Behind State Farm, the next two national brands took the same road out of the riskiest markets — just with less fanfare. Allstate told its own investors, in plain SEC language, that it won't write new home business in California or Florida. Farmers pulled back so hard it withdrew an entire subsidiary from California, then began quietly creeping back in.
You're in good hands; we are Farmers. Both brands lean on trusted mascots and local agents, framing their pullbacks as prudent, temporary discipline while they wait for regulatory reform to make high-risk states writable again.
Both retreated from California and Florida to protect margins, shedding customers in the process. Allstate stated flatly in its 10-Q that it isn't writing new home in those states and is non-renewing certain Florida policies. Farmers went further in California — a subsidiary fully withdrew — before cautiously reopening as reforms took hold. The mascots stayed friendly; the underwriting got ruthless.
There's no ambiguity about Allstate's posture, because the company said it to the SEC: "We are not writing new homeowners business in California and Florida. We are also non-renewing certain policies in Florida." It stopped new California home sales alongside State Farm in 2023 and continues to non-renew selectively in Florida. Allstate frames this within its broader "Transformative Growth" strategy — improving underwriting margins through rate and underwriting actions — which in catastrophe states translates directly into fewer policies and tighter terms.
The company still operates in both states, still services existing customers, and still writes through its exclusive agents and its National General independent-agent arm elsewhere. But for a new buyer in a California or Florida risk zone, the "good hands" are closed.
Farmers, owned by the global Zurich Insurance Group, moved even more sharply in California. It began limiting coverage in 2023, and one of its subsidiaries, Farmers Direct Property and Casualty, withdrew from the state entirely. In Florida it had earlier pulled its branded offerings.
What makes Farmers instructive is the reversal. As California's Sustainable Insurance Strategy took effect, Farmers reopened to condo and renters coverage, and in November 2025 it removed the cap it had placed on new California home policies — becoming one of the admitted carriers cautiously writing again. Farmers is the clearest case of the retreat's second phase: the tiptoe back in, once regulators let carriers price catastrophe risk on their own terms.
The retreat and the return are the same strategy viewed at two moments: carriers leave when they can't price the risk, and come back the instant regulators let them.
The bottom line: in a high-risk state, don't assume either brand is an option until you've confirmed it for your specific ZIP and property — availability now changes by quarter, not by year. Allstate is largely closed to new home business in California and Florida; Farmers is selectively reopening in California and worth a quote there again. Both illustrate the new reality: the friendly national brand on the commercial is a marketing layer sitting on top of underwriting machinery that will drop your ZIP code the moment the math turns, and welcome it back the moment it turns again.