The best life insurance companies of 2024

Our editors combined a survey of insurance customers with third-party rankings that include complaint data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and AM Best financial strength ratings to find the best life insurers in the U.S.

Below are the top nine life insurance companies based on the Insure.com study, rated out of five stars.

RankCompanyOverall ratingCustomer satisfaction rating
11. State Farm Overall rating:
4.8
Customer satisfaction rating:
4.6
22. New York Life Overall rating:
4.2
Customer satisfaction rating:
4.1
33. Northwestern Mutual Overall rating:
3.7
Customer satisfaction rating:
3.7
44. Mutual of Omaha Overall rating:
3.5
Customer satisfaction rating:
4.3
55. Prudential Overall rating:
3.4
Customer satisfaction rating:
4.0
66. AAA Overall rating:
2.9
Customer satisfaction rating:
4.0
77. Amica Overall rating:
2.6
Customer satisfaction rating:
3.4
88. AIG Overall rating:
2.3
Customer satisfaction rating:
3.9
99. Globe Life Overall rating:
2.1
Customer satisfaction rating:
3.7

State Farm:4.8

State Farm is a big name in the insurance industry, and for good reason. The company topped not only the best life insurance list for 2023 but also took first place for best home and auto insurance company.

Customers rated the company highly across the board for customer service, policy offerings and more. It even ranked as the most trustworthy life insurance company in the survey. State Farm also has an A++ rating from AM Best and is rated highly in J.D. Power’s independent life insurance survey.

New York Life:4.2

New York Life offers lower-than-average life insurance rates and ranked very well in all of the survey categories. Coverage is available in nearly every state.

The company also has an A++ rating from AM Best, which means it’s on strong financial footing. That’s vital in a life insurance company, which will not likely need to pay a claim for many years.

Northwestern Mutual:3.7

Of all the companies ranked for 2023, Northwestern Mutual had the lowest complaint ratio recorded with the NAIC. Its rates are just a little above average, and the company has an A++ rating from AM Best, meaning claims will be paid without difficulty.

Northwestern Mutual is available in every state and rated particularly well for ease of service.

Mutual of Omaha:3.5

Ranking in fourth place, Mutual of Omaha did particularly well for customer loyalty, with 100% saying they plan to keep their life insurance policy with the company. It’s a Fortune 500 company that offers coverage in every state.

Mutual of Omaha has an A+ rating from AM Best and a low complaint ratio with the NAIC.

Prudential:3.4

With a high rating for customer satisfaction and a 100% loyalty rating in our survey, Prudential performed well in most areas. Customers can also purchase investment and retirement products from the company.

Prudential serves all 50 states as well as D.C. and has an A+ rating from AM Best.

AAA:2.9

With rates that are below the industry average and a well-rounded list of insurance products available, AAA scored well overall in the rankings.’

AAA Life Insurance Company operates in all states except New York and has an A rating from AM Best.

Amica:2.6

A mutual insurer that also offers home and auto insurance, Amica has a very low complaint ratio from the NAIC and offers life insurance coverage in every state.

Amica has an A+ rating from AM Best and is a good option for bundling all of your insurance in one place.

AIG:2.3

AIG rated well for customer satisfaction and has an A rating from AM Best. Customers indicated they plan to continue with the company; all of the AIG customers surveyed said they plan to keep their policy.

Globe Life:2.1

Known mainly for selling low-cost final expense insurance (whole life), Globe Life rounds out the top nine best life insurance companies. The company has a higher-than-average rating with J.D. Power and an A rating with AM Best.

The best life insurance companies by category

Some life insurance companies did better than others for a specific category. From customer service to term life policies, here are the best in each survey category.

  • Best for customer satisfaction: State Farm
  • Best for ease of service: State Farm
  • Best for policy offerings: State Farm
  • Best for term life: Transamerica
  • Most trustworthy: State Farm
  • Best for renewals: Prudential, Mutual of Omaha and AIG

What to know before buying life insurance

Shopping for life insurance can be done in person, over the phone and online. While online is convenient, knowing what you are buying is important.

The biggest issue is ensuring you get the right product and coverage amount, says Manny Lirio, assistant vice president of consumer direct marketing at Vantis Life Insurance.

“That is why it is so important to do some upfront work and truly understand what your current and future financial obligations are so you can make sure your family’s financial well-being is protected should you pass away unexpectedly,” Lirio says. 

Buying life insurance when you’re not in perfect health makes things more difficult. Matt Schmidt, CEO of Diabetes Life Solutions, says people with chronic illnesses like diabetes can be “misled by fake rates and options.” 

“Those types of underwriting classifications are not usually available for a person with a chronic illness,” Schmidt says. 

Schmidt added that you’ll likely have to provide your health history to get an accurate quote. The sooner you buy life insurance, the cheaper it will be.

“It's highly recommended they have a phone call, or even an email dialogue with a licensed agent, to fully determine what possible ratings may be extended. They cannot let themselves be tricked into thinking that they'll qualify at these low rates that many websites show consumers. Otherwise, they'll go through the underwriting process, and their actual offer of coverage will be 500% to 1,000% higher than originally quoted,” Schmidt says. 

Types of life insurance

There are two main types of life insurance. Term life, which covers you for a specific period, and permanent life, which doesn’t have an expiration date. The most common type of permanent life policy is whole life.

Whole life includes a cash value component. Cash value allows you to tap into your policy later. Whole life is also more expensive and has lower death benefit payouts. However, your loved ones are guaranteed a payout at the end of your life.

Term life, meanwhile, has lower rates, but you may outlive your policy. You can buy more coverage with a term life policy to cover big debts at a lower price.

Term life is best for:

  • People with debt and financial responsibilities like a mortgage and future college costs that won't be around forever.
  • Someone who wants the largest death benefit protection at the lowest cost.

“Term insurance is so affordable because it provides protection for a specific period of time and does not build cash value. If you outlive your policy term, you do not receive any money back,” Lirio says.

Whole life might be better for:

  • People who want to make sure of a death benefit and don’t mind paying more for that guarantee.
  • People who aren’t sure how long they’ll need coverage.

“Whole life is more expensive than term insurance, but that is because a whole life insurance policy builds cash value tax-deferred that you can borrow from tax-free and provides coverage that will remain in place for your entire life as long as your policy is paid for,” Lirio says.

Find out more about the difference between term life and permanent life before you make a purchase to decide what’s right for you.

Methodology

Insurance.com’s sister site, Insure.com, in the fall of 2022, surveyed more than 1,500 people with auto, home, life and health insurance (540 with life insurance). The survey was conducted by online market research company Slice MR. Respondents were asked to name their insurer and the editors then selected – based on the number of responses – the top companies for this year’s Best Life Insurance Companies ranking. Insure.com needed 20 or more of a company’s customers to respond to the survey for that insurer to be included in the ranking, although in some categories the editors did consider companies with 18 or 19 responses. 

Respondents were first asked to grade their insurer in the following categories – customer satisfaction, claims satisfaction and policy offerings. The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.

Survey score calculation: Respondents were then asked to rank their insurer’s top three attributes out of more than a dozen presented – including customer satisfaction and policy offerings. For a number one choice, five points were given; for a second choice, three points; and for a third choice, a single point. The total points for each choice – first, second and third – were then divided by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create a percentage. Those percentages are presented in the results as scores. 

Respondents were then asked if they would recommend their insurer to someone else. The percentage who said yes is presented in the results.

They also were given the statement “I trust my insurance company” and asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. The percentage of those who said they agreed or strongly agreed is presented in the results.

The editors compiled the survey results and then collected National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives, and AM Best data, which measures financial strength.

They also collected insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services (for auto and home insurance), Compulife (for life insurance) and the public health marketplace (for health insurance).

With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., managing director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For life insurers, we used the following weights to calculate the overall score for each company: 

  • AM Best: 25% of total score
  • NAIC: 15% of total score
  • Survey: 60% of total score (10% customer satisfaction, 10% recommended, 10% renewal rate, 10% ease of service, 10% trustworthiness and 10% policy offerings)

To find the industry average annual premium, insure.com weighed the rates from 9 companies: AAA, Farmers, Guardian Life, John Hancock, Lincoln Financial, MassMutual, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual and Transamerica. Rates are based on premiums for 35-year-old males and females who are non-smokers and in good health. Rates are for a 20-year-term policy that provides $500,000 in coverage. 

No insurer in our star ranking received less than 1 star and the highest possible ranking is 5 stars