California FAIR Plan vs Florida Citizens: the divergence in numbers
The California FAIR Plan and Citizens Property Insurance Corporation of Florida are insurers of last resort: programs their states created to cover homes the private market declines. Their enrollment counts are the clearest public measure of each market. Since September 2022 they have moved in opposite directions: the FAIR Plan has grown 152%, to 684,388 policies, while Citizens has fallen roughly 80% from its 2023 peak, to 278,246.
California FAIR Plan
684,388
policies in force as of March 31, 2026
+152% since September 2022, an increase of 413,061 policies · source
Florida Citizens
278,246
policies in force as of June 30, 2026
down roughly 80% from the September 30, 2023 peak of 1,407,805 · source
Both series, one chart
Policies in force, on one shared scale. Each dot is a figure the program published; nothing between dots is estimated.
Dashed segments connect published points that sit more than one reporting period apart: the FAIR Plan published no totals for the three quarters after September 2022, and our Citizens archive holds quarterly and semiannual month-ends before mid-2026. Between June 30 and December 31, 2025, the two counts crossed: the FAIR Plan ended 2025 at 668,609 policies, Citizens at 395,337.
What moved each curve
Every event below is in our verified tracker, each with a dated source. The full record is at all tracked events.
California: climbing, more slowly of late
The FAIR Plan grew as new private options narrowed. Allstate paused new homeowners and condo policies in November 2022, citing wildfire risk, construction costs, and reinsurance costs. State Farm General stopped accepting new property applications in May 2023, then announced non-renewal of about 30,000 property policies in March 2024. Households that could not place coverage privately turned to the plan, whose count rose in every quarter it published: 271,327 in September 2022 to 684,388 in March 2026.
The most recent quarters point the other way, slowly. Farmers removed its 9,500-per-month cap on new California homeowners policies in November 2025, and in December 2025 the Department of Insurance approved Sustainable Insurance Strategy filings from Mercury and CSAA, with Mercury committing to more than 38,000 new policies over the long term. FAIR Plan growth slowed to 6% in the six months to March 2026, from 39% in the fiscal year ending September 2025, and legislation to transform the plan was announced in February 2026.
Florida: from 1.4 million policies to under 300,000
Citizens climbed first. Southern Fidelity was ordered into liquidation in June 2022, United Property and Casualty followed in February 2023 after Hurricane Ian losses of about $864 million, and Farmers exited the Florida market in July 2023, affecting up to 100,000 policyholders. Citizens reached its all-time peak of 1,407,805 policies that September; Progressive announced roughly 100,000 non-renewals that October.
The decline ran through depopulation, Citizens’ program that transfers batches of its policies to approved private carriers. Florida’s regulator approved a string of new property insurers after the state’s 2022-2023 legislative reforms, from Orion180 in August 2023 to Mangrove in January 2025, the tenth entrant, later approved to assume roughly 81,000 Citizens policies, reaching 20 companies by May 2026. Heritage resumed writing new Florida personal lines in August 2024. During 2025 alone, more than 546,000 policies transferred to private takeout carriers, and in January 2026 the state reported Citizens’ count down 50% year over year, with an average 8.7% rate reduction for Citizens policyholders beginning spring 2026.
Quotable figures
Each line stands alone and may be quoted with attribution to Home Insurance Watch. Primary sources are listed at the bottom of this page; every table row above links its own.
The California FAIR Plan grew from 271,327 policies in force in September 2022 to 684,388 in March 2026, an increase of 152%.
Home Insurance Watch, from FAIR Plan key statistics
413,061 more California households were on the FAIR Plan in March 2026 than in September 2022.
Home Insurance Watch, from FAIR Plan key statistics, difference of published totals
The FAIR Plan wrote 98,677 new policies between October 2025 and March 2026, an average of 16,466 per month.
Home Insurance Watch, from FAIR Plan key statistics
FAIR Plan growth is slowing: up 6% in the six months to March 2026, after 39% growth in the fiscal year ending September 2025.
Home Insurance Watch, from FAIR Plan key statistics
FAIR Plan total exposure reached $750 billion in March 2026, up 242% since September 2022.
Home Insurance Watch, from FAIR Plan key statistics
Florida Citizens fell from a September 2023 peak of 1,407,805 policies to 278,246 at June 30, 2026, down roughly 80%.
Home Insurance Watch, from Citizens policies-in-force reporting
Citizens shed 1,129,559 policies from its peak; more than 546,000 of them transferred to private carriers during 2025 alone.
Home Insurance Watch, from Citizens policies-in-force and depopulation reporting
Between June 30 and December 31, 2025, the two counts crossed: the California FAIR Plan ended 2025 at 668,609 policies, Florida Citizens at 395,337.
Home Insurance Watch, from FAIR Plan and Citizens published series
The data
Change compares each count to the previous published point in its series. Gaps are shown, not filled.
California FAIR Plan, quarterly
| As of | Policies in force | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-03-31 | 684,388 | +15,779 | cfpnet.com |
| 2025-12-31 | 668,609 | +22,622 | archived snapshot |
| 2025-09-30 | 645,987 | +35,808 | archived snapshot |
| 2025-06-30 | 610,179 | +36,440 | archived snapshot |
| 2025-03-31 | 573,739 | +57,426 | archived snapshot |
| 2024-12-31 | 516,313 | +51,413 | archived snapshot |
| 2024-09-30 | 464,900 | +45,442 | archived snapshot |
| 2024-06-30 | 419,458 | +43,825 | archived snapshot |
| 2024-03-31 | 375,633 | +26,369 | archived snapshot |
| 2023-12-31 | 349,264 | +18,989 | archived snapshot |
| 2023-09-30 | 330,275 | +58,948 | archived snapshot |
| 2023-06-30 | not published as a total by the FAIR Plan; left absent, not estimated | ||
| 2023-03-31 | not published as a total by the FAIR Plan; left absent, not estimated | ||
| 2022-12-31 | not published as a total by the FAIR Plan; left absent, not estimated | ||
| 2022-09-30 | 271,327 | earliest shown | archived snapshot |
September 2022 through September 2024 totals are dwelling plus commercial figures as printed on the FAIR Plan's own policies-in-force charts; December 2024 onward are totals stated on the page. Historical quarters were read from dated Wayback Machine snapshots of the FAIR Plan's key statistics page; each row links the exact page it was read from.
Florida Citizens, monthly
| As of | Policies in force | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-30 | 278,246 | -301 | citizensfla.com |
| 2026-06-26 | 278,547 | -15,225 | citizensfla.com |
| 2026-05-31 | 293,772 | -101,565 | citizensfla.com |
| 2025-12-31 | 395,337 | -384,215 | citizensfla.com |
| 2025-06-30 | 779,552 | -156,630 | citizensfla.com |
| 2024-12-31 | 936,182 | -277,313 | citizensfla.com |
| 2024-06-30 | 1,213,495 | -15,223 | citizensfla.com |
| 2023-12-31 | 1,228,718 | -179,087 | citizensfla.com |
| 2023-09-30 | 1,407,805 | earliest shown | citizensfla.com |
Citizens publishes policies-in-force counts continuously; this table holds the month-end points in our archive, quarterly and semiannual before mid-2026 and monthly since. The June 26, 2026 row is a headline snapshot recorded a few days before that month's official month-end count.
Common questions
What is an insurer of last resort?
A program created by a state to cover property owners who cannot find coverage in the private market. The California FAIR Plan and Florida’s Citizens Property Insurance Corporation are the two largest examples. When private carriers write less, these programs grow; when carriers return, they shrink, which is why their enrollment counts are the clearest public measure of how hard each market is.
Why did California FAIR Plan enrollment grow 152% between 2022 and 2026?
Large carriers restricted new business in that window: Allstate paused new homeowners and condo policies in November 2022, and State Farm General stopped accepting new property applications in May 2023 and announced about 30,000 property non-renewals in March 2024, citing factors including catastrophe exposure and reinsurance costs. Households that could not place coverage privately turned to the FAIR Plan, which grew from 271,327 policies in September 2022 to 684,388 in March 2026. Growth has slowed since late 2025 as Farmers, Mercury, and CSAA expanded new writing under approved filings.
Why is Florida Citizens shrinking?
Citizens runs a depopulation program that transfers batches of its policies to approved private carriers. More than 546,000 policies moved to private takeout carriers during 2025 alone, and Florida’s regulator has approved 20 new property insurers since the state’s 2022-2023 legislative reforms. Citizens’ count fell from its September 2023 peak of 1,407,805 policies to 278,246 at June 30, 2026, a decline of roughly 80%.
Where does this data come from?
Every California figure is read from the FAIR Plan’s own published key statistics page, either the live page or a dated Wayback Machine snapshot of it, and every Florida figure comes from Citizens’ published policies-in-force counts. Quarters the FAIR Plan never published as totals are left absent, and nothing on this page is interpolated or estimated.
Primary sources and how to cite
- California FAIR Plan, Key Statistics, published quarterly. Historical quarters read from dated Wayback Machine snapshots of the same page; each California table row above links its snapshot.
- Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, Policies in Force, published monthly, and Depopulation Resources.
- Narrative events cite their own sources inline: state regulator bulletins, receivership filings, carrier statements, and two-source-verified press reports, all listed with dates on the events page. Methodology and corrections policy: /data/.
Cite this page
Home Insurance Watch, “California FAIR Plan vs Florida Citizens: the divergence in numbers,” homeinsurancewatch.com/fair-plans/california-vs-florida/. Updated when either program publishes; California current through March 31, 2026, Florida through June 30, 2026.
Home Insurance Watch is independent and takes no money from insurance carriers.