Dataset
The Life Insurance Statistics 2026 dataset (life-insurance-statistics.csv) holds 555 rows: national ownership, need-gap and barrier data; 2026 quarterly sales by product; 2024 in-force, purchases, lapse rates, payments and premiums; March 2026 employer access; 2025 market share; and state-level in force, personal income, IPM™ and WRS™ for all 50 states and DC. Every row carries source_org, source_document, source_url, retrieved_date, is_primary and axis_calculated; calculated rows carry their formula in method_note.
- License: CC BY 4.0 — reuse freely with attribution to Axis Intelligence Research.
- Distribution: this page, Hugging Face, Kaggle and GitHub (identical file).
- Updates: relevance-driven, when a source below publishes new data.
How to Cite This Page
APA: Axis Intelligence Research, & Scarlett, M. (2026, October 11). Life insurance statistics 2026: Ownership, coverage gap, payouts and the Income Protection Multiple by state. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/life-insurance-statistics/
MLA: Axis Intelligence Research, and Mia Scarlett. “Life Insurance Statistics 2026: Ownership, Coverage Gap, Payouts and the Income Protection Multiple by State.” Axis Intelligence, 11 Oct. 2026, axis-intelligence.com/life-insurance-statistics/.
Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research, and Mia Scarlett. “Life Insurance Statistics 2026: Ownership, Coverage Gap, Payouts and the Income Protection Multiple by State.” Axis Intelligence, October 11, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/life-insurance-statistics/.
[Copy citation] button on each format.
Related Axis research: retirement savings statistics · AI in insurance statistics · net worth by age calculator · health insurance statistics
Life Insurance Questions, Answered With 2026 Data
What percentage of Americans have life insurance in 2026?
52% of U.S. adults aged 18–75 own at least one life insurance policy, according to the January 2026 Insurance Barometer Study by LIMRA and Life Happens. That is up one point from 2025. Ownership ranges from 29% in households earning under $50,000 to 64% in households earning $150,000 or more.
Is life insurance through work enough on its own?
For many households it is the only coverage: 27% of owners rely solely on workplace life insurance (LIMRA, 2026). That coverage depends on keeping the job, and only 59% of private-sector workers have access to it (BLS, March 2026). Axis Intelligence Research finds 41.0% of all U.S. life coverage in force is group coverage.
How many years of income does America’s life insurance replace?
About 1.60 years. Axis Intelligence Research’s Income Protection Multiple (IPM™) divides $39.4 trillion of direct life insurance in force by $24.6 trillion of personal income for 2024. Among states, South Dakota scores 2.36 and West Virginia 1.21.
How much life insurance coverage gets dropped each year?
ACLI reports that 5.8% of individual life insurance face amount was voluntarily terminated in 2024. Axis Intelligence Research estimates that equals about $816 billion of coverage — 40.6% of the $2.0 trillion of new individual coverage sold the same year.
Do life insurers pay more in death claims or to living policyholders?
To living policyholders, by a wide margin. Of $707.5 billion paid to policyholders and beneficiaries in 2024, death benefits were $88.5 billion, or 12.5%, while annuity surrenders alone were $437.2 billion (ACLI data, Axis calculation).
What is the average size of a new life insurance policy?
$209,000. That was the average face amount of an individual life policy purchased in 2024, up from $168,000 in 2014, according to the ACLI 2025 Life Insurers Fact Book.
Is term or whole life more popular?
It depends on the measure. Term was 72.1% of new individual face amount in 2024 but 39.3% of policies (ACLI). On premium, whole life led Q2 2026 sales with $1.77 billion, 37% of new individual premium (LIMRA).
Which life insurer is the largest in the U.S.?
New York Life Group, with $15.56 billion in 2025 direct life insurance premiums and a 7.40% market share, ahead of Northwestern Mutual (6.75%) and MetLife (6.19%), according to NAIC 2025 market share data.