In a sweeping review of Illinois’s surplus lines insurance market, this report examines the sector’s swift expansion and shifting coverage dynamics over the last year. Against a backdrop of evolving regulatory oversight, it offers a detailed, data-rich comparison between surplus and standard insurance markets across major lines, including property, auto liability, and medical malpractice. The analysis also identifies areas where excess carriers are gaining notable ground and profiles the state’s leading providers by both premium volume and rate of growth.
This report examines key and recently updated aspects of the Illinois surplus lines market, including:
For insurers operating across Illinois, the report serves as a critical benchmarking resource for the growing role of the non-admitted market. It offers timely insights into emerging opportunities, evolving competitive dynamics, and shifting patterns of demand. Carriers and brokers alike will find this data and analysis essential to navigating market pressures, identifying growth segments, and responding to regulatory developments in an increasingly challenging risk landscape.
Expert voices include David Ocasek, the Surplus Line Association of Illinois CEO since 1998 and member of staff since 1985, and Kyle Burnett, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions head of E&S property, North America, whose company grew excess premiums the second-most relatively in Illinois last year.
“Surplus lines has and will continue to play a major role not just in the Illinois insurance market but also in the United States,” Burnett wrote to Insurance Business for this report. “The freedom of rate and form allows carriers to customize coverage to fit the needs of clients based on the economic climate, what they can afford, and the coverage most needed to protect their assets. Excess and surplus lines is no longer a market of last resort but rather a first stop in finding the coverage to adapt to what you need today.”
Premiums per transaction rose 3.3 percent year over year, signaling not just more volume but also more valuable and risk-intensive policies.
Surplus lines are increasingly used as a first choice, not a last resort, driven by carriers withdrawing from difficult risks and repricing across the board.
Illinois’s regulatory climate remains balanced and attractive, with simplified placement rules positioning the state as a national leader in accessibility.
In 2024, Illinois’s surplus lines market broke $4.4 billion in premiums. David Ocasek, the CEO of the Surplus Line Association of Illinois, opined on the remarkable significance of growth over recent history.
“The year 1999 was probably our lowest year of premium ever, with just over $200 million in premiums in Illinois,” he said. “Here we are, 2024, with $4.4 billion. (Growth) has been very remarkable over the last 10 years.”
Premiums divided by the number of related transactions is a standard gauge for both insurance profitability and customer engagement. In Illinois, between 2023 and 2024, the premium per transaction for total surplus lines rose by 3.4 percent, from $21,749 in 2023 to $22,480 in 2024.
In December 2024, California’s surplus lines market index stood at $19,649, up 21 percent from the previous year. Illinois, by contrast, maintained a consistently higher average premium value, underscoring its reputation as a more accessible and potentially more profitable environment for surplus line carriers. This relative advantage is explored further in the report’s analysis of Illinois legislation, along with detailed shifts in both aggregate and specific surplus coverage categories.
The modest 3.4 percent single-year rise in Illinois’s surplus lines market index (premiums over transactions) last year was driven by a notable increase in premium values. Between 2023 and 2024, total surplus lines premiums climbed 10 percent, from $3.9 billion to the aforementioned $4.4 billion. The number of transactions rose just 6 percent, from 183,000 to 195,000. The fact that premium growth continues to outpace transaction volume signals a firming and resilient non-admitted market in Illinois.
Two things have happened at once to allow Illinois’s tremendous 25-year surplus lines growth, said Ocasek. First, admitted insurers are increasingly declining risks they previously would have written, such as weather-related disasters, pushing more business into the surplus lines market. Second, pricing across the board is firming, as both admitted and non-admitted insurers are placing greater emphasis on accurate, higher-risk pricing.
Years ago, some surplus risks may have been underpriced in an effort to grow their market share, Ocasek continued. Today, that’s changing in Illinois. As a result, Illinois surplus lines are benefiting from both an increase in the number of risks being written and higher premiums per policy. When admitted insurance premium volume rises 30–40 percent in a hard market, Ocasek explained, surplus line volume in the same area might increase by 150 or 200 percent. The growth is not just about volume, he emphasized, but also about firmer, more sustainable pricing.
Several key surplus coverage areas in Illinois have posted striking premium growth, often far outpacing relative gains in the traditional, higher-volume admitted market. The following comparisons draw on data from the Surplus Lines Association of Illinois and the IB+ Data Hub’s “Property & Casualty LOB Performance & Market Trends” dashboard and focus on lines where surplus and standard markets can be directly compared. To preserve a true apples-to-apples analysis, only matched subcategories are included in this section, offering a partial but instructive view of broader coverage trends. Additional surplus lines data – including categories lacking standard market equivalents – are explored in greater detail in the Premium Trends section below.
Illinois’s property insurance stands out in regard to exceptional excess coverage growth compared to the standard market. Between 2023 and 2024, the state’s excess property premiums rose by over half, 69 percent, or $63 million, reaching $153.9 million. Meanwhile, Illinois’s standard market property premiums rose just 13 percent, reaching $6.8 billion.
Put another way, for every dollar of property premium written in 2023, the excess market generated nearly 70 cents in new premium by 2024, more than five times the growth efficiency of the standard market, which added just 13 cents per dollar.
“The severity and frequency of catastrophes and weather-related events have been increasing, and rebuilding costs have gone up. All that is pushing (Illinois) licensed insurers to be much more careful about what they will and will not take, and that pushes a lot of those risks to the surplus line market,” explained Ocasek.
This property coverage, compared to SLAI and IB+ standard market dashboard data, includes allied lines, earthquake, private flood, fire, and farm owners’ and homeowners’ multiple peril. Excess property coverage, which together grew 69 percent, was led by fire and farm owners' multiple peril coverage.
Between 2023 and 2024, fire insurance saw the sharpest premium increase among Illinois’s excess property coverages. Surplus fire insurance premiums more than doubled, rising 112 percent, or $66 million, to reach $125.9 million. As a result, fire insurance’s share of the state’s non-admitted property market expanded significantly, growing from 65 percent to 82 percent of the segment examined in this section.
In the admitted market, fire rose by a comparatively slim 18 percent, or $107 million, reaching $608 million.
Farm owners’ multiple peril coverage was the only other property-related surplus line examined in this section, alongside fire insurance, to more than double its premium between 2023 and 2024. Though starting from a smaller base, the premium rose 122 percent, or $264,000, to reach $480,000. In contrast, the admitted market for the same coverage grew more modestly, with premiums rising just 12 percent, or $28 million, over the same period.
Fire and homeowner multiple peril have the largest shares of business in both the surplus and standard examined property markets, although, notably, prominence is inverted between the two.
Auto insurance in Illinois’s surplus lines market also outpaced its admitted counterpart in relative premium growth. Between 2023 and 2024, surplus auto premiums rose 26 percent, or $82 million, to reach $391 million. By comparison, the standard auto market saw a 12 percent increase, with premiums rising $795 million to $7.2 billion. Put differently, for every dollar of premium written in 2023, the surplus market added 26 cents in new premium by 2024, more than double the 12-cent gain seen in the admitted market.
Here, auto insurance coverage compared in both Illinois’s surplus line and standard market includes physical damage to private passenger autos, commercial autos, and all other liability to commercial autos.
During that time, Ocasek noted that surplus line commercial auto liability rose the most and outstandingly so. It rose by $62 million to $244.7 million in premiums. That share was well over half (63 percent) of Illinois’s examined surplus lines of auto insurance coverage.
Meanwhile, the standard examined market coverage of commercial auto liability saw premiums increase by $133 million, totaling $1.9 billion. That comprised just a quarter (27 percent) of the compared standard market auto coverage. Instead, Illinois’s standard market auto insurance examined in this section is much more heavily concentrated (64 percent) in private passenger physical damage, a prominent auto coverage type represented in only a sliver (0.3 percent) of Illinois’s excess examined auto market.
This disparity underscores the increasingly vital role Illinois surplus lines play in meeting auto liability needs, particularly for higher-risk or hard-to-place businesses in commercial auto. The standard auto market remains dominant in private passenger coverage.
Liability insurance premiums declined across both the surplus and standard markets in Illinois, with the steepest drop occurring in the non-admitted sector. Between 2023 and 2024, combined surplus premiums for burglary, fidelity and surety, and workers’ compensation fell by one-third, down $10.3 million to $20.6 million. Most of that decline came from workers’ compensation and fidelity insurance, which dropped by $7.9 million and $2.5 million, respectively. Burglary coverage was the outlier, rising modestly by $197,000 to $818,000. By contrast, the standard market’s combined premiums for the same lines declined just 0.7 percent, or $17 million, to $2.45 billion.
While the standard market showed much greater overall volume stability, the comparable dollar-value declines across both markets highlight shifting dynamics in Illinois’s liability market that warrant attention.
The stability of the surplus lines market in Illinois, reflecting the United States at large, has been an improving trait for the sector since it was properly regulated about 75 years ago.
“Illinois’s regulatory environment has always been very reasonable – well-regulated, but not overly burdensome,” said Ocasek.
When he took charge of the Illinois Surplus Lines Association in 1991, there existed traces of an unregulated market. At the time, cease orders from the Illinois State Department of Insurance would be sent to the Surplus Lines Association of Illinois as frequently as once a month.
Stronger state oversight gradually thinned the ranks of bad actors in Illinois’s surplus lines market. During the year 2000, “maybe we got one (cease letter),” said Ocasek. “That might have been the last one we ever got.” The CEO of the Surplus Lines Association of Illinois noted the state’s remarkable growth of excess market regulation, along with a slim number of recent insolvencies.
In January 2022, Illinois enacted Public Act 102‑0224, easing longstanding procedural requirements for surplus lines brokers. The law streamlined the “diligent search” rule, which had traditionally required brokers to first attempt placement with admitted carriers before turning to the non-admitted market. Under the new provision, brokers are exempt from this step when handling commercial placements referred by an unaffiliated, Illinois-licensed retail producer. This significantly simplified wholesale transactions.
The law also allowed for a single annual diligent search at the master policy or program level, replacing the earlier mandate to conduct individual searches for each insured or certificate holder. The change reduced administrative burdens, accelerated speed to market, and enhanced Illinois’s appeal to national and international surplus lines carriers. It aligned the state with others, such as Texas and Florida, that had already adopted similar efficiency-driven reforms to the excess market.
Ocasek, who contributed to the latest American Bar Association annotations on surplus lines statutes, noted the wide variation in regulatory details from state to state. Where commonalities exist, he said, Illinois tends to take a middle-of-the-road approach. Surplus carriers in the state must be licensed, demonstrate prior access to the admitted market, pay a designated tax, and maintain well-documented open records.
Under the federal Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA), when a group of affiliated insureds is covered under a single surplus lines policy, the “home state” is defined as that of the insured to whom the largest share of the premium applies. But the law left a gap when it came to unaffiliated insureds, offering no guidance for how to determine jurisdiction.
In response, Illinois and roughly a dozen states developed their own rules. In May 2025, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill, now awaiting the governor’s signature, that would resolve the issue by designating the group’s home state as the regulatory home for policies covering unaffiliated insureds. The measure is intended to bring Illinois in line with the most straightforward and uniform standards in the national surplus lines market.
Liquor liability, medical malpractice, and personal accident insurance saw the largest relative premium gains in 2024, despite flat or declining transaction counts. This highlights rising risk complexity and rate prices in Illinois’s excess space.
Property and auto liability surplus lines grew substantially, fueled by climate risk, litigation pressure, and tightening capacity in the admitted market.
Surplus lines are increasingly absorbing specialized or hard-to-place risks, especially high-end homes, logistics fleets, and unregulated healthcare providers.
In some segments, increased transaction volume coincided with falling premiums, suggesting competitive pricing or economies of scale.
Liquor liability coverage tabbed the largest relative increase among Illinois surplus lines in 2024. It was the only major category to more than double its premiums, which rose by $646,000 to $1.58 million. This includes specialized liability insurance for alcohol-related risks, offered through non-admitted insurers when standard market options are unavailable. Liquor coverage also posted the highest market index gain, with premium value per transaction rising 138 percent. That jump was driven largely by premium growth, as the number of transactions increased by just three, reaching a total of 108.
Notable trends have also emerged in Illinois’s surplus lines market for medically related insurance. In 2024, medical malpractice and general medical insurance posted the second- and third-highest premium increases, respectively, compared with the previous year. Medical malpractice premiums rose by $58 million to $132 million, while medical insurance premiums climbed $7.2 million to reach $15 million. Medical malpractice added just 318 transactions, and medical insurance saw its premium increase despite 343 fewer transactions than in 2023, supporting the notion of rising policy values and a tightening market.
Personal accident insurance within Illinois’s surplus lines market also posted a significant rise in premium value, despite experiencing the sharpest decline in transaction volume across all coverage categories. In 2024, premiums rose by $14 million to $33 million, marking the fourth-largest relative increase after medical malpractice, medical insurance, and liquor liability. Yet this growth occurred alongside a steep drop of 1,700 transactions, underscoring a surge in average policy size or pricing within the category.
The next three ranks for Illinois’s relative surplus lines premium increase go to property, auto liability, and multiple peril insurance, each detailed further below, along with the individual segments of Illinois’s medical malpractice surplus lines.
Use and occupancy insurance, which covers income loss when a business can't use its premises due to physical damage, stands out as the only surplus lines category in Illinois to see a decline in premium value despite a notable rise in transaction volume. In 2024, the number of transactions increased by 443 compared with the prior year, yet total premiums fell by more than $500,000 to $1.2 million. The trend suggests that this line may be achieving economies of scale in contrast to other risk and coverage types, with broader uptake driving down average costs for policyholders, albeit at the expense of policy placers.
The surge in Illinois’s surplus lines medical malpractice premiums has been driven in large part by sharp increases in two segments: dental practitioners and the broadly defined “Other” category. Premiums for dental malpractice rose more than 203 percent year-over-year, reaching $26 million, despite just 19 additional transactions, indicating a leading rise in per-policy pricing. The “Other” category – likely encompassing med spas, wellness clinics, and independent health contractors – saw premiums climb 134 percent to $43 million, alongside a 69 percent increase in the average cost per transaction.
Among the remaining medical malpractice lines in Illinois’s surplus market, which include doctors, nurses, clinicians, and beauty specialists, only pharmacists saw a decline in their market index. Despite representing the lowest total premium volume in the group, pharmacist malpractice premiums per transaction fell 14 percent in 2024, dropping to $6,543.
Much of this recalibration stems from intensifying litigation risks. Illinois remains a hotspot for high-severity medical malpractice claims. Dentists, traditionally seen as lower risk, are increasingly exposed due to high complexity and liability procedures in cosmetic and surgical dentistry. Meanwhile, the proliferation of loosely regulated health providers, from nurse injectors to digital-first practitioners, has introduced underwriting uncertainty and pushed more risk into surplus channels. There, pricing can be rapidly adjusted to reflect emerging threats.
Illinois’s total surplus lines property insurance market saw a sharp expansion between 2023 and 2024, with total premiums rising 50 percent to $186.9 million. That growth far exceeded the modest increase in transaction volume, which rose by just 928 to 18,878, supporting that price adjustments, rather than volume, drove the surge. The average premium per transaction climbed 43 percent to $9,902, reflecting a market recalibration amid mounting exposures from fire, windstorms, and layered catastrophe risks. Unlike admitted carriers, surplus lines insurers, unrestricted by rate filings, responded swiftly to evolving conditions shaped by climate volatility, rising construction costs, and tightening capacity across the standard market.
Fire insurance, the largest contributor to Illinois’s total surplus property market, underscores this trend. Excess premiums more than doubled to $126 million, driven by a moderate increase in transactions, up 502, and a striking 101 percent surge in average policy cost, which reached $13,316. The data suggest that reinsurer pressure, higher reconstruction costs, and more advanced property risk modeling are increasingly influencing pricing, particularly in urban centers and high-value commercial districts across the state.
Likewise, “excess of loss” and “windstorm” excess coverage saw premiums surge by 100 percent and 52 percent, respectively, despite little to no change in volume. This hints at more aggressive rate action in the Prairie State or for layered placements above shrinking primary limits mentioned above.
Not all Illinois excess property lines followed suit. Premiums fell for allied lines, terrorism, private flood, and commercial flood, with each posting double-digit percentage declines. In most cases, this came despite flat or modestly rising transaction counts, pointing to softening demand, market competition, or changing appetite. Notably, private flood premiums plunged 43 percent even as transactions rose.
In 2024, Illinois’s surplus lines auto liability market grew nearly 34 percent, reaching $247 million in written premiums.
This growth was driven largely by a surge in commercial vehicle exposures, the most valuable coverage within Illinois’s surplus auto market. In 2024, premiums for this segment reached $244 million. Transaction volume rose by 830 to 5,116, while the average premium per transaction increased by $5,379 to $47,836. This accounted for nearly all of the category’s $62.6 million premium gain. The rise reflects both expanding fleet sizes and escalating underlying risks, as carriers navigate a tightening transportation insurance market.
A prolonged hard market in commercial auto, driven by nuclear verdicts, rising repair costs, and increased frequency of claims, has pushed many carriers to tighten underwriting or withdraw from riskier segments. Surplus lines markets have stepped in to absorb high-severity or nonstandard risks, particularly for logistics operators, specialty fleets, and owner-operators with checkered histories or unconventional exposures.
Illinois’s transportation network companies saw a 30 percent drop in transaction volume, though average policy cost rose 67 percent to $13,495, reflecting a recalibration of risk amid shifting gig economy regulations and a maturing claims profile. Private passenger liability surplus placements plummeted, down 82 percent in premium, suggesting either improved availability in the admitted market or a regulatory chill on surplus coverage for personal lines.
All told, the data points to an Illinois excess auto liability market where pricing power remains firmly in the hands of underwriters, especially in the commercial segment, where standard market appetite remains constrained.
Illinois’s surplus lines market for multiple peril premiums grew 27 percent in 2024, reaching $84.4 million in written premiums. Unlike many other segments, this expansion was led by a substantial increase in transaction volume, up 30 percent to 13,194. Excess multiple peril average premium per transaction remained essentially flat, dipping slightly by 2 percent. The remarkable premium increase is thanks to broader demand for specialized or non-admitted multi-peril coverage, rather than rate inflation in this area.
Commercial multi-peril (CMP/SMP) policies continued to dominate the segment, accounting for $60 million, or more than 70 percent of its total premium. Despite a slight decline in transactions, average policy cost jumped 20.6 percent, signaling higher insured values, broader coverage needs, or both.
Homeowners’ surplus lines placements also surged, with premiums up 39 percent and transaction count climbing nearly 46 percent. These shifts likely stem from tightening capacity and underwriting discipline in the admitted market, particularly for older homes, high-value residences, or properties in Illinois’s catastrophe-prone or hard-to-insure zip codes.
Although light in real terms, the most dramatic relative growth came from multi-line and farm owner coverage. Multi-line premiums more than doubled to $6.5 million as transactions nearly quadrupled to 2,993. Although at this ratio, the premium per transaction fell by 44 percent to $2,203, pointing to smaller policies. Farm owners, though a tiny niche with $480,000 in total premiums, saw premium growth of 123 percent on flat volume, likely a reflection of inflation-adjusted valuations and climate-related underwriting pressure.
While the top three premium volume leaders, Lloyd’s, National Fire & Marine, and Lexington, remain dominant, a few mid-tier surplus insurers surged in rank by aggressively expanding their Illinois market share.
Great American, Swiss Re, and MS Transverse posted the highest relative gains, reflecting strategic focus on Illinois’s growing E&S opportunities.
Capacity remains plentiful in 2024–25, especially in property segments, with rate discipline persisting despite a softening environment.
The provider landscape is dynamic, with regional players and specialty carriers capitalizing on market gaps left by admitted insurers.
The SLAI lists the top 50 insurers by 2024’s Illinois surplus line premium value, along with 2023’s premium value. Here are the top 10 insurers by Illinois’s 2023 to 2024 surplus line premium percent increase:
The SLAI lists the top 50 insurers by 2024’s Illinois surplus line premium value, along with 2023’s premium value.
Between 2023 and 2024, not much change occurred across the insurance behemoths that dominate Illinois’s surplus lines market; the top three providers, Lloyds, National Fire & Marine, and Lexington, had incremental premium increases ranging from 1 to 14 percent.
Here are the top 10 insurers by Illinois’s 2024 surplus line premium:
