Pet Insurance Statistics 2026: Every Figure, With Its Source
Every figure on this page comes from a named primary source: the North American Pet Health Insurance Association (NAPHIA), the American Pet Products Association (APPA), or the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). Nothing here is our own estimate, and where a number is not published, we say so rather than fill the gap.
Market size and growth
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| North American gross written premium | $6.2B | NAPHIA 2026, p.4 |
| Year-over-year premium growth | +19.4% | NAPHIA 2026, p.4 |
| US gross written premium | $5.7B | NAPHIA 2026, p.12 |
| US year-over-year premium growth | +19.7% | NAPHIA 2026, p.12 |
| Insured pets, US + Canada | 7.6M | NAPHIA 2026, p.4 |
| Year-over-year growth in insured pets | +12.4% | NAPHIA 2026, p.4 |
| Canadian gross written premium | CAD $660.5M | NAPHIA 2026, p.14 |
Note the gap between the two growth rates: premium grew 19.4% while the number of insured pets grew 12.4%. Most of the industry’s expansion is therefore price and coverage mix rather than new policies — a detail that rarely makes it into the growth narrative.
Penetration
| Market | Insured share of pets | Pets owned | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 4.27% | 163.6M | NAPHIA 2026, p.5 |
| — of which dogs | 5.99% | 87.3M | NAPHIA 2026, p.5 |
| — of which cats | 2.29% | 76.3M | NAPHIA 2026, p.5 |
| Canada | 3.72% | 17.3M | NAPHIA 2026, p.6 |
Penetration is the number that defines the market’s runway: even a doubling would leave the US below where several European markets already sit. But be careful with cross-country comparisons — different markets count different things as an insured pet, and we are not going to quote figures we cannot source. What NAPHIA publishes for North America is the table above.
Average premiums
NAPHIA publishes a five-year series for US average annual premium. It is the most useful premium table in the industry, because you can see which way each product is moving:
| Plan type | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2025 vs 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accident & illness — dog | $625 | $640 | $675 | $749 | $836 | +11.5% |
| Accident & illness — cat | $370 | $387 | $383 | $386 | $435 | +12.6% |
| Accident only — dog | $192 | $201 | $204 | $193 | $190 | −1.6% |
| Accident only — cat | $121 | $122 | $116 | $110 | $112 | +1.4% |
| Embedded wellness — dog | $1,051 | $1,134 | $1,263 | $1,321 | $1,414 | +7.0% |
| Embedded wellness — cat | $559 | $614 | $626 | $651 | $859 | +31.9% |
Source: NAPHIA 2026 State of the Industry Report, Section 4 (US, USD).
Three things worth reading off this table. Accident-and-illness premiums have risen every year and accelerated in the last two. Accident-only has barely moved in five years and actually fell in 2024 — it is a commodity product priced close to its cost. And the cat embedded-wellness line jumped 31.9% in a single year, by far the largest movement in the series.
Claims: what the money actually pays for
NAPHIA publishes the largest single claims paid each year. These are settled claims, not estimates:
| Breed | Condition | Location | Claim paid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dog | Bernese Mountain Dog | Undiagnosed illness — chronic | Philadelphia, PA | $66.6K |
| Dog | Small mixed breed | Undiagnosed hepatopathy | San Mateo, CA | $60.1K |
| Dog | Toy Poodle mix | Bite wounds | New Jersey | $59.7K |
| Dog | Medium mixed breed | Acute renal failure | Philadelphia, PA | $56.7K |
| Dog | Old English Sheepdog | Anemia | Brooklyn, NY | $54.7K |
| Cat | American Shorthair | Cancer | Los Angeles, CA | $51.6K |
| Cat | Domestic Medium Hair | Corneal ulcer | Portland, OR | $50.0K |
| Cat | Mixed Medium Hair | Hepatopathy | Kirkland, WA | $45.9K |
| Cat | Domestic Medium Hair | Trauma | Kirkland, WA | $37.4K |
| Cat | Bengal | Kidney disease | Union City, NJ | $35.9K |
Source: NAPHIA 2026 State of the Industry Report, Section 6.
The shape of that list is the argument for the product. A $66.6K claim is roughly 80 years of the average dog premium. And note the breed mix: a small mixed breed, a toy Poodle mix and a medium mixed breed all cleared $56K. Catastrophic claims are not a purebred phenomenon.
The most common conditions claimed
Frequency, not severity, is what drives most premium. NAPHIA’s 2025 list of most common claimed conditions, in order:
| Rank | Dogs | Cats |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gastrointestinal | Gastrointestinal |
| 2 | Otitis / ear infection | Dental disease |
| 3 | Skin conditions (infections, masses, dermatitis) | Urinary tract infection |
| 4 | Anxiety / behavioural / neurological | Anxiety / behavioural / neurological |
| 5 | Allergies | Respiratory |
| 6 | Growths and masses | Kidney disease |
| 7 | Eye and vision disorders | Otitis / ear infection |
| 8 | Diarrhoea | Endocrinology (hyperthyroidism) |
| 9 | Urinary tract infection | Vomiting |
| 10 | Musculoskeletal | Arthritis / osteoarthritis |
| 11 | Exam / wellness | Diabetes |
| 12 | Vomiting | Eye and vision disorders |
Source: NAPHIA 2026 State of the Industry Report, Section 6.
The dog list is dominated by conditions that are common, recurring and individually unremarkable — GI upsets, ear infections, skin problems. None of them are breed-specific. This is why “my breed is healthy” is a weaker argument against insurance than most owners assume: the modal claim is not a hereditary disease.
The cat list is different in character. Dental disease at number two and kidney disease at six are both chronic, both expensive to manage over years, and both far more common in cats than the dog list’s equivalents.
Who is insured
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Insured pets that are dogs (US) | 74.9% | NAPHIA 2026, p.18 |
| Insured pets that are cats (US) | 25.1% | NAPHIA 2026, p.18 |
| Share of US premium from dogs | 84.5% | NAPHIA 2026, p.13 |
| Share of US premium from cats | 15.5% | NAPHIA 2026, p.13 |
| US households owning a pet | 95M | APPA 2025 survey |
Cats are 25.1% of insured pets but only 15.5% of premium — a direct consequence of cat premiums running at roughly half the dog average. The cat share of insured pets has also climbed every year since 2020, from 18.3% in 2021 to 25.1% in 2025, which is the clearest structural shift in the market.
Where the premium is concentrated
| State | Share of insured pets | Share of premium |
|---|---|---|
| California | 18.1% | 19.9% |
| New York | 7.4% | 8.1% |
| Florida | 6.2% | 6.5% |
| Texas | 6.1% | 5.6% |
| New Jersey | 4.7% | 5.1% |
Source: NAPHIA 2026 State of the Industry Report, Section 5. NAPHIA publishes all 51 jurisdictions; the full ranked table is on the insurance cost hub.
California alone is 18.1% of insured pets and 19.9% of premium. Texas is the notable inversion — 6.1% of pets but only 5.6% of premium, the lowest premium-per-pet ratio of any large state.
What this means for an owner
The average is a weak planning number. $836 a year for a dog is an average across every insured dog in the country, from a healthy two-year-old mixed breed to a ten-year-old with a chronic condition. Your quote will not be the average.
The tail is the product. The modal claim is a few hundred dollars for an ear infection. The reason to buy cover is the claim at the top of that table, and the probability of it landing on your dog is not zero for any breed.
Price is moving faster than the customer base. Premium grew 19.4% while insured pets grew 12.4%. Expect renewal increases to keep outpacing your own sense of inflation.
Cross-country comparisons are unreliable. The US at 4.27% and Canada at 3.72% are directly comparable because the same body measures them. Figures for other markets use different definitions, so we do not publish them here.
The full cost breakdown, by plan type and with the state index, is in how much does pet insurance cost. Whether it is worth buying for your household is a separate question, answered in is pet insurance worth it.
Sources: NAPHIA 2026 State of the Industry Report (published 2026-06-21, covering the 2025 calendar year); APPA US pet industry expenditures and 2025 National Pet Owners Survey; AVMA Pet Owner Survey 2025 as cited by NAPHIA.
FAQ
How big is the pet insurance industry in 2026?
North American gross written premium reached $6.2 billion in 2025, up 19.4% year over year, according to NAPHIA. Of that, $5.7 billion was US premium, up 19.7%. About 7.6 million pets are insured across the US and Canada, a 12.4% increase.
What percentage of US pets are insured?
4.27% overall — 5.99% of dogs and 2.29% of cats. That is calculated against the 163.6 million dogs and cats owned in the US per the AVMA Pet Owner Survey. Canada sits slightly lower at 3.72%.
What is the average pet insurance premium in the US?
Accident-and-illness coverage averages $836 a year for dogs and $435 for cats — about $70 and $36 a month. Accident-only averages $190 a year for dogs and $112 for cats. These are NAPHIA's published national averages, and they are the only premium figures with a public source.
What is the largest pet insurance claim on record?
NAPHIA publishes the largest single claims paid each year. In 2025 the largest dog claim was $66.6K, for an undiagnosed chronic illness in a Bernese Mountain Dog in Philadelphia. The largest cat claim was $51.6K, for cancer in an American Shorthair in Los Angeles.
How fast is pet insurance growing?
North American premium grew 19.4% from 2024 to 2025, after 21.4% the year before and 21.4% the year before that. The five-year average annual growth rate in the US is 21.7%. Insured pet numbers are growing more slowly — 12.4% in North America — which means most of the premium growth is price and coverage mix rather than new customers.