Best life insurance companies of 2026

The best life insurance companies of 2026

Northwestern Mutual is our No. 1 pick for life insurance in 2026, thanks to the lowest National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) complaint ratio of 0.40, which means the company has fewer complaints then expected for its size. 

Northwestern Mutual also has the best possible AM Best financial stability rating, which means it can pay claims.

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 life insurance companies and how they ranked.

The top 10 life insurance companies of 2026

Below, we’ll take a closer look at the top 10 companies in this year’s rankings.

Northwestern Mutual:4.64

Northwestern Mutual stayed in first place again this year after topping the 2025 ranking. High scores for ease of accessing service, policy offerings and trust.

Our survey found that customers rated Northwestern Mutual particularly well for people with pre-existing conditions.

Northwestern Mutual has an A++ rating from AM Best, indicating superior financial stability, and a complaint ratio of 0.040, the lowest of all life insurers we ranked. That score measures the number of complaints against the market share of a company, with anything below 1.00 indicating a lower-than-average volume.

Guardian Life:4.59

Guardian Life climbed from sixth to second place in this year’s ranking on the strength of its low complaint volume, top-notch AM Best rating for financial strength and solid survey score.

Guardian was rated best for middle-aged adults, with a score of 87% in that age category.

Most customers also said they trust the company, with a score of 92%, an important vote of confidence for an insurance company.

However, Guardian’s average rates are above the average of $382 for a $500,000 20-year term life policy at $395.

New York Life:4.59

New York Life tied with Guardian for second place this year, a step up of one place from last year. High scores across our survey, a low complaint volume and an A++ AM Best rating all helped keep the company at the top.

Customers were particularly pleased with the billing process, and average rates came in below the $382 average at $349 a year.

Mutual of Omaha:4.56

Mutual of Omaha climbed to fourth place from eighth place last year, with survey results that put it among the best companies for policy offerings as well as for trust. Mutual of Omaha had the highest overall score in our survey at 4.46 out of 5, telling us real customers are highly satisfied.

At 86%, it had the second-highest score for individuals who don’t want a medical exam, making it a good choice for anyone seeking easy access to life insurance coverage.

Pacific Life:4.56

New to the ranking this year, Pacific Life comes in strong, tied for fourth place. Its survey score was just behind Mutual of Omaha at 4.41 stars out of 5, and 100% of customers plan to keep their coverage.

Pacific Life also has some of the lowest average rates at $280 a year, more than $100 lower than the average.

The best life insurance companies for customer satisfaction, ease of service and more

Some life insurance companies did better than others for a specific category. Here are the best in each category, from customer service to policy renewals. For the purpose of these category rankings, we included companies that were excluded from the overall rankings due to incomplete data. These category rankings are based on our survey.

• Best for customer satisfaction: Amica
• Best for ease of service: AAA
• Best for policy offerings: Amica
• Most trustworthy: Corebridge
• Most likely to be recommended to others: Lincoln Financial, Mutual of Omaha

Buying life insurance: What you should know before you buy

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

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

“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 and how to choose

There are two main types of life insurance:

• Term life, which covers you for a specific period and has lower rates, allowing buyers to get a higher death benefit for less in premiums.
• Permanent life, which doesn’t have an expiration date and tends to cost more. The most common type of permanent life policy is whole life.

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:

70+

Carriers reviewed

1,750

Consumers surveyed

60+

Insurance metrics examined

34,600

ZIP codes examined

In the fall of 2025, we surveyed more than 2,000 insurance consumers. The survey was conducted by online market research company Dynata.

Respondents were asked to name their life insurer and then grade it in the following categories: 

• Customer satisfaction
• Ease of service 
• Policy offerings
• Billing process
• Adding policy riders
• Seniors/older adults
• Middle-aged adults
• Young people
• Term life policies
• Whole life policies
• People with pre-existing conditions
• People who are overweight
• People who don’t want to take a medical exam

The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.

We then asked respondents to provide a yes or no response to indicate their agreement with the following statements:

1. I plan to keep my coverage with my current life insurance company
2. I would recommend my life insurance company to others
3. I trust my life insurance company

The percentage of respondents who said yes is presented in the results.

The editors compiled the survey results and then selected – based on the number of survey responses – the top companies for further evaluation.

They then collected AM Best data, which measure financial strength, and National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives. The Insure.com team identified the NAIC codes of each underwriting company for each carrier and calculated a weighted average complaint index, weighted by the annual written premium. The associated NAIC complaint index score was used in the calculations.

They also collected insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services.

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 took the following and gave each a weight.

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

Each insurer was awarded between half a star and 5 stars. No company in the ranking received less than half a star in any category, and 5 stars was the most any insurer could receive.