The cheapest car insurance in San Francisco starts at around $78 per month for a clean-record commuter with a low-mileage profile through a regional liability-first carrier. The Rates Guy compared 38 carriers writing in San Francisco County, anchored on the 94102 downtown core, using fresh weekly quote pulls and California Department of Insurance filings. Read on for the full rate comparison.
How San Francisco drivers compare
San Francisco is the rare California city where roughly 1.1 vehicles per household is the norm, well below the statewide average. That changes how shoppers here compare rates. Drivers in 94102, 94110 (Mission), 94117 (Haight), and 94133 (North Beach) are often pricing low-mileage policies, pay-per-mile tiers, and non-owner SR-22 coverage for car-share users. With a median household income near $126,187 and a median driver age of 38.7, the city skews toward mid-career professionals who garage rarely and street-park often. That single fact, where the car sleeps, swings quotes more here than in any other California metro I've compared.
Carrier comparison: cheapest verified starting rates in San Francisco
The table below reflects starting monthly rates for a comparable driver profile (35 years old, clean record, 10-year license history, 7,500 annual miles, garaged in 94110). Industry comparison estimates suggest 38 carriers actively write new business inside San Francisco County, though appetite by ZIP varies week to week.
| Carrier | Starting Rate | Best For | BBB Rating | AM Best Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercury Insurance | ~$78/mo | Low-mileage urban commuters | A+ | A |
| Geico | ~$84/mo | Tech-sector W-2 employees | A+ | A++ |
| Progressive | ~$89/mo | High-risk and SR-22 filers | A+ | A+ |
| State Farm | ~$92/mo | Long-tenure policyholders | A+ | A++ |
| Allstate | ~$98/mo | Bundled renters in 94117 | A+ | A+ |
| Farmers | ~$104/mo | Hybrid and EV owners | A+ | A |
| AAA (CSAA) | ~$108/mo | Members with roadside priority | A+ | A |
| Travelers | ~$112/mo | Higher liability limits | A+ | A++ |
| Kemper | ~$95/mo | Non-standard and prior-lapse | A | A- |
| Wawanesa | ~$82/mo | California-only loyalty pricing | A+ | A |
Rates above are starting points, not binding quotes. The Rates Guy verifies each entry against California Department of Insurance rate filings and refreshes the comparison weekly. Where a carrier's appetite shifts inside a ZIP, we mark the column "Not verified" rather than guess.
Cheapest by driver type
Young driver (under 25)
For drivers in their early twenties parking in 94102 or 94110, Geico and Mercury tend to surface as the lowest verified options, with starting rates in the $145 to $175 monthly range for a clean-record 23-year-old on a sedan. Wawanesa, which writes only in California, often comes in tighter for drivers under 25 who can document continuous coverage from a parent's policy. The single biggest lever for this age band in San Francisco is mileage, since the city's transit access lets many young drivers truthfully report under 5,000 annual miles.
Driver with one at-fault accident
After one at-fault accident, Progressive and Kemper consistently land as the most competitive carriers in San Francisco for the 36 months following the incident. Expect a starting rate of roughly $135 to $165 per month versus the clean-record baseline of $78 to $92. Mercury's accident forgiveness rider, available to existing policyholders, can hold rates closer to the pre-incident tier if the driver had three or more accident-free years before the claim. The 94133 and 94109 corridors near the Embarcadero tend to surcharge slightly harder due to density.
DUI / SR-22 filer
Industry comparison estimates put the average SR-22 monthly rate in San Francisco around $95, with DUI-tagged policies averaging closer to $155 per month. Progressive, Kemper, and Mercury are the three carriers most likely to write a new SR-22 policy inside the 94102 to 94117 corridor without a multi-week underwriting wait. The Rates Guy does not file SR-22s for readers (we are editorial only), but we do verify which carriers in San Francisco accept new non-owner SR-22 filings, which matters for drivers who car-share rather than own.
Non-owner (no garaged vehicle)
Non-owner policies are unusually common in San Francisco because of the city's transit access and car-share density. Mercury, Geico, and Progressive write non-owner liability inside the 94102, 94110, 94114, and 94117 ZIPs at starting rates from about $42 to $68 per month. This is the one driver category where San Francisco often beats inland California cities outright, since the rating algorithms reward the absence of a garaged vehicle in a high-density area.
Senior driver (65+)
Drivers 65 and older in San Francisco tend to see the best verified starting rates from The Hartford (AARP program), AAA's CSAA arm, and State Farm. Expect a starting rate of $88 to $115 per month for a clean-record senior with low annual mileage in 94109, 94115, or 94123. The Hartford's defensive-driving discount, available after completing the California-approved course, can shave another 5 to 10 percent.
Military / veteran
USAA writes for active-duty, retired, and eligible-family members in San Francisco and is regularly the lowest verified rate for that audience, with starting points around $68 to $85 per month for a clean-record veteran in 94102 or 94133. Geico's military discount runs second. Eligibility checks happen at quote, so neither carrier surfaces in our general 38-carrier comparison above.
Local cost factors in San Francisco
A few San Francisco-specific factors drive rates higher than the California average:
- Density and crash exposure. San Francisco County's collision density is well above the state median. For the actual current numbers, pull the official county report from the CHP SWITRS public query tool, which is the source of record for crash, injury, and fatal-collision data.
- Vehicle theft. The Bay Area has historically ranked in the top five U.S. metros for vehicle theft. The NICB Hot Spots report publishes the current ranking each year and is the citation any honest comparison site should be using.
- Commute and vehicle-per-household context. With roughly 1.1 vehicles per household and a transit-heavy commute pattern, San Francisco's exposure profile is genuinely different from inland California. The current cut of that data lives in the U.S. Census ACS for San Francisco County.
- Rate filing transparency. Every California auto rate filing is public. You can verify what any carrier listed above filed for San Francisco County through the California Department of Insurance Consumer Tools portal. The Rates Guy cross-checks against these filings before publishing a starting rate.
One San Francisco detail worth knowing: the San Francisco DMV at 1377 Fell St (94117) is the field office that handles license reinstatements and SR-22 filings for the city proper. If you need an SR-22 on file, the carrier files it electronically; you do not bring paperwork to the DMV counter.
Frequently asked questions
How much does car insurance cost in San Francisco?
Most clean-record drivers in San Francisco see starting rates between $78 and $112 per month based on the 38-carrier comparison above. SR-22 filers average closer to $95 monthly per industry comparison estimates, while DUI-tagged policies average around $155. The biggest swing factor inside the city is the garaging ZIP. A driver in 94133 (North Beach) and one in 94110 (Mission) on the identical profile can see a 20 to 30 percent difference, mostly tied to density and theft exposure.
What is the cheapest car insurance in San Francisco?
For a clean-record 35-year-old garaged in 94110 with 7,500 annual miles, the cheapest verified starting rate in our weekly San Francisco comparison is Mercury Insurance at about $78 per month, followed closely by Wawanesa at $82 and Geico at $84. The Rates Guy verifies each rate against the carrier's California rate filing before publishing. The right answer for any individual reader depends on age, mileage, ZIP, and prior coverage, which is why we recommend running the comparison rather than picking off the table alone.
Which company has the best rates in San Francisco?
For a typical mid-career driver in San Francisco, Mercury and Wawanesa consistently lead our weekly verified comparison, with Geico close behind for tech-sector employees who get a group discount. For non-owner policies, Mercury and Progressive are usually tightest. For SR-22 filers, Progressive and Kemper lead. There is no single "best carrier" answer for every San Francisco driver, which is exactly why a fresh side-by-side comparison beats brand loyalty.
How does an SR-22 affect my rate in San Francisco?
An SR-22 itself is just a filing form; it does not change the rate. What raises the rate is the underlying violation (DUI, at-fault uninsured collision, repeat suspensions). In San Francisco, an SR-22 filer should expect to pay roughly 60 to 90 percent above the clean-record baseline, which lines up with the $95 monthly SR-22 average and $155 DUI-tagged monthly average referenced above. Progressive, Kemper, and Mercury are the carriers most likely to issue new SR-22 policies in 94102 through 94117 without an extended underwriting wait.
Is non-owner car insurance cheaper in San Francisco than owning?
For city residents who car-share or rent occasionally rather than garage a vehicle, yes, often dramatically. Non-owner liability in 94102, 94110, 94114, and 94117 starts around $42 to $68 per month with Mercury, Geico, or Progressive. That is roughly half the lowest owner-policy rate in the comparison table. The trade-off is that non-owner policies do not provide collision or comprehensive coverage, so they only make sense if you genuinely do not have a vehicle of your own.
How The Rates Guy compares rates
The Rates Guy is an editorial rate-comparison site. We are not a licensed producer, we do not bind policies, and we do not accept payment for carrier placement on this page. The comparison above is built from three inputs: a weekly fresh-quote pull across the 38 carriers actively writing in San Francisco County, a cross-check against each carrier's current California Department of Insurance rate filing, and a manual review of every starting rate before publication. When a carrier's appetite shifts inside a ZIP, we mark the column "Not verified" rather than carry a stale number forward. The framework is the same for every California city we cover, which is what makes the city-to-city numbers actually comparable.
Compare your rate in 60 seconds
The fastest way to know whether you are overpaying in San Francisco is to run a clean side-by-side against the carriers in the table above. Start with the three lowest verified options for your driver type, confirm the ZIP they will write in (94102, 94110, 94114, 94117, and 94133 each price differently), and work down the list from there. Most drivers in San Francisco who haven't shopped a renewal in the past two years find at least one carrier in the comparison willing to beat the incumbent rate by 15 to 25 percent.