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January 23, 2017 at 01:00 AM
U.S. life insurance market potential growth — a prospective, forward-looking measure for a product or need that has an analytical basis — stands at -9.2 percent: the number of households that analytically “look like” those that bought or upgraded policies, or intend to do so soon declined from 13.2 million to 12 million from 2012-2015.
Seventy-seven of the top 100 life insurance market cities in the U.S. grew at a higher rate or had a lesser contraction, while 33 showed greater declines. As a group, the top 100 city markets contracted 8 percent. Seventeen cities had double-digit growth.
To look at the foundation for 2017’s life insurance market we asked Information Asset Partners (IAP), a firm specializing in predictive analytic data for the insurance and investment industries, to provide a look at the life insurance market for cities, both the largest and the fastest growing. IAP uses recent product buying data for permanent and term life insurance across all manufacturers and distributors to develop bottom-up predictive analytics that enable marketers to assess market potential and growth, and target prospects online and offline.
IAP’s predictive data is built around the simple idea — “find me more prospects who look like my customers,” said IAP’s Bill Poll. “However, because the buyer data is industry-representative there’s the added benefit of leveraging your competitors’ sales data. There may be dominant carriers and distributors but everybody grows organically and by attracting their competitors’ prospects.”
The 10 highest growth life insurance markets had market potential fewer than 30,000 households and greater than 50 percent growth rates. Among the 10 largest life insurance market cities, New York City and Chicago showed single-digit declines and the rest showed 15–50 percent growth.
“The life insurance market metric is based on the financial decision making unit — the household — and their contract buying from today’s distribution,” said Poll. ”When you look inside all states, the growth is concentrated in about 3,600 ZIP codes that represent 50 percent of the life insurance market.”
IAP’s ranking of the top 10 highest growth life insurance market cities within the top 100 presents additional information that adds further insights including:
Continue reading to see life insurance market potential rankings and key dynamics for the 10 highest-growth markets.
Paul Revere’s Monument in Boston, a city that ranks as the 10th fastest growing market for life insurance sales in 2017. (Photo: iStock)
10. Boston
2014-2015 life insurance market rank: 28
2012-2013 life insurance market rank: 34
Change: 17.36 percent
Digital insurance buying index: 231
Digital investment/retirement buying index: 208
Hot ZIP code: 98133
The Arch is a popular tourist attraction in St. Louis, which is one of IAP’s cities with the highest growth for life insurance sales this year. (Photo: iStock)
9. St. Louis
2014-2015 life insurance market rank: 56
2012-2013 life insurance market rank: 75
Change: 20.91 percent
Digital insurance buying index: 120
Digital investment/retirement buying index: 65
Hot ZIP code: 63116
San Francisco is the only California market to rank on IAP’s list of highest-growth life insurance markets. (Photo: iStock)
8. San Francisco
2014-2015 life insurance market rank: 20
2012-2013 life insurance market rank: 30
Change: 22.12 percent
Digital insurance buying index: 217
Digital investment/retirement buying index: 267
Hot ZIP code: 94112
Mount Hood is the backdrop for Portland’s skyline. The city ranked 7th on IAP’s list of high-growth life insurance cities. (Photo: iStock)
7. Portland, Oregon
2014-2015 life insurance market rank: 31
2012-2013 life insurance market rank: 43
Change: 22.21 percent
Digital insurance buying index: 138
Digital investment/retirement buying index: 105
Hot ZIP code: 97233
The Orlando Eye is one of the newest attractions in Orlando and the largest observation wheel on the East Coast of the USA. Orlando ranked 6th on IAP’s list of high-growth life insurance markets. (Photo: iStock)
6. Orlando
2014-2015 life insurance market rank: 60
2012-2013 life insurance market rank: 95
Change: 23.08 percent
Digital insurance buying index: 126
Digital investment/retirement buying index: 97
Lexington, Kentucky, known as the horse capital of the world, ranked 5th on IAP’s list of high-growth life insurance markets. (Photo: iStock)
Pittsburgh ranked 4th in IAP’s 2017 listing of high-growth life insurance markets. (Photo: iStock)
The historic Cathedral of Saint Paul as seen from across the Mississippi River. St. Paul, Minnesota, ranked third on IAP’s list of the highest-growth life insurance markets for 2017. (Photo: iStock)
Both Minneapolis (pictured) and St. Paul ranked within the top 3 of IAP’s listing of high-growth life insurance markets for 2017. (Photo: iStock)
Seattle has quickly climbed the ranks of high-growth life insurance markets to claim the top spot for 2017 on IAP’s list. (Photo: iStock)