Annuity Guaranty Association Limits by State, 2026 Table

The table: annuity limit in all 51 jurisdictions

Each row below is the NOLHGA figure for a state or DC. “Statute read” says whether we checked it against the state’s guaranty association act; where we did, the section is given. Where we did not, the row says “Per NOLHGA, statute not checked”. The life columns are the NOLHGA figures for life insurance, for a reader who is also deciding between an annuity and a life policy.

Source: NOLHGA, “How You’re Protected” coverage table (nolhga.com, information as of June 1, 2025, saved October 21, 2026); statutes cited in the “Statute read” column. NOLHGA is a trade association of the guaranty associations; its table is not a statute.

Two caveats from NOLHGA’s own notes. California covers “80% of the annuity contract value with a $250,000 benefit limit”. New Jersey’s note says a payout annuity with no cash surrender value has a $500,000 limit in present value and the $250,000 limit applies to deferred annuities; we could not read the New Jersey statute today, so that stays a NOLHGA statement.

What 17 statutes say that the table does not

The 17 are the ten most populous states, six more where NOLHGA shows something other than $250,000 (DC, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Minnesota, Connecticut, Washington; Arkansas, Utah and Wisconsin are missing because we could not retrieve a readable official text) and Virginia, which we read because of its combined cap. The column “Combined cap per life” is the largest total the association owes on one person across the products the section lists, annuity included.

Source: the statute sections in the table, read in the copies listed in the CSV (official legislature websites for Florida, Washington, Connecticut, Minnesota, DC, South Carolina and Oklahoma; the Ohio, Virginia and Michigan official pages through the Internet Archive; FindLaw copies for California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia and North Carolina; a texas.public.law mirror for Texas). Dates of each copy are in the CSV. Statutes are amended; confirm the current text before relying on a number.

Five things in that table are not in the usual “$250,000 in most states” line.

• Minnesota is $250,000 for a MYGA, not $410,000. Subdivision 4 of section 61B.19 lists $250,000 in present value of annuity benefits and, separately, $410,000 for structured settlement annuities and for annuities in which periodic benefits “for a period of not less than the annuitant’s lifetime or for a period certain of not less than ten” years have begun to be paid on or before the date of impairment. NOLHGA’s table prints $410,000 in the annuity box and puts the condition in a note.
• A $300,000 combined cap sits above the $250,000 annuity limit in 11 of the 17. Texas words it as no more than $300,000 “with respect to a single life”; Pennsylvania and Ohio as $300,000 “in the aggregate with respect to any one individual”. The practical result (our arithmetic): $250,000 of annuity plus $200,000 of life death benefit at the same insurer is $450,000 on paper and $300,000 of coverage, a $150,000 gap.
• Virginia’s combined cap is $350,000, not $300,000, under section 38.2-1700 D 2 e. Washington, Connecticut and Minnesota cap the total at $500,000.
• New York and North Carolina are one pool, not an annuity limit. New York’s section 7708 caps “all benefits, including cash values” on one life at $500,000, and North Carolina’s section 58-62-21 caps them at $300,000. A reader who holds a life policy at the same insurer shares the pool with the annuity.
• Florida and Georgia split deferred from payout. Florida’s section 631.717(12) gives $250,000 for deferred annuities in net cash surrender and withdrawal values and $300,000 for all other benefits; Georgia’s section 33-38-7 gives $300,000 in present value but not more than $250,000 in net cash surrender and withdrawal values. Both match NOLHGA’s “$250,000 deferred, $300,000 payout” note.

How the limit is applied

• Whose association pays. The association of the state where the contract owner lives. NOLHGA’s FAQ says “the guaranty association of the state in which the contract owner resides will provide coverage for the annuity”, and Ohio’s section 3956.04 covers owners who “are residents of this state”. Moving states after buying changes the table row that applies; the statutes also have rules for non-residents when the insurer is domiciled in the state, which we did not map.
• Per life, per failed insurer. The statutes cap benefits “with respect to any one life, regardless of the number of policies or contracts” (the California and Pennsylvania wording). Michigan’s association spells out the consequence: three annuities of $100,000 with the same annuitant at one insurer give $250,000 of protection in total, and the limits “are applied per any ‘one life’ per insolvent company”. The other statutes use the same one-life wording; reading them the same way is our inference.
• Present value, then a ratio. NOLHGA says the association compares the present value of the remaining benefits at the date it becomes obligated with the limit; if the value is higher, “the annuity will be partially covered based on a ratio”. NOLHGA’s example: a present value of $300,000 and a $250,000 limit covers 83.3%. Our arithmetic for $400,000 at a $250,000 limit: 62.5%.
• Joint owners do not add a second limit. NOLHGA’s FAQ says “the existence of multiple owners does not impact the amount of coverage provided”, and that jointly owned annuities are treated as one owner. This is a trade-group description of the model act; we did not find the wording in the statutes above.
• What is left out. Florida excludes interest above a formula: a rate that “exceeds the rate of interest determined by subtracting 2 percentage points from Moody’s Corporate Bond Yield Average averaged for that same 4-year period”, and after the insolvency, 3 points off the current average (section 631.713(3)(n)). It also excludes index-linked changes in value that have not been credited (631.713(3)(o)). NOLHGA’s FAQ says most states do the same for indexed annuities, and that “guaranty associations do not cover portions of contracts that are not guaranteed by the insurer or under which the contract holder bears the risk”, which matters for the variable side of a registered index-linked annuity (see our RILA prospectus census).
• Who funds it. After a failure, the association uses the failed company’s assets and “funds contributed by member insurers in the state (called assessments)”. Above the limit, “in most states, those amounts become a claim against the estate of the failed insurer”, paid in part if the estate has assets (NOLHGA).

How many insurers to split a premium across (our arithmetic)

The count is the amount divided by the limit, rounded up, with each contract at a different, unrelated insurer. It ignores growth (next table) and the combined cap, and we found no statute text in our 17 on whether two insurers in the same corporate group count as one.

Our arithmetic: amount divided by limit, rounded up. Limits from the table above.

A $750,000 purchase needs three contracts at a $250,000 limit, three at $300,000 and two at $500,000 (our arithmetic: 750,000 / 250,000 = 3.0, 750,000 / 300,000 = 2.5 and 750,000 / 500,000 = 1.5, each rounded up).

The limit applies to value, not premium, so a contract that earns interest drifts above it. The next table gives the largest premium that is still at or under $250,000 after the stated years at a constant rate with no withdrawals.

Our arithmetic: 250,000 divided by (1 + rate) to the power of the years, rounded down. The covered amount is the present value on the date the association steps in, which also depends on the surrender value and the interest exclusions above.

Worked example (our arithmetic): $250,000 placed in one MYGA at 5% a year is worth $289,406 after 3 years. With a $250,000 limit the covered share is 250,000 / 289,406 = 86.4%, or about $250,000 of the $289,406. Starting with $195,881 instead would sit at about $250,000 after 5 years.

Guaranty association or FDIC

The FDIC’s standard maximum deposit insurance amount is also $250,000 (12 CFR 330.1(o): “means $250,000 adjusted pursuant to” section 11(a)(1) of the FDI Act). The number is the same; the mechanism is not. The deposit insurance is a federal fund. A guaranty association is a state body paid by assessments on the other insurers after a failure, covers a resident only through that state’s act, and stops at a limit that differs by state and product. This page does not rate any insurer and gives no view on which to use.

What this page does not cover

We did not read the statutes of 34 jurisdictions, so their rows are the NOLHGA figures. The NOLHGA table is dated June 1, 2025 and warns it “is subject to possible change in the future”. We did not check insurer ratings, state premium-tax offsets, structured settlements beyond the lines quoted, group or unallocated annuities, or the annuity purchases of non-residents. Sales sites that print state tables disagree with each other on some states; where they differ from the statute rows above, the statute rows govern.

What a reader can do with this

• Find your row. The state where you live decides the association. Use the table, then the 17-state table if your state is there.
• Add everything on your life at one insurer. Annuities, life policies and cash values at the same company count toward the same combined cap in the states where one exists.
• Leave room for growth. Use the growth table: a premium close to the limit will exceed it within a few years.
• Ask the insurer for its home-state and your-state rows in writing before you split a six-figure premium, and the date of the statute version it relies on.
• Money coming from elsewhere? A sold rental, a fund exit or a rollover has its own tax rules: see 1035 exchanges between annuities and real estate, how an annuity payout is taxed and QLAC limits for an IRA.
• Money still locked in a gated fund or an IRA? See required minimum distributions when an IRA holds illiquid assets.

Frequently asked questions

This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice. Sources, read and saved on October 21 and 22, 2026: NOLHGA coverage table (nolhga.com/policyholders/how-youre-protected, information as of June 1, 2025) and NOLHGA FAQ on product coverage; Michigan Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association FAQ; Cal. Ins. Code 1067.02; Tex. Ins. Code 463.204; Fla. Stat. chapter 631 part VII; N.Y. Ins. Law 7708; 40 P.S. 991.1703; 215 ILCS 5/531.03; Ohio Rev. Code 3956.04; O.C.G.A. 33-38-7; N.C. Gen. Stat. 58-62-21; MCL 500.7704 (chapter 77 of the Insurance Code of 1956); Va. Code 38.2-1700; RCW 48.32A.025; Conn. Gen. Stat. 38a-860; Minn. Stat. 61B.19; D.C. Code 31-5402; S.C. Code 38-29-40; Okla. Stat. tit. 36, 2025; 12 CFR 330.1.