Allstate: Atlantans Own More Life Insurance

By Trevor Thomas

September 10, 2004 at 08:00 PM

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Few U.S. residents have enough life insurance.[@@]

The Allstate Corp., Northbrook, Ill., reaches that conclusion in a report on a recent survey administered by LIMRA International, Windsor, Conn. LIMRA researchers helped Allstate look at the amount of life insurance owned by residents of the 25 U.S. metropolitan areas with the biggest populations.

Atlanta residents ranked first, with nearly 8 in 10 Atlantans having some form of life insurance and about 6 in 10 living in a household that owns at least 1 individual life insurance policy.

Los Angeles ranked last, with about 40% of Los Angeles residents lacking any form of life insurance.

Other major findings:

- The average life insurance coverage amount for U.S. residents in general was $175,000. That was a multiple of about 4 times their average annual income.

- 54% are covered by group life policies through their employer.

- Only 25% think they should have more coverage.

Here is a list of the 10 metropolitan statistical areas that came out on top when LIMRA ranked MSAs in terms of life insurance ownership. The number given in parentheses next to each market name is that market's ratio of average life coverage to average annual household income: