Minimum Car Insurance Requirements by State

What is the minimum car insurance you have to carry?

In 49 states and Washington, D.C., you must carry liability insurance to register and drive a car. Liability coverage pays for harm you cause to other people. It never pays for your own injuries or your own car. New Hampshire is the one exception, and Florida has a different kind of rule. Both are explained below.

Most states set the floor at 25/50 for injuries. The lowest is 15/30 in Pennsylvania and Louisiana, and the highest is 50/100 in five states. Your state’s number is in the table further down.

A few states also make you buy cover for your own medical bills. Those are the “no-fault” and personal injury protection states, listed after the main table.

One warning before you look anything up. At least seven states raised their limits since the start of 2025, and many websites still show the old numbers. The table below uses the figures in force in October 2026.

What do the three numbers mean (like 25/50/25)?

The numbers are limits in thousands of dollars. Together they cap what your insurer will pay when you are at fault.

• First number: injury to one other person in a crash.
• Second number: injury to all other people in that same crash.
• Third number: damage to other people’s property, mostly their car.

So 25/50/25 means up to $25,000 for any one injured person, $50,000 for everyone hurt, and $25,000 for the damage to cars and fences. Some insurers sell one “combined” limit instead. Pennsylvania says a $35,000 combined limit meets its rules.

Here is why this matters. These are caps, not promises. If you cause a $90,000 injury claim and your limit is $25,000, the other side can ask you to pay the rest.

Which states have the highest and lowest minimums?

The spread is wide. A driver in Virginia must carry limits more than three times as high as a driver in Pennsylvania.

Highest. Alaska, Maine and Virginia require 50/100/25. North Carolina requires 50/100/50, which is the highest property damage limit anywhere. Michigan also requires 50/100 for injuries, but its property limit applies only to damage in other states. Inside Michigan, a separate property protection cover applies, which the state’s regulator guide has described as up to $1 million. Hawaii and New Jersey come next, just below 50/100.

Lowest. Pennsylvania asks for the least. Louisiana asks for the same injury limits but a much higher property limit. Iowa sits just above them.

The odd one out. Florida does not require injury liability at all for an ordinary car. It requires property damage cover and personal injury protection instead. Its law is built around your own insurer paying your medical bills first.

The middle. Most of the country sits at 25/50 for injuries. What differs from state to state is the property limit, which varies a lot.

State-by-state table: what is your state’s minimum?

Find your state, then read across to its limits. Every state name links to our page for that state.

Notes on the table:

• New York also requires 50/100 when someone dies.
• Michigan’s $10,000 property figure applies to damage in other states. In Michigan itself, a separate mandatory property protection cover applies (described by the state as up to $1 million).
• New Jersey’s cheaper “basic” policy is different. It covers $5,000 of property damage and $15,000 of injury protection, and bodily injury liability is optional.
• Texas has a page on its own limits: Texas minimum insurance.

Which states make you buy cover for your own injuries?

Fifteen states require some first-party injury cover, and Washington, D.C. makes insurers offer it. Insurers call it personal injury protection, or PIP. It pays your medical bills and some lost pay no matter who caused the crash.

Twelve states are “no-fault” states by Triple-I’s count. In most of them, PIP comes with limits on suing for pain and suffering. Delaware, Maryland and Oregon require similar benefits but still let you sue. Our guide to no-fault versus at-fault states explains the trade-off.

Three states let you choose. In Kentucky, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, you can keep the full right to sue or take a cheaper policy that limits lawsuits. The default differs. New Jersey assumes you took the limit unless you say otherwise, while Pennsylvania assumes you kept the full right to sue. Check which one your policy has, because it changes what you can claim after a crash.

Michigan is a special case. Drivers there pick how much medical cover to buy, from a low tier up to unlimited. Unlimited is what you get if you pick nothing.

Maine and New Hampshire do not require PIP, but a policy sold there must include small medical payments cover: $2,000 in Maine and $1,000 in New Hampshire.

Uninsured-motorist cover is a separate rule. Triple-I counts 20 states and D.C. that require it. See our uninsured motorist guide.

Is New Hampshire really the only state without required car insurance?

Yes, according to the Insurance Research Council. New Hampshire does not make you buy a policy to register or drive a car.

But it is not a free-for-all. State law says every driver must be able to pay for damage they cause. The state enforces that after a crash. If you are at fault and cannot show you can pay, you can lose your license and registration.

For most people, proving it means holding a policy with at least 25/50/25. Someone who skips insurance and causes a bad crash faces the whole bill alone. A deposit of cash or approved securities with the state treasurer is another way to show it.

In 2026, New Hampshire lawmakers considered a bill that would have required proof at registration. The House voted it down in February 2026.

Virginia used to let owners register an uninsured car for a $500 fee. That option ended in mid-2024, so Virginia now requires insurance.

How do states find out you let your insurance lapse?

Mostly through your insurer. In North Carolina, for example, insurers must tell the DMV when a policy is cancelled or lapses for any reason. The DMV then mails the owner a notice. Ignoring it can cost you your license plate, plus fines and late fees. Triple-I says more than half of the states now run online verification systems to spot drivers without coverage.

Lapses matter in another way. A short gap can leave you driving illegally without knowing it. If your payment fails or your insurer cancels, ask for the new policy to start the same day.

What changed in 2025 and 2026?

Several states raised their floors, and old numbers still circulate on the web. The new limits are in the table above. Each change applies only to policies issued or renewed after its date.

• California and Utah: January 2025. California has another step up written into law for 2035.
• Virginia: January 2025.
• Massachusetts and North Carolina: July 2025.
• Hawaii and New Jersey: January 2026. New Jersey’s raise applies to standard policies.
• Washington, D.C.: a raise takes effect in October 2027. It will roughly double the injury limits and the property limit.

Several bills to raise limits also went nowhere. A Texas bill for higher limits stalled in committee. A West Virginia bill did not advance past committee. A South Carolina bill has sat in a House committee since spring 2025. Florida’s attempt to repeal no-fault died in March 2026, even though some websites say it passed.

Why are minimums so low?

No source we reviewed gives one clear reason. Two patterns show up in the record.

First, legislators change these numbers rarely. Texas has not changed its limits since 2011. Bills to raise limits in many states stall year after year. A higher floor can raise the bill for drivers who now buy the least coverage. Affordability is a live concern: a 2022 Insurance Research Council study ranked Louisiana, Florida and Mississippi as the least affordable states.

Second, the floor was never built to match what a bad crash costs. It is a legal threshold that proves some ability to pay. The numbers in each state’s law describe the minimum policy an insurer may sell, not a measure of damage.

Compare it with real costs. Triple-I reports that the average paid injury claim in 2024 was $28,278. That is more than the per-person floor in most states. An average new car sold for about $50,089 in August 2026, according to Kelley Blue Book, so a low property limit can run out fast.

Meanwhile, more than one in seven drivers was uninsured in 2023, and about one in three was uninsured or underinsured. Mississippi had the highest uninsured rate.

Is the state minimum enough for you?

Probably not if you have savings, a home or a steady income to protect. Anything above your limit can become your debt. In many states a court judgment can reach savings and wages.

Example (invented numbers). You live in a 25/50/25 state. You cause a crash. The other driver has $60,000 in medical bills, and their new $50,000 car is totaled.

• Your insurer pays up to $25,000 for the injuries and up to $25,000 for the car.
• You owe the remaining $35,000 in medical bills and $25,000 for the car.
• That is $60,000 out of your pocket, or out of your wages if the other side sues.

With much higher limits, the same crash would cost you nothing out of pocket. Higher limits cost more each month, and prices vary by driver. Ask for quotes at several levels to see what each step costs. Our guide on how much car insurance costs shows published price ranges.

If you still owe money on the car, your lender will also require collision and comprehensive cover. That comes from your loan contract, not state law. See full coverage versus liability-only.

How do you decide whether to go above the minimum?

Start with what you could lose. The minimum protects the other driver up to a cap. Above that cap, your own money is on the line.

Ask yourself three questions:

• What could a court take? Think of savings, a home, and your paycheck.
• Who rides with you? Family and friends in your car may also be able to claim if you cause a crash.
• How hard would a bill be to pay? If a six-figure claim would wreck your finances, the minimum is probably too thin.

If your answers are “very little” and “a small bill would still hurt,” the minimum may be all you can afford. That is a legitimate choice. It just helps to make it on purpose, with the risk in view.

What does a minimum policy leave out?

A lot. The minimum buys you legal permission to drive, and little else.

• Your own car. Liability never pays to fix or replace it. That takes collision or comprehensive cover.
• Your own injuries, unless your state requires personal injury protection or you buy medical payments cover.
• Anything above your limit. The other side can pursue you for the rest.
• Damage from a driver with no insurance, unless you carry uninsured-motorist cover.
• Passengers in your own car, in some states. Massachusetts, for instance, pays those injuries through personal injury protection, not through the liability part.

If any of these worry you, they are the pieces to price when you shop. Our guide to reading a car insurance quote shows where each one appears.

Where can you confirm your state’s rule?

Go to the source your state itself uses. The agency differs, which is why two websites can disagree.

In many states the insurance department publishes a consumer guide, as Pennsylvania and New Hampshire do. In others, the motor vehicle agency states the rule, as in California, Idaho and North Carolina. A few states, such as Alaska and Maine, print the limits in the statute itself, which any reader can look up online.

When two sources disagree, trust the date. A page last updated before 2025 may predate a raise. And when a headline says a law passed or died, look for the bill page on the legislature’s own site.

What to do next

1. Find your state in the table and note its limits.
2. Read your policy’s declarations page. It is the summary page, and it lists your actual limits.
3. Check your renewal date. If your state raised limits recently, your policy may still carry the old ones until it renews.
4. Get quotes at two or three limit levels, starting with the minimum. Compare what each step up costs.
5. Check your state’s extra requirements: PIP, medical payments and uninsured-motorist cover.
6. Confirm with your state insurance department or DMV before you rely on any number here. Our state limit lookup is a quick check.

Common mistakes

• Using an old number. Many sites still show the pre-2025 limits for Massachusetts, Virginia and North Carolina.
• Reading Florida as 10/20/10. That figure applies only after certain events, such as a crash without coverage. It is not the everyday rule.
• Assuming New Hampshire needs nothing. You must still be able to pay for harm you cause.
• Treating “full coverage” as high limits. It can come with only the state minimum on the liability part.
• Trusting repeal rumors. Check the legislature’s own bill page.

Bottom line

If you only want to stay legal, find your state’s three numbers and match them. If you own a home, have savings or earn a steady paycheck, buy higher liability limits, because the minimum stops far short of a serious crash. In Florida, make sure you carry PIP, and in New Hampshire remember you can still be held responsible for the full bill. This guide is general information, not legal advice. Your state insurance department has the final word.