On October 8, Texas Insurance Commissioner Amanda Crawford announced that home and auto insurance rates are “trending down for many Texans” — an encouraging headline after three years of double-digit increases that pushed average homeowners premiums up 63%. What her press release did not mention is that the state’s largest home insurer is raising rates on more Texas policyholders than every company filing decreases combined.
That statement is technically accurate. It is also a selective reading of the filing records that omits the most important number in the data.
Crawford called the trend “an encouraging sign for Texas consumers” and urged residents to shop around. But when ABC13’s 13 Investigates asked TDI for the actual average rate filing across all companies over the past 90 days, spokesperson Mistie Hinote confirmed the number: a 0.6% increase, not a decrease. The press release headline and the underlying data point in opposite directions.
Home Insurance: The Headline vs. the Filing Records
Since July 1, 2026, insurers filed 26 homeowners rate decreases and 5 increases with TDI. The department averaged those filings and came up with a 4.3% decrease. That average is not weighted by company size or policyholder count — a small regional insurer filing a 10% cut counts exactly as much as the state’s largest carrier…