Commercial insurance premiums across property, general liability, commercial auto, and professional liability lines rose an average of 11.4 percent in 2025 and are on pace for a similar increase in 2026. The drivers include rising claims costs from weather events, nuclear jury verdicts in liability cases, fraud in certain commercial lines, and the withdrawal of capacity from some geographic markets by insurers managing their own risk concentrations.
Small and medium-sized businesses are disproportionately affected because they lack the negotiating leverage of large corporations to push back on rate increases or restructure coverage to manage costs. Industry sectors with elevated claim histories including construction, long-haul trucking, and food and beverage manufacturing are facing particularly severe premium increases that some operators describe as existential threats to their business models.
