For a 40-year-old driver with a clean record, car insurance in Portsmouth, NH, averages about $138 a month ($1,657 a year) for full coverage, based on the rates insurers had filed with state regulators as of Aug. 31, 2026. That’s 4% below the New Hampshire average of $144 a month. Compare auto insurance quotes in Portsmouth, NH, against these figures. Progressive and GEICO are effectively tied for the lowest full-coverage average among the five major insurers we compared (Allstate, Concord Group, GEICO, Progressive and State Farm), at about $104 and $107 a month.
Portsmouth costs less than the towns around it in our data: full coverage averages about $138 a month for our benchmark driver, about $6 a month less than the New Hampshire average, while Rye, Newmarket, Stratham, Durham, Exeter and Hampton average $139 to $146.
Our data covers one ZIP code with a Portsmouth mailing address, 03801, the ZIP code that covers the city on the Census Bureau’s maps, so every price on this page is for it.
Cost data comes from the auto rates insurers file with state regulators, priced in Portsmouth’s ZIP code, compiled by Quadrant Information Services and updated as new rates are filed.
Rates as of Aug. 31, 2026. Page reviewed Oct. 7, 2026.
How Much Is Car Insurance in Portsmouth, NH?
Car insurance in Portsmouth, NH, costs about $138 a month ($1,657 a year) for full coverage in ZIP code 03801, for our benchmark driver. Liability-only coverage at 25/50/25 limits averages $587 a year ($49 a month), and 50/100/50 liability with comprehensive and collision averages $1,621 ($135 a month).
- Full coverage (100/300/100, $500 deductibles): $1,657 a year ($138 a month)
- 50/100/50 with $500 deductibles: $1,621 a year ($135 a month)
- Liability only (25/50/25): $587 a year ($49 a month)
- Rockingham County: $1,759 a year ($147 a month) for full coverage
- New Hampshire average: $1,728 a year ($144 a month) for full coverage
Cheapest Car Insurance Companies in Portsmouth, NH
- Lowest averages among the five major insurers we compared, full coverage: Progressive and GEICO, effectively tied at about $104 and $107 a month.
- Next lowest among these five insurers: State Farm at $126, then Concord Group at $160.
- Liability only (25/50/25): about $29 to $81 a month across these five insurers.
- Also on our list: USAA at about $75 a month, The Hanover at $80, Nationwide at $114 and MMG Insurance at $119 (USAA sells only to military families).
- Most expensive in our data: Allstate, at about $194 a month, $1,075 a year more than Progressive for the same driver and car.
Progressive and GEICO are effectively tied for the lowest full-coverage average among the five insurers in our Portsmouth rate data. The recent statewide New Hampshire rate studies we reviewed, one per publisher, disagree on which insurer is cheapest for full coverage: of the seven, two put MMG Insurance first (one in a tie with GEICO), one GEICO, and The Hanover, Safety Insurance, Encompass and Safeco lead one each, apart from USAA, which sells only to military families. In our Portsmouth table, The Hanover*, priced from those studies and scaled to our benchmark driver, comes in at about $80 a month, below these five insurers; we don’t name it because it leads only one of the seven studies. For liability-only coverage at 25/50/25 limits, averages across these five insurers run from about $29 to $81 a month; the lowest is far enough below the rest that we don’t name a cheapest insurer for that coverage level.
Full-coverage averages by insurer in Portsmouth
Monthly, for the same driver and car. Insurers marked with an asterisk in the table below aren’t in the chart.
Rates insurers filed with state regulators, compiled by Quadrant Information Services, as of Aug. 31, 2026. Benchmark 40-year-old driver, 100/300/100 with $500 deductibles.
| Insurance Company: | Liability Only 25/50/25 (Yearly): | Liability Only 25/50/25 (Monthly): | Full Coverage (Yearly): | Full Coverage (Monthly): |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive | $351 | $29 | $1,249 | $104 |
| GEICO | $505 | $42 | $1,279 | $107 |
| State Farm | $548 | $46 | $1,510 | $126 |
| Concord Group | $565 | $47 | $1,922 | $160 |
| Allstate | $967 | $81 | $2,324 | $194 |
| USAA (military families)* | $332 | $28 | $894 | $75 |
| The Hanover* | $210 | $18 | $961 | $80 |
| Nationwide* | $665 | $55 | $1,365 | $114 |
| MMG Insurance* | $278 | $23 | $1,423 | $119 |
| Portsmouth average | $587 | $49 | $1,657 | $138 |
This table uses Portsmouth’s ZIP code only. See how we calculated these rates. Your own price depends on your car, driving record and coverage, so compare auto insurance quotes before you buy.
Your ZIP code matters
How Much More Does Better Coverage Cost in Portsmouth?
Raising liability limits from 50/100/50 to 100/300/100 adds only about $36 a year on average in our Portsmouth data, with the same $500 deductibles. The full-coverage package doubles the per-person injury limit, triples the per-crash limit and doubles the property damage limit, and it raises uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage to 100/300. Allstate charges less for 100/300/100 than for 50/100/50 for our benchmark driver.
Is Car Insurance Going Up in Portsmouth?
Slightly, for our benchmark driver. Comparing the same insurers in the same Portsmouth ZIP code, full coverage averaged $1,645 a year nine months earlier and $1,657 in rates as of Aug. 31, 2026, a 0.7% increase. State Farm cut its Portsmouth average 9.8% and Progressive 1.5%, while Concord Group raised its average 14.5%; Allstate’s and GEICO’s averages were unchanged. Liability-only coverage at 25/50/25 limits rose 0.5%, led by Concord Group, which raised its liability-only average 14.6%.
How Portsmouth Compares With Rockingham County and Maine
Rockingham County averages about $147 a month for full coverage, the second-most expensive of the 10 New Hampshire counties we price, and Portsmouth costs about $9 a month less than the county as a whole. Progressive’s Portsmouth average, about $104 a month, is its third-lowest of the 72 New Hampshire places we price.
Rye, to the south, averages about $139 a month, Newmarket, to the west, $139 and Hampton, to the southwest, $146. Just across the state line, Kittery, Maine, about two miles northeast, averages about $140 a month in our Maine rate data, about the same as Portsmouth. Prices depend on where in New Hampshire you live, not just on your car and driving record.
How Portsmouth Car Insurance Compares With Other New Hampshire Cities
More New Hampshire cities and towns are in the New Hampshire rates by city table, and you can compare states on our car insurance rates by state page.
Dover, about 10 miles northwest, averages $142 a month, and Rochester, about 19 miles northwest, $139. Derry, to the southwest, averages $153. For the statewide picture, see our guide to New Hampshire car insurance rates.
Is Car Insurance Required in Portsmouth, NH?
Portsmouth drivers follow New Hampshire’s rules: most drivers aren’t required to buy car insurance, according to the Division of Motor Vehicles, but if you’re uninsured and at fault in a crash with injuries or more than $1,000 in damage, the state can suspend your license until you post security. If you buy a policy, it must include at least:
- Liability coverage of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for injuries and $25,000 for property damage (25/50/25)
- Uninsured motorist coverage at least equal to those limits, rising to match any higher liability limits you choose
- Medical payments coverage of at least $1,000 per person for the driver and passengers
Our Portsmouth liability-only price, about $49 a month against $138 for full coverage, uses 25/50/25 limits with 25/50 uninsured motorist coverage; the rate data doesn’t list medical payments coverage for that package. Our New Hampshire requirements guide covers SR-22 filings, crash reports and how fault works.
How to Lower Your Car Insurance Rate in Portsmouth
- Compare Progressive and GEICO first. They have the two lowest full-coverage averages among the five major insurers we compared in Portsmouth, about $104 and $107 a month.
- Quote several insurers. Among the five major insurers we compared in Portsmouth, the lowest and highest averages are about $90 a month apart for the same driver and car.
- Keep your uninsured motorist coverage in step with your liability limits. Every New Hampshire policy includes it, and it rises automatically to match higher liability limits, under RSA 264:15. Our full-coverage prices include it at 100/300.
- Compare at every renewal. Over the past nine months, State Farm has cut its Portsmouth average 9.8% and Progressive 1.5%, while Concord Group has raised its average 14.5%, so the order in our table can shift.
- Ask about discounts and check your deductible. Many insurers lower rates for a clean driving record, paying in full or insuring more than one car, so ask which auto insurance discounts you qualify for. Our full-coverage prices use $500 deductibles. A higher deductible lowers your premium but means you pay more yourself after a claim; see how deductibles affect your rate.
- Insure your car and home together. A multi-policy discount is a common way to save, so check average home insurance rates in New Hampshire, and compare home insurance quotes alongside your car quotes. Renting? A renters insurance policy can qualify too.
Ready to compare
How We Calculated Portsmouth Car Insurance Rates
Insurers must file their rates and rating rules with each state’s insurance regulator. Quadrant Information Services uses those filings to calculate what each insurer would charge a specific driver, and InsuranceQuotes analyzes those prices. This page uses rates in effect on Aug. 31, 2026.
- Sample: five full-coverage premiums from five insurers in Portsmouth’s ZIP code, plus the same number of liability-only and 50/100/50 premiums.
- Driver: a single 40-year-old driver, licensed 24 years, with good credit and no accidents or violations, driving a 2024 Toyota Camry LE they own, for personal use.
- Coverage: full coverage is 100/300/100 liability with $500 comprehensive and collision deductibles and 100/300 uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. We also price 50/100/50 with the same deductibles, and liability-only coverage at 25/50/25 limits, with 25/50 uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage and no comprehensive or collision. A New Hampshire policy must include at least 25/50/25 liability, uninsured motorist coverage at matching limits and $1,000 of medical payments coverage, but the rate data doesn’t list medical payments coverage for our liability-only package, so we label it liability only rather than a state minimum.
- Calculation: for each insurer we take its lowest eligible price in Portsmouth’s ZIP code. The overall average is the mean of those prices. Monthly figures are annual premiums divided by 12 and rounded.
- Rankings: we name a cheapest insurer only where it’s priced in that ZIP code and its lead over the next insurer isn’t so wide that it looks like an outlier. Annual prices within 3% of each other are called effectively tied.
- Rate changes: we compare the same insurer in the same ZIP code, for the same driver and coverage, in rates as of Nov. 30, 2025, and Aug. 31, 2026. All five insurers are in both sets of rates. Rate-change percentages are calculated from the annual premiums shown; other percentages use the rounded monthly figures.
- Insurers marked *: priced from published 2026 New Hampshire rate studies, scaled to our benchmark driver. They aren’t included in our averages or rankings.
- What this isn’t: a quote. These are modeled prices for one driver profile, calculated from insurers’ rate filings. Your price depends on your ZIP code, vehicle, driving record, coverage choices and discounts.
Coverage requirements come from New Hampshire law and the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles. We refresh these figures when new rate data is released.
Portsmouth Car Insurance FAQ
Car insurance in Portsmouth, NH, costs about $138 a month ($1,657 a year) for full coverage in ZIP code 03801, and about $49 a month for liability-only coverage at 25/50/25 limits, for our benchmark driver, based on the rates insurers had filed with state regulators as of Aug. 31, 2026. Full coverage is 4% below the New Hampshire average of $144 a month.
Progressive and GEICO are effectively tied for the lowest full-coverage average among the five major insurers we compared in Portsmouth, at about $104 and $107 a month. State Farm is next among the five major insurers we compared, at $126. The Hanover*, which we price from published rate studies and don’t rank, comes in lower for full coverage, at about $80 a month. For liability-only coverage at 25/50/25 limits, averages across the five major insurers we compared run from about $29 to $81 a month. Rates vary by driver, so compare quotes for your own car and ZIP code.
Yes, for our benchmark driver. Portsmouth full coverage averages about $138 a month and Dover about $142, a difference of about $4 a month for the same driver and car.
For our benchmark driver, liability-only coverage at 25/50/25 limits averages about $49 a month ($587 a year) in Portsmouth, and the five major insurers we compared run from about $29 to $81 a month. Liability-only coverage pays for injuries and damage you cause to others; it won’t pay to repair your own car. Every New Hampshire policy must also include uninsured motorist coverage and at least $1,000 of medical payments coverage.
In our Portsmouth data, full coverage (100/300/100 with $500 deductibles) averages about $138 a month and liability-only coverage at 25/50/25 limits about $49, a difference of about $89 a month ($1,070 a year). Liability-only coverage won’t pay to repair or replace your own car after a crash, a theft or a storm. New Hampshire law doesn’t require full coverage, but a lender or leasing company may.
Most New Hampshire drivers, including those in Portsmouth, aren’t required to buy car insurance, according to the DMV. But if you’re uninsured and at fault in a crash with injuries or more than $1,000 in damage, the state can suspend your license until you post security, and you may need an SR-22 for at least three years. Any policy you buy must include 25/50/25 liability, uninsured motorist coverage at matching limits and at least $1,000 of medical payments coverage. New Hampshire is an at-fault state: you can recover damages if you were no more at fault than the other driver, reduced by your share of the blame.
Slightly, for our benchmark driver. Comparing the same insurers and ZIP code, Portsmouth full coverage rose 0.7% over the past nine months, from about $1,645 to $1,657 a year. State Farm cut its Portsmouth average 9.8% and Progressive 1.5%, while Concord Group raised its average 14.5%. Liability-only coverage at 25/50/25 limits rose 0.5%.
For our benchmark driver, full coverage in Portsmouth averages about $138 a month. Nearby, Dover averages about $142, Rochester about $139 and Derry about $153. Portsmouth is the least expensive of these; prices depend mostly on ZIP code, so compare quotes for your own address.
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Michael Giusti is a senior insurance analyst, business journalist, and university professor with over 20 years of experience. He serves as department chair at Loyola University New Orleans and contributes to Insurance Thought Leadership, U.S. News, and other leading financial outlets.
