Methodology

This page explains where FiledRates' data comes from, how each filing report is built and checked, and what the numbers on our pages mean.

Where the data comes from

Every filing report is based on official documents: the rate filing an insurer submitted, the regulator's order or decision, or data the regulator publishes about filings. The main sources for each state are:

• Florida: final orders from the Office of Insurance Regulation, including the orders that set rates for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, and the office's IRFS filing search.
• Texas: the Texas Department of Insurance's daily-updated dataset of home and auto rate filings, and the commissioner's orders on Texas FAIR Plan rates.
• California: the Department of Insurance's weekly public notices of rate filings, its year-to-date list of closed and approved filings, and orders and decisions in rate proceedings.
• New York: filings published through SERFF Filing Access by the Department of Financial Services.
• Oklahoma: the Oklahoma Insurance Department's monthly summaries of homeowners rate changes.

Full filing documents for many states sit in SERFF Filing Access, which requires users to accept its terms. We follow each site's terms of use and do not bypass logins, CAPTCHAs, or click-through agreements; documents that can only be reached that way are looked up by hand. Each state's process and portals are described on our states page.

How filings are found

We check each state's sources regularly for new homeowners filings and for decisions on filings we already track. We prioritize filings with large requested changes, filings that affect many policyholders, filings from insurers with a large presence in the state, and notable regulatory decisions. We publish at most five new filing reports a day.

Software tools, including AI tools, help us locate filings and pull figures out of long documents such as orders and actuarial memoranda. These tools speed up the work; they do not decide what is published. Every figure is checked against the source document it came from, and the editor reviews each report before it is published.

How analysis articles are written

Our analysis articles are built from the same regulator data as our filing reports. AI tools help us compute the figures and draft the text, including the commentary. The editor reviews and edits every article and approves it before publication, and each article lists its method and sources so readers can check the numbers themselves.

What makes a filing report

A filing gets its own report only when we can confirm all three of the following in primary source documents, which include records the regulator publishes in its official filing datasets and reports:

1. a requested or approved overall rate change,
2. at least one key date: when it was submitted, when the regulator decided it, or when the new rates take effect, and
3. at least one primary source document we can link to.

Every number and date in our dataset records the document and page it came from. If a value cannot be confirmed, we leave it out rather than estimate it. When sources disagree, for example an order date that differs from a filing stamp, we report what each source says.

What the numbers mean

• Requested change is the overall average change the insurer proposed in its filing.
• Approved change is the overall average change the regulator approved or set.
• Filed change is used in use-and-file and file-and-use states, where a rate can take effect without a regulator approval decision. It is the overall change shown in the regulator's filing records, and we do not call it approved.
• Overall average means the average effect across all the policies a filing covers. Individual premiums can rise or fall by more or less than the average.
• Status is one of: pending, filed (in use without an approval decision), approved, approved with changes (the regulator approved or set a different rate than requested), disapproved, withdrawn, or closed for another reason.

Percentages are shown with one decimal place. Positive numbers are increases and negative numbers are decreases, and we also say "increase" or "decrease" in words.

How comparisons are calculated

Each filing report has a "How this compares" section. Its figures, such as an insurer's previous filings or how a request ranks against others, are calculated from the filings in the FiledRates dataset, not estimated or taken from outside summaries. We say how many filings each comparison is based on, and when our dataset is too small for a meaningful comparison, we say that instead.

Updates and corrections

When a pending filing is decided, amended, or withdrawn, we update its report and add the event to its timeline. The "Updated" date on a page changes only when its facts change. Errors are corrected openly and listed on our corrections page.

Report an error

If you find a mistake, email the editor at zakarian@ratefiled.com with the page address and, if possible, the document that shows the correct figure. Our editorial policy describes the standards we hold ourselves to.