Various factors influence life insurance costs, either positively or negatively impacting your premium. For instance, having a clean bill of health can lower your rates, while high blood pressure might increase them.
One factor that may surprise some is gender, which leads to a notable difference in male vs female life insurance rates. In this article, we’ll explore how gender leads to different rates.
Table of Contents
- How Gender Impacts Life Insurance Rates
- Male vs Female Life Insurance Rates
- Transgender and Non-Binary Life Insurance Rates
- Tips to Find the Best Life Insurance Policy
- Calculate Your Costs
The life insurance rule of thumb is to get enough to cover ten times your annual salary, but this isn’t the correct number for everyone. Explore your coverage needs to understand how much life insurance you should get.
How Gender Impacts Life Insurance Rates
Insurance companies use several factors to determine the premium costs, including gender.
Reasons for this include:
- Life expectancy: Statistically, women live longer than men. According to 2020 data, the life expectancy for women in the U.S. is about 80 years, while for men, it’s around 74.5 years. Since women are expected to live longer, they pose a lower risk to the insurer and generally pay lower life insurance premiums than men.
- Health factors: Men and women face different health risks throughout their lives. Men are generally more prone to certain health conditions that can increase mortality risk, such as heart disease and hypertension.
- Occupational hazards: Statistically, men and women trend towards careers in different industries, which can have varying levels of risk. Men are more likely to work in high-risk fields, such as construction, mining, or logging, which can increase the likelihood of accidents and fatalities.
- Lifestyle choices: Men and women tend to have different lifestyle habits that can impact their health and life expectancy. Men are more likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, drug use, and high-risk hobbies, such as extreme sports, which can increase their likelihood of passing away.
Other Factors That Affect Life Insurance Rates
Life insurance pricing is based on individual risk factors unless you buy a group policy through your employer. Insurers assess your lifestyle and risk level during the underwriting process.
In addition to gender, some of the key factors underwriters evaluate include:
- Age
- Overall health
- Tobacco use
- Occupational risks
- High-risk hobbies
Life insurance companies have different underwriting practices, especially for pre-existing conditions. These variations mean one insurer may approve you at a reasonable rate while another denies you altogether.
Working with an independent broker like Quotacy can help you find the most competitive rates. Our experienced agents will compare policies from multiple insurance providers, ensuring you’re matched with the company most accommodating to your unique circ*mstances. By comparing options, they can help you secure the best coverage at the most favorable price.
Male vs Female Life Insurance Rates
A woman with the same risk profile as a man will have lower life insurance rates. However, the type of life insurance policy you buy also impacts the price.
- A permanent policy has higher premiums than a term policy.
- The longer the term length, the higher the premium.
- The larger the coverage amount, the higher the premium.
Male Life Insurance Rates
To show the practical role gender plays in premium costs, we’ve layered men’s rates over different policy types, coverage amounts, ages, and risk classes.
Example 1: Rates by Policy Type
Different policy types are designed to meet different needs. Some coverage options are more robust and complex than others, and prices reflect that.
You can see that men’s life insurance rates by policy type span a wide range. The applicant is a healthy 30-year-old male who qualifies for the best rate class, Preferred Plus.
Example 2: Rates by Age
Men’s life insurance rates vary by age. The example policy used for the table below is a $500,000 20-year term policy—one of the most common policies our clients buy. The applicant is a healthy male who qualifies for the best rate class, Preferred Plus.
Term life insurance policies have fixed rates, which means premiums stay the same for the policy’s duration—no unexpected price hikes.
Example 3: Rates by Coverage Amount
While a $500,000 term policy is a common coverage amount (a.k.a. face amount) purchased, it may not be appropriate for you.
The table shows how men’s life insurance rates vary based on the coverage amount. The applicant is a healthy 30-year-old male applying for a 20-year term and qualifies for the best rate class, Preferred Plus.
Example 4: Rates by Risk Class
After applying for coverage, an underwriter reviews your documents to assess your risk level and determine the appropriate rate class, which defines your ultimate premium costs—”risk class” and “rate class” are used interchangeably.
Here are some guidelines for risk evaluation:
- Average risk: You’ll get “Standard” rates. As the name suggests, this category is the baseline for relatively good health in each age group.
- Lower risk than average: You’ll get “Preferred” or “Preferred Plus” rates because you are in excellent health and pose a lower risk than your peers.
- Higher risk than average: You may be table rated. Depending on the insurer, there are 10-16 different ratings available. Each table is labeled with a letter or number (used interchangeably; Rate Tables 1, 5, 10 = Rate Tables A, E, J) corresponding to a specific percentage increase in the standard rate.
There are also separate rate classes for relatively healthy tobacco users: “Preferred Tobacco” and “Standard Tobacco.”
The applicant below is a 30-year-old male applying for a $500,000 20-year term policy.
Insurers underwrite risk differently. Compare quotes from multiple carriers to ensure you get the best offer.
Female Life Insurance Rates
The following rate table examples layer women’s rates over potential policy options, coverage amounts, ages, and risk classes to give you a comprehensive understanding of the role gender plays in life insurance rates.
Example 1: Rates by Policy Type
Different policy types are designed to meet different needs. Some coverage options are more robust and complex than others, and prices reflect that.
You can see that women’s life insurance rates by policy type span a wide range. The applicant is a healthy 30-year-old female who qualifies for the best rate class, Preferred Plus.
Example 2: Rates by Age
Women’s life insurance rates vary by age. The example policy used for the table below is a $500,000 20-year term policy– one of the most common policies our clients buy. The applicant is a healthy female who qualifies for the best rate class, Preferred Plus.
Term life insurance policies have fixed rates, which means premiums stay the same for the policy’s duration—no unexpected price hikes.
Example 3: Rates by Coverage Amount
While a $500,000 term policy is a common coverage amount (a.k.a. face amount) purchased, this may not be appropriate for you.
The table provides examples of how women’s life insurance rates vary based on the coverage amount. The applicant is a healthy 30-year-old female applying for a 20-year term length and qualifies for the best rate class, Preferred Plus.
Example 4: Rates by Risk Class
After applying for coverage, an underwriter reviews your documents to assess your risk level and determine the appropriate rate class, which defines your ultimate premium costs—”risk class” and “rate class” are used interchangeably.
Here are some guidelines for risk evaluation:
- Average risk: You’ll get “Standard” rates. As the name suggests, this category is the baseline for relatively good health in your age group.
- Lower risk than average: You’ll get “Preferred” or “Preferred Plus” rates because you are in excellent health and pose a lower risk than your peers.
- Higher risk than average: You may be table rated. Depending on the insurer, there are 10-16 different ratings available. Each table is labeled with a letter or number (used interchangeably; Rate Table 10 = Rate Tables J) corresponding to a specific percentage increase in the standard rate.
There are also separate rate classes for relatively healthy tobacco users: “Preferred Tobacco” and “Standard Tobacco.”
The applicant below is a 30-year-old female applying for a $500,000 20-year term policy.
Insurers underwrite risk differently. Compare quotes from multiple carriers to ensure you get the best offer.
Transgender and Nonbinary Life Insurance Rates
Whether an applicant is trans, nonbinary, or cis, the underwriting process is the same. Life insurance rates are based solely on risk level. Discrimination based on gender identity is illegal.
Most carriers we work with underwrite individuals based on the gender selected in their application, whether it’s what they were assigned at birth or not.
With that said, gender does play a meaningful role in life insurance pricing. Insurers require applicants to disclose their gender and they must choose either male or female because nonbinary rates don’t yet exist.
At Quotacy, we want to remove as many barriers to getting life insurance as possible. And we know getting misgendered is a barrier. Which is why our agents can help you apply to a carrier that affirms your identity and will make the process as easy as possible.
