Best life insurance companies of 2025

The best life insurance companies of 2025

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 based on the Insure.com study, rated out of five stars, with Northwestern Mutual in the No. 1 spot.

The top 10 life insurance companies of 2025

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

Northwestern Mutual: 4.67

In first place, Northwestern Mutual received a perfect score for trust, with 100% of customers saying they trust the company. It has a very low NAIC complaint index at 0.08.

Northwestern Mutual has an A++ rating from AM Best and a J.D. Power score of 670/1,000, above the industry average.

MassMutual: 4.60

MassMutual is a big name in the insurance industry, and for good reason. The company ranked second in the list of top insurers, receiving high scores in multiple categories and earning an overall star rating of 4.54 out of 5. The insurer’s average annual premiums of $350 fall below the industry average of $377.

Third-party rating agencies J.D. Power, NAIC, and AM Best also gave MassMutual high scores. AM Best gave MassMutual the highest possible score of A++.

John Hancock: 4.54

John Hancock tied for third with a rating of 4.54 out of 5. The insurer received high scores for the billing process, with 93.3% of customers saying they were satisfied. However, its average annual premium of $415 was well above the industry average of $377. 

John Hancock received an A+ from AM Best and an excellent NAIC score of 0.38.

New York Life: 4.54

Tying with John Hancock for third place, New York Life received 4.54 out of 5 stars. 

The insurer received high scores for policy offerings, and the billing process. In addition, New York Life received a very good NAIC score of 0.16 and an A+ from AM Best. When it comes to affordability, New York Life’s average annual premium of $353 is below the industry average of $377. 

Prudential: 4.52

Prudential earned 4.52 stars out of 5 and scored especially well for trust, with 98.7% of customers surveyed saying they find the company trustworthy. They would also recommend it to others at a rate of 96.2%.

Prudential’s average premium comes in a little below the industry average of $377 at $361.

State Farm: 4.48

State Farm trailed closely behind Prudential with a 4.48-star rating out of 5. Customers were particularly pleased with the billing process and 88.6% said they trust State Farm.

State Farm also received the highest J.D. Power score of 699 out of 1,000. The industry average is 648. The insurer also received strong scores from other third-party rating agencies, with an A++ from AM Best and an NAIC score of 0.36.

Guardian Life: 4.48

Guardian Life tied with State Farm for sixth place, receiving 4.48 out of 5 stars. It earned a high score of A++ from the third-party rating agency AM Best and an NAIC score of 0.12, one of the best scores of the insurers we ranked.

The insurer scored over 90% in four major categories: customer service, ease of accessing service, policy offerings and billing process.

Mutual of Omaha: 4.47

Mutual of Omaha ranks eighth on the list of best life insurance companies, receiving 4.47 out of 5 stars. The insurer received high scores from third-party rating agencies, with an A+ rating from AM Best and a score of 659/1,000 from J.D. Power — higher than the industry average of 648. Though the insurer ranks 10th on the list, it's an affordable option for consumers. Mutual of Omaha’s average annual premium is $353,  slightly less than the industry average of $377.

Gerber Life: 4.37

Mutual of Omaha ranks ninth on the list of best life insurance companies, receiving 4.37 out of 5 stars. Customers trust the company at a rate of 91.3% and the same percentage said they trust the company. Although not rated by J.D. Power, Gerber Life has a solid A+ rating from AM Best. On the downside, it has a higher-than-average NAIC complaint index score of 1.41

Amica: 4.24

Amica tied for No. 10 in 2024 with a score of 4.24 out of 5. The company scored very highly for the billing process and had solid scores across all of the other categories in our survey. It’s also a great company for bundling, since it offers home and auto insurance as well.

Lincoln Financial: 4.24

Lincoln National tied for 10th place with Amica, also earning 4.24 stars. While it didn’t score as well in many survey categories, Lincoln National customers overwhelmingly said they trust the company and plan to stay with it.

It’s notable that Bestow was rated very highly in all categories, winning several. However, an AM best grade is not available for this company, so we were unable to calculate its final star ranking in order to rate it.

The best life insurance companies by category

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: Bestow
• Best for ease of service: Bestow
• Best for policy offerings: Bestow
• Most trustworthy: Northwestern Mutual
• Most likely to be recommended to others: Prudential

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, 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

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:

70+

Carriers reviewed

1,750

Consumers surveyed

60+

Insurance metrics examined

34,600

ZIP codes examined

In the fall of 2024, Insure.com surveyed more than 1,750 insurance consumers (973 people with life insurance). The survey was conducted by online market research company Slice MR.

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.