Data study
Health Insurance Premium Increases 2026 by State
We compared 1,226 ACA Marketplace Silver plans offered in both 2025 and 2026 to measure how premiums actually changed in each state — the median plan rose 24.7% nationally, with wide differences between states. Premiums are for a 40-year-old before subsidies.
National median increase
+24.7%
matched Silver plans, 2025→2026
Largest increase
Arkansas
median +69.0%
Most stable
Alaska
median -3.5%
Plans compared
1,226
across 31 states
- Across the 31 states analyzed, the median ACA Marketplace Silver plan premium rose 24.7% from 2025 to 2026 for plans offered in both years.
- Arkansas saw the largest typical increase: the median Silver plan premium changed +69.0%, moving the state's median Silver premium from $500 to $828 per month for a 40-year-old before subsidies.
- Alaska was the most stable state, with a median change of -3.5%.
- 28 of 31 states saw a median premium increase of 10% or more.
- The comparison covers 1,226 Silver plans offered in both 2025 and 2026, so the figures reflect actual repricing of the same plans rather than plans entering or leaving the market.
Why 2026 feels so much more expensive
Sticker premiums are only half the story. The enhanced premium tax credits that capped what most enrollees paid expired after 2025, so many households face both a higher sticker price and a smaller subsidy at the same time. See how the subsidy math changed on our subsidy cliff explainer and check what you would actually pay with the subsidy estimator.
2025 → 2026 Silver premium changes by state
Sorted from largest to smallest median increase. “Median change” is the median premium change across Silver plans offered in both years; premium columns are the state median of per-plan lowest Silver premiums for a 40-year-old before subsidy.
| # | State | Median change | Median Silver 2025 | Median Silver 2026 | Cheapest Silver 2026 | Plans compared |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arkansas | +69.0% | $500 | $828 | $753 | 14 |
| 2 | Arizona | +47.1% | $458 | $599 | $438 | 67 |
| 3 | Illinois | +42.9% | $615 | $715 | $497 | 92 |
| 4 | Tennessee | +38.5% | $519 | $718 | $646 | 42 |
| 5 | Indiana | +38.3% | $404 | $546 | $440 | 22 |
| 6 | Mississippi | +37.3% | $499 | $666 | $598 | 11 |
| 7 | Delaware | +35.0% | $558 | $762 | $685 | 9 |
| 8 | Texas | +33.4% | $569 | $749 | $540 | 261 |
| 9 | Florida | +31.2% | $531 | $695 | $554 | 114 |
| 10 | North Carolina | +27.1% | $521 | $675 | $540 | 59 |
| 11 | Wyoming | +26.9% | $872 | $1,033 | $1,026 | 9 |
| 12 | Oklahoma | +26.8% | $568 | $709 | $561 | 52 |
| 13 | Nebraska | +25.3% | $668 | $815 | $640 | 31 |
| 14 | Louisiana | +24.9% | $547 | $682 | $542 | 27 |
| 15 | Iowa | +24.8% | $453 | $568 | $452 | 33 |
| 16 | Michigan | +24.7% | $468 | $612 | $385 | 25 |
| 17 | Montana | +24.5% | $618 | $736 | $551 | 25 |
| 18 | Missouri | +23.8% | $527 | $629 | $523 | 30 |
| 19 | New Hampshire | +22.7% | $348 | $450 | $388 | 13 |
| 20 | Ohio | +20.5% | $473 | $551 | $482 | 52 |
| 21 | Alabama | +18.8% | $515 | $634 | $583 | 13 |
| 22 | Kansas | +17.5% | $567 | $675 | $565 | 18 |
| 23 | South Carolina | +15.9% | $467 | $550 | $456 | 47 |
| 24 | Utah | +15.2% | $569 | $682 | $559 | 20 |
| 25 | West Virginia | +12.7% | $852 | $955 | $911 | 11 |
| 26 | Wisconsin | +11.7% | $536 | $634 | $526 | 72 |
| 27 | Hawaii | +11.5% | $498 | $551 | $533 | 4 |
| 28 | North Dakota | +10.1% | $554 | $604 | $439 | 20 |
| 29 | Oregon | +7.6% | $512 | $551 | $505 | 15 |
| 30 | South Dakota | +7.5% | $644 | $692 | $512 | 14 |
| 31 | Alaska | -3.5% | $1,042 | $1,007 | $984 | 4 |
Methodology
We start from CMS Marketplace public use files for the 2025 and 2026 plan years, restricted to on-exchange individual medical Silver plans, deduplicated to one entry per base plan. For each plan and year we take the lowest premium available to a 40-year-old across the plan’s rating areas, before any premium tax credit. The headline “median change” is a matched-plan comparison: only base plans sold in both years count, so it measures repricing of the same products rather than shifts in the plan mix. Premium levels (median and cheapest Silver) use all Silver plans available in that year. Every figure is computed deterministically from the source data — no estimates and no AI-generated numbers.
Cite this data
This dataset is published under CC BY 4.0: journalists, researchers, and bloggers are free to reuse any figure on this page with attribution to PlanVoyager and a link to https://planvoyager.com/research/health-insurance-premium-increases-2026-by-state. For custom cuts of the data (by county, rating area, age band, metal tier, or insurer), reach out via the About page.
See what you’d actually pay in 2026
These are pre-subsidy sticker prices. Enter your ZIP, household, and income to see your real premium after the premium tax credit — and whether switching plans offsets the increase.
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