If you’re here, we’re guessing things are getting pretty serious—you might even be thinking about taking your relationship with term life insurance to the next level. We’re all for that.
And get this: Term life insurance rates are mainly based on three factors—your lifestyle, your health and your age. So, it really does pay to get it now instead of later! In fact, age plays such a big role in setting your rate that estimating how much you’ll pay for coverage is pretty easy based on that alone. We’ve put together a chart of term life insurance rates by age so you can get an idea of how much it will cost you if you get it now versus later.
And here’s our recommendation for pretty much everybody: Get it now! Especially if anyone depends on your income. There’s no reason to put off having the peace of mind that goes with knowing your family’s taken care of.
While it’s true you’ll pay less for term life insurance the younger you are, it’s also true that term life is always going to be a way better deal than any form of whole life insurance. We’ve crunched the numbers for 2024. So why not find your age in our charts below to get an idea of your monthly cost?
Let’s get into it.
Like we said, age plays a huge role in pricing for term life policies. If you’re wondering why, it’s simply because your probability of dying goes up as you age. Fun thoughts.
Of course, there are other factors as well. A few more things insurance companies look at to calculate a term life rate include:
We used our Term Life Estimator to find the average rates for term life policies based on age. Let’s look at how much you’d pay per month as a nonsmoker for a $1 million policy in several different yearly coverage terms.
Age
Monthly Rates for a 10-Year Term
Monthly Rates for a 15-Year Term
Monthly Rates for a 20-Year Term
Monthly Rates for a 25-Year Term
*Monthly rates reflect the average price of $1 million in coverage for nonsmokers. Data is based on a 5’9”, 150 lb. male with a January 1 birthday. Data assumes health rating of good. Actual prices may vary based on health class.
Age
Monthly Rates for a 10-Year Term
Monthly Rates for a 15-Year Term
Monthly Rates for a 20-Year Term
Monthly Rates for a 25-Year Term
*Monthly rates reflect the average price of $1 million in coverage for nonsmokers. Data is based on a 5'4", 125-lb. female with a January 1 birthday. Data assumes health rating of good. Actual prices may vary based on health class.
As you can see, there’s no time like the present to get a good term life insurance rate locked in. In fact, with each passing year, the cost of getting a new policy rises just a bit. And then it really shoots up in your 50s!
Check out how much a 20-year-old can expect to pay for a new policy of any length and compare those numbers to the average rates for a 50-year-old. Depending on the term, you’re talking about double, triple or even quadruple the monthly payment. Ouch.
On the other hand, if a 30-year-old guy—let’s call him Jesse—gets his policy in place today, and opts for a 25-year term, he’ll pay $58.50 a month for coverage . . . and that price will be the same when he’s 45! And if Jesse waits to buy until he’s 48? The same term of coverage will cost him a whopping $202.50 a month. (By the way, that number will actually be even higher because that’s the number he’d pay if he was 48 now. In 18 years, inflation will have pushed prices up even more.) It really does pay to buy now.
What about a 40-year-old woman—let’s call her Jesse—shopping for 25-year term life insurance rates? Although she could have gotten in on cheaper rates when she was newly married 20 years ago—and we all wish she had—she still has time to get a pretty good deal at $78.50 a month for coverage that will last her into retirement. But compare that to the same policy value purchased at 60—the average monthly cost shoots up to $540! Let’s hope Jesse’s already self-insured by that point because not many people can afford to pay thousands a year for life insurance.
The beauty of term life coverage is that so long as you keep up with the premium payments, the price is locked in for the life of the policy. That’s why time is of the essence.
