How much does a business owner's policy (BOP) cost?

Published BOP prices, and why they range from $48 to $141 a month

Federal surveys don’t measure what a BOP costs, and state regulators report only market totals. The figures below each describe one company’s customers, as published on its own cost page.

Insurer- and broker-reported figures from each company’s own customers, as published on its website; not a random sample of all businesses. Figures are rounded as published.

Two figures from outside our verified table complete the picture:

• Progressive Commercial says the national median for its new BOP customers in 2025 was $80 a month and the average $127 a month, or $1,524 a year⁠⁴. Its average is 59% above its median (our calculation: 127 ÷ 80 = 1.59).
• Simply Business, a broker, reports a median of $48 a month for BOPs its customers bought between July 1 and December 31, 2025⁠⁵. Progressive gives a calendar year; Insureon and The Hartford give a page date but no data period⁠¹⁠²⁠⁴.

The Hartford’s two averages

The Hartford’s BOP cost page (updated May 20, 2026) opens by saying its small-business customers pay an average of $1,687 a year, about $141 a month. Further down, the same page says “the average cost our customers pay for a Business Owner’s Policy is $1,019 annually, or about $85 a month”⁠². Its BOP product page repeats the $1,687 figure⁠³. The page doesn’t explain the difference. The higher figure is 66% above the lower one (our calculation: 1,687 ÷ 1,019 = 1.66), and the page gives no period or sample size for either. Our headline table shows $1,687 because both Hartford pages state it, but treat The Hartford’s figure as somewhere between $85 and $141 a month, not a precise number. The page’s separate figure of $1,434 a year for a “$2 million insurance policy”⁠² doesn’t say whether $2 million is the occurrence limit or the aggregate.

Why the published figures disagree

1. Median against average

   Insureon labels its $83 an “average” but says its figures are “calculated using the median cost of policies sold”⁠¹. Progressive’s pair shows how far a few large policies can pull an average above the median⁠⁴.

2. Very different customers

   Insureon’s data comes from about 100,000 business owners who bought through its online agency. Most had fewer than five employees and had been in business five years or less⁠¹. Simply Business publishes medians mainly for salons, shops, offices and restaurants, from six months of 2025 sales⁠⁵. A carrier whose book includes restaurants and building owners will report higher prices.

3. Building owners against tenants

   A BOP that insures a building costs far more than one covering only a tenant’s contents. None of the cost pages cited here reports owners and tenants separately. The worked example below shows the size of that gap.

4. The spread inside each book

   Insureon reports that 25% of its customers pay under $50 a month and another 33% pay $50 to $100, and that annual premiums run from about $400 to over $6,000⁠¹.

By type of business

Insurer- and broker-reported figures from each company’s own customers, as published on its website; not a random sample of all businesses. Figures are rounded as published.

Among The Hartford’s published averages, restaurants pay $413 a month against $85 for accountants, almost five times as much. Simply Business’s medians show the same ordering at a lower level: $144 for restaurants, and $34 for barber shops, salons and medical or dental offices⁠⁵. In the filed manual examined below, restaurants sit in the highest property rate group (5) of the food and dining classes⁠⁹. The restaurants and retail stores pages show every insurer figure for those businesses.

By state

Insurer- and broker-reported figures from each company’s own customers, as published on its website; not a random sample of all businesses. Figures are rounded as published.

Insureon’s state medians run from $70 a month in Virginia to $105 in Florida⁠¹. Simply Business reports $48 in California and Pennsylvania, $55 in Texas and $59 in Georgia⁠⁵. Each state median mixes location with the types of business that buy there. Insureon gives the example that a small shop in rural Maryland costs much less to insure than a similar shop in urban New York, citing crime, natural-disaster and flood exposure⁠¹. On a BOP, location reaches the price mainly through the property rate: in the filed manual examined below, territory zone and fire protection are both inputs to it⁠⁹.

Who can buy a BOP

A BOP is not available to every business. Insurers write it under eligibility rules, and Verisk points businesses that do not fit to a commercial package policy (CPP), which combines separate property, liability and other coverage parts. Verisk, whose ISO unit publishes the standard Businessowners program, describes its eligibility this way⁠⁶:

• Size: “small to midsize ‘Main Street’ type businesses that are up to 35,000 square feet and have no more than $6 million in annual gross sales at each location.”
• Typical classes: restaurants, offices, retail and mercantile, apartment buildings, condominium commercial unit-owners, convenience and grocery stores and supermarkets, motels, processing and service businesses (dry cleaning and payroll are Verisk’s examples), self-storage and wholesalers.
• Outside the program: businesses “that are larger, higher risk, or have unique exposures,” which Verisk points to the CPP.

Verisk does not mention a headcount limit, although The Hartford and Insureon both list number of employees as a price factor⁠¹⁠². The classes change over time. Verisk’s 2023 revision added nearly 160 classifications, collapsed 140 classes into 56 and discontinued more than 20. New classes included contractors, auto service, cannabis-related businesses, co-working offices, IT firms and online stores⁠⁷. A business turned down for a BOP some years ago may qualify now.

Individual insurers can set tighter limits than ISO’s. One example is the filed BOP manual of Security Mutual, a New York insurer (edition 11/21)⁠⁹:

For tenants, that manual’s 15,000-square-foot cap per building is less than half ISO’s 35,000. If your building or sales are close to a limit, ask which program the quote is written on.

What the policy covers, and what it leaves out

The ISO Businessowners Coverage Form, BP 00 03, combines property and liability in a single form⁠⁸.

• Property: your building and your business personal property, whichever the declarations show a limit for. The form covers “direct physical loss unless the loss is excluded or limited”: any cause not specifically excluded.
• Business income and extra expense: the actual income you lose while operations are suspended by covered physical damage. There is no separate dollar limit. Payment is limited to losses within 12 consecutive months after the damage. Business income starts 72 hours after the loss, extra expense immediately. Ordinary payroll is covered for 60 days, and extended business income runs 60 days after you reopen unless the declarations show longer⁠⁸. Verisk calls this “actual loss sustained built in”⁠⁶. Insurers’ own programs can differ: Security Mutual’s tiers pay actual loss for up to 3, 6 or 12 months⁠⁹.
• Liability: bodily injury, property damage, and personal and advertising injury, broadly like a standalone general liability policy. Under BP 00 03 each aggregate is twice the per-occurrence limit⁠⁸. A $1 million BOP therefore carries $2 million aggregates. Insureon’s customers most often buy $1 million/$2 million (79%) and then $2 million/$4 million (18%)⁠¹.

Several exposures stay outside the BOP. They usually need their own policies:

• Injured employees. The form excludes obligations under any “workers’ compensation, disability benefits or unemployment compensation law” and bodily injury to your own employees (employer’s liability)⁠⁸. You need workers’ compensation wherever your state requires it.
• Vehicles. Injury or damage arising from any aircraft, auto or watercraft you own, operate, rent or borrow is excluded⁠⁸. Vehicles you own need commercial auto. Employees’ cars and rentals used for business can be covered by hired and non-owned auto, and Verisk’s 2023 revision added rules and loss costs for that endorsement on a BOP⁠⁷.
• Professional services. Claims from rendering or failing to render professional services are excluded. The form’s examples include legal, accounting, engineering, medical, appearance-enhancement and personal grooming services⁠⁸. Those claims need professional liability.
• Flood and earthquake. The property section excludes flood, surface water and storm surge, and earth movement including earthquake⁠⁸. See commercial flood.
• Other gaps. The Hartford also lists data breach insurance among the coverages its BOP does not include⁠³.

How a BOP is priced

A general liability policy is rated on sales, payroll or floor area. A BOP is rated mainly on the amount of property insured. Verisk’s own description of the program refers to a “Property Rate Number” and a “Liability Class” grouping for each class of business⁠⁷. Insurers’ filed manuals show how those pieces combine. Security Mutual’s manual (New York, edition 11/21) is one public example⁠⁹:

1. Pick a composite rate per $1,000 of insurance

   The rate depends on building construction (frame, masonry and so on) and construction date, territory zone, replacement cost or actual cash value, building or contents, occupancy type, the class’s rate group, owner-occupant or tenant, and the program tier.

2. Fire protection

   Rates differ for “protected” property. The manual defines protected as within 1,000 feet of a hydrant and 5 road miles of a responding fire department.

3. Apply factors

   Classification, zone, deductible and any special-condition factors are applied. Apartments built before 1980 without proof of lead remediation get a small credit (1.4%, or 2.1% for restaurants), because a lead exclusion is attached.

4. Add liability

   Products/completed operations is included in the composite premium. Coverage L is a per-location charge by limit and territory, multiplied by the class’s liability factor. On the Standard tier the $100,000 base limit carries no charge upstate, and for the same $1 million limit the New York City charge is four to six times the upstate one.

5. Add optional coverages

   such as employee dishonesty, or money and securities limits above the base amounts.

6. Credits and minimums

   A premium-size credit applies (none up to $5,000, rising to 12% over $25,000), then any schedule or individual-risk modification. A minimum premium applies per location: $350 for most occupancies and $500 for food and dining.

The Hartford’s list of price factors (claims history, industry, employees, payroll, location) and Insureon’s (location, limits and deductible, industry, property value, employees) fit the same structure⁠¹⁠². Insureon adds that older buildings can cost more to insure, and that insuring property at actual cash value instead of replacement cost lowers the premium but also the claim payment⁠¹.

Worked example: owning the building against renting

This is our calculation from the composite rates in Security Mutual’s filed manual⁠⁹. It covers only the steps shown, and it is not a quote or any insurer’s current price. The business is a computer repair shop (class 867: rate group 2, classification factor 0.95) in a frame building built before 1960, in the manual’s upstate-and-suburban zone 1. The property is protected, on the Standard tier, at replacement cost, with a $500 deductible.

Three points follow:

• The building drives the premium. The owner pays five times what the tenant pays for the same business. Published averages that mix owners and tenants therefore say little about either group.
• Contents cost less per $1,000 when the building is insured too. The tenant’s contents rate works out to $11.49 per $1,000, against $9.76 for the owner (our calculation, after the 0.85 and 0.95 factors).
• The minimum premium matters at the low end. A tenant with $20,000 of contents would come to $229.71 on the same rate. That is $120.29 below the manual’s $350 minimum per location for service risks, so unless the zone factor, liability charge and optional coverages add that much, the minimum applies.

Who requires the coverage

No state law requires a BOP itself. The requirements come from the people you deal with:

• Lenders. Under federal regulation, the SBA requires hazard insurance “on all collateral” for 7(a) loans and 504 projects over $500,000⁠¹⁰. Loan documents from other lenders set their own insurance conditions. The BOP’s property section is one way to meet them, but check the limit, the valuation basis and the loss-payee wording the loan documents call for.
• Landlords and clients. The insurance clause of a lease or contract sets the liability limits, any additional-insured endorsement and whether you must insure improvements and contents. The general liability page sets out the limits public contracts require. Under BP 00 03, a BOP written at $1 million per occurrence carries $2 million aggregates⁠⁸; compare both numbers with the clause.
• Higher limits. If a contract demands more than the BOP’s liability limit, a commercial umbrella sits on top of the BOP.

Market trend: BOP renewals are still rising

The two trackers that cover small accounts point in different directions for property and liability:

• Ivans measures the premium change on the same policy at renewal, using agency and carrier transaction data. Its BOP line rose 6.16% in Q2 2026, close to its commercial property (+6.4%) and general liability (+5.44%) lines⁠¹¹.
• CIAB does not publish a BOP line. Its member brokers reported commercial property premiums down 6.3% and general liability up 1.8% in Q2 2026, with small accounts across all lines down 0.5%⁠¹².

The gap reflects what each one measures. CIAB’s figures are broker-reported average premium changes across account sizes, by line. Ivans tracks the premium on one consistent policy from year to year and is the only one of the two with a BOP line. The market trends page has every line.

CIAB: average premium change at renewal reported by member brokers, Q2 2026 (April 1-June 30, 2026), released 18 Aug 2026. Ivans: average renewal premium change on small commercial policies, Q2 2026. Premium changes include changes in exposure as well as rates. All series and method.

For scale, U.S. insurers wrote $69.8 billion of direct premium in the NAIC’s commercial multiple peril line in 2025 (states and territories). The direct loss ratio was 47.7%, or 54.3% including defense and cost-containment expenses⁠¹³. NAIC’s product coding matrix files Businessowners and commercial package policies as sub-types of that line⁠¹⁴, and the market share report does not show BOPs separately. Use it as a measure of market size, not as a price.

What lowers a BOP premium

• Insure property at the right value. The premium is a rate per $1,000 of insurance⁠⁹, so overstated contents values cost money every year. Understated building values cost more at claim time. Actual cash value lowers the premium but pays depreciated amounts⁠¹.
• Get the class and occupancy right. In the manual above, the rate depends on occupancy, rate group and owner or tenant status, so a wrong class moves the whole premium⁠⁹.
• Document fire protection and building updates. Hydrant and fire department distance set the protection rate; the manual credits sprinklered buildings 25% or 35% and buildings up to 20 years old⁠⁹.
• Choose the deductible deliberately. Insureon’s customers’ average BOP deductible is $500⁠¹, and a higher one lowers the premium.
• Buy the liability limit your contracts need. The higher-limit charge in the manual is a per-location amount that varies by territory and class⁠⁹. Compare a higher BOP limit with an umbrella.
• Keep the BOP while you qualify. If growth takes you past the size limits, the business moves to a package policy built from separate parts⁠⁶.

Sources

1. 1
   Insureon, How much does a business owner's policy cost? (updated April 17, 2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   The Hartford, How much does Business Owner's Policy (BOP) insurance cost? (updated May 20, 2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   The Hartford, Business Owner's Policy (BOP) (last updated May 20, 2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Progressive Commercial, Business owners policy (BOP) cost Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Simply Business, Cost of Business Owner's Policy Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   Verisk (ISO), ISO Businessowners Policy vs ISO Commercial Package Policy: understanding the difference (May 2024) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Verisk (ISO), Introducing our most significant update to Verisk's Businessowners program (9/23) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Insurance Services Office (ISO), Businessowners Coverage Form BP 00 03 07 13 (specimen copy) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
9. 9
   Security Mutual Insurance Company, Businessowners Policy Program, Standard, manual BOP-28 SMIC (edition 11/21) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
10. 10
    eCFR, Office of the Federal Register, 13 CFR 120.160, Loan conditions Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
11. 11
    Ivans (Applied Systems), Ivans Index Q2 2026 results released Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
12. 12
    The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB), Commercial Property/Casualty Market Index, Q2 2026 Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
13. 13
    National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), 2025 Market Share Reports for Property/Casualty Groups and Companies Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
14. 14
    National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Uniform Property & Casualty Product Coding Matrix (effective January 1, 2026) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

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