How much does health insurance cost on average?

KFF 2025: family coverage averages $26,993 a year in total premiums, with workers paying $6,850 of it, about $570.83 a month. Single coverage averages $9,325, with workers paying $1,440, or $120 a month.

Why is my premium higher than the average?

Plan type and employer generosity move the number more than the average suggests. PPO family premiums average $28,272 against $25,379 for high-deductible plans, and the worker's share depends on how much of the premium the employer covers.

What is the average deductible?

Among workers in a plan with a general annual deductible, the average single deductible is $1,886. For family coverage, the average is $3,318 for PPO plans and $5,095 for high-deductible plans.

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The coverage ledger · Table No. 38

How Much Does Health Insurance Cost?

Family coverage averages $26,993 a year, and workers pay $6,850 of it. That average is real, and it describes almost nobody. Here is what sits behind it, and what your own plan really costs.

Filed October 26, 2026 · figures checked against 2026 sources

The headline number: $26,993 for a family

KFF's 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey, based on interviews with 1,862 employers, puts the average annual premium for employer-sponsored family coverage at $26,993, up 6% from 2024. That is the third straight year of historically high premium growth, following 7% increases in each of the two prior years, and it is well above the general inflation rate of 2.7% that KFF cites for the same period. For single coverage, the average premium is $9,325, up 5%. These are the most quoted health cost figures in America, and they are quoted so often that people forget what they actually describe: the total premium, employer share plus worker share combined, for the average covered worker.

What the worker actually pays is smaller, and it is the number that belongs in a household budget. Workers contribute an average of $6,850 a year toward family coverage, or about $570.83 a month, and $1,440 a year toward single coverage, or $120 a month. In share terms, workers pay about 26% of the family premium and 16% of the single premium, with employers paying the rest. Those shares have been roughly stable year to year, which means the worker's bill rises in step with the total: a 6% premium increase is a 6% increase on the worker's $6,850 too, about $411 more a year for family coverage if the share holds.

What the average hides: plan type, firm size, and the deductible

The $26,993 average blends plans that are not much alike. Family premiums average $28,272 for PPO plans and $25,379 for high-deductible plans with a savings option, a gap of $2,893 a year. Enrollment splits about 46% PPO, 33% high-deductible with savings option, 12% HMO, and 9% point-of-service. A worker in a PPO at a large firm and a worker in a high-deductible plan at a small firm are both inside the same average, and neither one pays it.

The deductible is where the average hides the most. Among covered workers in a plan with a general annual deductible, the average single deductible is $1,886. But the plan-type split is wide: for family coverage, the average aggregate deductible is $3,318 for PPO plans and $5,095 for high-deductible plans, a gap of $1,777. For single coverage, the average deductible is $1,337 in a PPO and $2,609 in a high-deductible plan. A family comparing a PPO to a high-deductible plan is not choosing between two versions of the same deal; it is choosing between paying more every month and paying more when care happens. That trade is the whole subject of the deductible-versus-premium article in this series, and it is the trade the calculator prices.

The marketplace looks different, and 2027 looks worse

The KFF figures describe employer coverage, which covers about 154 million people under 65. Households that buy their own coverage on the marketplace face a different market, and the 2027 outlook is rough: KFF's analysis of insurer filings found a median proposed premium increase of 15% for 2027 marketplace plans. On top of that, the enhanced premium tax credits that expanded marketplace subsidies from 2021 through 2025 expired on December 31, 2025, and have not been renewed. Households that qualified for extra help before may see a larger bill even before the 15% increase lands, because the credit itself shrank back to the pre-2021 income limits.

The federal ceiling on out-of-pocket spending is also moving up. For 2026, the Affordable Care Act cap is $10,600 for one person and $21,200 for a family. For 2027, it rises to $12,000 and $24,000. Those ceilings are maximums, not averages, and most plans set their limits lower. But the direction matters: the worst case a plan can legally hand you is getting worse by $1,400 for one person and $2,800 for a family in a single year. A household shopping for 2027 coverage should check the out-of-pocket maximum on the new plan, not assume last year's number carried over.

A worked example: the KFF numbers through the calculator

Take the KFF family averages and run them through the calculator's model, assuming the worker pays 26% of the premium, 20% coinsurance, and illustrative out-of-pocket maximums of $8,000 for the high-deductible plan and $6,000 for the PPO. The high-deductible plan costs the worker $549.88 a month in premiums; the PPO costs $612.56 a month. At $3,500 in billed charges, the high-deductible plan totals $10,098.54 for the year and the PPO totals $10,705.12, so the cheap plan wins by $606.58. At $12,000 in billed charges, the high-deductible plan totals $13,074.54 and the PPO totals $12,405.12, so the rich plan wins by $669.42. The same two plans, the same KFF averages, and the winner flips with the bill level. Anyone who picks a plan on the premium alone is guessing at exactly the variable that decides the answer.

That example also shows why the worker share matters more than the total premium for a household decision. The $2,893 gap between the PPO and high-deductible total premiums becomes a $752.16 annual gap in worker premiums at a 26% share, or $62.68 a month. The deductible gap of $1,777 matters more than the premium gap for any household that actually uses care, because the deductible is paid in full before coinsurance starts. The premium is the price of admission. The deductible is the price of the first real use.

The boxed insight. The number on your pay stub is only about a quarter of the bill. A family worker pays $6,850 of the $26,993 total premium, about $570.83 a month, while the employer pays the other $20,143. That employer share is compensation you never see, which is why a job change that looks like a raise can be a pay cut once the new plan's premium share and deductible are priced in. Always price the whole plan, not the paycheck line.

How to use the averages for your own decision

Use the KFF figures as a benchmark, not a bill. If your family's total premium sits near $26,993 and your worker share near $6,850, your employer is roughly average. If your worker share is far above $6,850, ask whether the plan is unusually rich or your employer unusually ungenerous; the survey cannot tell you which, but the question is worth asking at open enrollment. If your deductible sits near the $5,095 high-deductible family average, you are carrying real first-dollar risk, and a Health Savings Account is not optional color, it is the mechanism that makes that risk affordable. The 2026 HSA limits are $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage, with a $1,000 catch-up at age 55 and older.

Then stop quoting averages and price your own two plans. Gather last year's billed charges from your explanations of benefits, enter both plans' premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket maximums, and read the break-even. The averages told you the market is expensive and getting more so. Only your own numbers can tell you which plan is cheaper for your household, and the answer changes with a single surgery, a single pregnancy, or a single quiet year. That is not a flaw in the math. It is the reason the math has to be run on your numbers.

Health cost questions

How much does health insurance cost on average?: KFF 2025: family coverage averages $26,993 a year in total premiums, with workers paying $6,850 of it, about $570.83 a month. Single coverage averages $9,325, with workers paying $1,440, or $120 a month.
Why is my premium higher than the average?: Plan type and employer generosity move the number more than the average suggests. PPO family premiums average $28,272 against $25,379 for high-deductible plans, and the worker's share depends on how much of the premium the employer covers.
What is the average deductible?: Among workers in a plan with a general annual deductible, the average single deductible is $1,886. For family coverage, the average is $3,318 for PPO plans and $5,095 for high-deductible plans.