Standard homeowners, renters and condominium policies do not cover earthquake damage. The New York Department of Financial Services states it flatly: "Earthquakes are not covered under standard homeowners, renters or condominium policies." The coverage is bought either as an endorsement added to the existing policy or as a separate stand-alone policy, and it carries a percentage deductible rather than a flat dollar one.
This article explains how a policy exclusion and the coverage sold against it are structured. It is educational information, not financial, insurance or legal advice. For a question about your own property, speak to a licensed agent or your state Department of Insurance.
Policy structures checked August 10, 2026. Availability, forms and program rules differ by state and by company, and the authority for what applies to you is your own policy document and your state Department of Insurance.
What the exclusion actually says, and why it is not called "earthquake"
The word on the page is usually broader than the word people search for, and the difference is the whole point of this article.
The California Department of Insurance, in its residential insurance guide, lists what a standard policy leaves out this way: "Earthquake, flood, mold, earth movement, and 'wear and tear' are some of the perils that are usually excluded." Note that earthquake and earth movement appear as two separate items on that list.
That is not redundancy. Earth movement is a family, and earthquake is one member of it. The family also takes in landslide, mudflow, sinkhole collapse, subsidence and the slow settling of ground under a foundation. A policy that excludes earth movement has excluded all of them, and a reader who finds the exclusion, recognizes the word earthquake and buys the obvious product has closed part of the hole rather than all of it.
The rest of what a standard home policy leaves out is set out in what a standard home policy never covers. The exclusion for water from outside is handled separately in why flood is a separate policy.
The two ways the coverage is bought
Flood coverage has essentially one route. Earthquake coverage has two, and which one is available to you is a function of your state and your insurer rather than your preference.
The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner describes both plainly: "You can add it to your homeowner or renter insurance. You can also buy it as separate coverage."
Route one is an endorsement. The coverage is attached to the policy you already have. The declarations page will show it, which means it is visible in the same place as everything else. If you are not sure where to look, how to read an insurance declarations page walks through the layout.
Route two is a stand-alone policy. A separate contract, possibly from a different company, with its own limits, its own deductible and its own effective date. Nothing on the homeowners declarations page will tell you it exists.
The Texas Department of Insurance lists "damage from earthquakes" among the endorsements a Texas homeowner can ask about, which is the first route. The practical consequence of the two-route structure is that "do I have earthquake coverage" is not always answerable from one document.
What an earthquake policy generally covers
The coverage is built to look like a small homeowners policy rather than like a single-purpose add-on, and that surprises people who expect it to pay only for cracks in walls.
The Washington OIC describes coverage for repairs to the home, damage to personal property, debris removal, and additional living expenses during the repair or rebuilding period. It notes that some policies may also reach the cost of meeting current building codes, land stabilization, and other unattached structures.
Two of those are worth pausing on.
Additional living expenses. If the house is not habitable, the same category of cost that a home policy handles after a fire is in play here. What that coverage does and does not pay is covered in loss of use and additional living expense.
Building code costs. Rebuilding to a current code can cost more than rebuilding what was there. Washington's office lists this as something a policy may cover, not something every policy covers, and the difference is in the form you are offered.
What it does not cover, including some earth movement
This is the section the seller-written pages skip, and it is the reason the exclusion and the fix are not the same size.
The Washington OIC's list of what an earthquake policy does not cover includes fire damage, the land itself, vehicles, damage that existed before the earthquake, water damage from outside the home, and then this group: landslides, ground settling, mudflows, earth movement and subsidence.
Read that against the exclusion on the home policy and the shape of the problem appears. The home policy excluded the earth movement family. The earthquake policy, on the description Washington's regulator publishes, does not necessarily take the whole family back. A house damaged by ground settling may sit outside both contracts.
The same page adds a second boundary that matters on a coastline: earthquake coverage "might not cover floods, tidal waves or tsunamis, even when an earthquake causes them." Cause and coverage are not the same question. The peril that responds is the peril the contract names, not the event that started the chain, which is the underlying logic of named perils versus open perils.
None of this means an earthquake policy is a poor product. It means the question worth asking an agent is not "does this cover earthquakes" but "which parts of the earth movement exclusion does this actually give back, and which stay excluded."
The deductible is a percentage, and there may be more than one
Earthquake coverage does not use the flat dollar deductible most homeowners are used to.
Both regulators reviewed here give the same range. The Washington OIC states that earthquake deductibles are "usually 10%-25% of the maximum amount your insurance will pay for your building." The New York Department of Financial Services gives the same 10 to 25 percent range, expressed against replacement value.
Two things follow that a flat deductible never produces.
The dollar amount moves when the coverage amount moves. Raise the building limit and the deductible rises with it, without anybody changing the deductible clause. The mechanics of this are the same as on a wind or hail deductible and are worked through in flat versus percentage deductibles.
There may be more than one. The Washington OIC states that separate deductibles may apply for the building, for contents and for unattached structures. That is unusual. On most property coverage a single loss meets a single deductible. Here, one earthquake can potentially meet three, each calculated against a different limit. Whether that is how a specific policy is built is a question for the form you are offered, and it should be asked before the policy is bought.
Where the insurer gets a say about your house
Earthquake coverage is the one item in this cluster where the physical condition of the building can gate the contract.
The Washington OIC notes that some insurers may require an inspection of the property, and may impose conditions such as bolting the house to its foundation, bracing walls, and strapping fixtures.
That is a different kind of requirement from anything else on a home policy. A deductible or a limit is a term you negotiate on paper. A retrofit condition is work on the building, with a cost and a schedule attached, and it may have to happen before coverage is available rather than after.
For a reader, the useful consequence is one of sequence. If earthquake coverage is something you intend to ask about, ask early enough that an inspection requirement does not arrive as a surprise in the middle of a renewal.
What availability depends on, and the one state rule this article can source
Availability is not uniform across the country, and this article is careful about how far it generalizes.
In California, the regulator states an obligation on the insurer. The California Department of Insurance writes: "When an insurer writes your homeowners coverage, the insurer is legally obligated to offer you earthquake coverage for an additional premium." That is a California statement about California policies, published by California's own regulator.
Outside California, this article makes no claim either way. Whether an insurer in another state must offer earthquake coverage was not something the regulator pages read for this article addressed, and it is not a fact worth guessing at. Your own state Department of Insurance is the authority for your state.
A note on sourcing, because it matters on a topic this state-specific. The California Department of Insurance's dedicated earthquake publication and the Missouri Department of Insurance's earthquake pages could not be retrieved in this research pass. That is why nothing here describes the California Earthquake Authority's own policy terms, and why no figure appears for how common the coverage is anywhere.
How to find out what applies to you
- Find the exclusion in your own policy and read the exact words. Look for "earth movement" rather than "earthquake," and note everything the clause sweeps in.
- Check the declarations page for an endorsement. If earthquake coverage was added to the policy you already have, it should appear there.
- Ask whether a stand-alone policy exists in your name. It will not show on the homeowners declarations page, so the only way to know is to ask, or to look for a separate premium notice.
- Ask which parts of the earth movement family the coverage returns, specifically naming landslide, settling and subsidence, and get the answer against the form rather than in general terms.
- Ask how many deductibles apply and what each is calculated against.
- Ask whether an inspection or a retrofit condition applies before assuming coverage is a paperwork exercise.
Your state Department of Insurance publishes the consumer material this article draws on and handles complaints about how a company administers a policy. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners maintains the directory of state departments. A licensed agent in your state is the right person to tell you what forms are actually available where you live.
This site explains documents and contracts. It does not tell anyone whether to buy earthquake coverage or how much, because that depends on the building, the ground under it, its location and the household's own circumstances, and none of those is visible from here. How sources are chosen on this site is set out in our editorial policy.
Frequently asked questions
Is earthquake coverage part of a standard homeowners policy anywhere?
The regulator publications reviewed here treat it as outside the standard policy. The New York Department of Financial Services states that earthquakes "are not covered under standard homeowners, renters or condominium policies," and the California Department of Insurance lists earthquake among the perils "usually excluded." Your own policy's exclusions section is the authority for your contract.
Why is the deductible a percentage instead of a dollar amount?
That is how the coverage is written. The Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner describes deductibles of "10%-25% of the maximum amount your insurance will pay for your building," and New York's department gives the same range. The practical effect is that the deductible is tied to the coverage amount rather than fixed, so it moves when the limit does.
Does renters insurance ever include earthquake coverage?
The New York Department of Financial Services names renters policies among those that do not cover earthquakes. The Washington OIC describes earthquake coverage as something that can be added to a renter policy as well as a homeowner policy. So it is an addition rather than something included, and what is available depends on the state and the company.
If an earthquake causes a landslide, which policy pays?
That is exactly the gap this article is about, and the honest answer is that it depends on the wording of both contracts. The Washington OIC lists landslides, ground settling, mudflows and subsidence among what an earthquake policy does not cover, and the home policy has already excluded earth movement. Ask the agent to answer it against the specific forms before you need the answer.
Sources: California Department of Insurance, "Residential Insurance: Homeowners and Renters," Form 401, revised January 2026. New York Department of Financial Services, "Homeowners Insurance: Basic Coverage and Adding Coverage" (no date shown on the page). Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, "Earthquake insurance" (no date shown on the page). Texas Department of Insurance, "Home insurance guide," last updated June 1, 2026. All accessed and policy structures checked August 10, 2026. The California Department of Insurance's dedicated earthquake publication and the Missouri Department of Insurance's earthquake pages could not be retrieved during this research and nothing is sourced to them.