Unlike with other types of insurance, your life insurance rates don't have anything to do with your location. What really affects your life insurance quotes is the type of policy and amount of coverage you get, plus personal details like your age and medical history.
That’s why our picks for the best life insurance companies in Massachusetts aren’t all that different from our best overall picks. But you should learn about life insurance laws and regulations in Massachusetts, since those do vary by state and may affect your options.
Policygenius rating | Best for … | AM Best score | Number of complaints | Cost | ||
4.9/5 ★ | Overall, Cheapest, term life, smokers | A+ | Lower than average | $ | ||
5.0/5 ★ | No-medical-exam life, young adults | A | More than average | $ | ||
4.9/5 ★ | Whole life | A++ | Much lower than average | $$$ | ||
4.8/5 ★ | Pre-existing conditions, marijuana users | A | Lower than average | $ | ||
4.1/5 ★ | Seniors | A+ | Lower than average | $$ |
Methodology
Why you can trust our picks
Our recommendations are based on internal and external expert analysis, as well as our Policygenius Life Insurance Price Index, which uses real-time data from leading life insurance companies to determine pricing trends. When reviewing a life insurance company, our editorial team uses a proprietary scoring rubric with five factors — price, policy details, financial strength, transparency, and customer experience — to assign an unbiased rating between one and five stars. These ratings are also taken into consideration as part of our company recommendations. We don’t get paid for our reviews.
Our reviews and recommendations can help you find a reliable insurer for your family’s financial protection, but the best life insurance company for you depends on multiple factors. A licensed agent at Policygenius can support you during the application process to ensure you get the right coverage for your circumstances at the most competitive price.
Best overall life insurance company in Massachusetts: Legal & General America
The best life insurance company in Massachusetts is Legal & General America, which also does business as Banner Life and William Penn in other states. Legal & General America takes the top spot because of its flexible term lengths and low rates.
Legal & General America may even have affordable rates for applicants with diabetes, bipolar disorder, high blood pressure, or another pre-existing condition that normally makes life insurance more expensive.
Cheapest life insurance company in Massachusetts: Legal & General America
Legal & General America has the cheapest life insurance in Massachusetts, but remember that the cost of life insurance doesn’t have anything to do with where you live — Legal & General is the cheapest overall life insurance company in most states.
The best way to find affordable life insurance rates is by comparing quotes before you decide on a policy. We also recommend getting life insurance while you’re still relatively young and your rates are low, since life insurance rates only go up with age.
Best term life insurance in Massachusetts: Legal & General America
We found that Legal & General America also has the best term life insurance in Massachusetts. That’s because it offers a term lengths up to 40 years— longer than the 30 year terms most other insurance companies offer.
Term life insurance is the best type of life insurance policy for most people. It works like this: you choose a term (the length of time your policy is active), and the benefit amount (the amount you want your beneficiaries to receive). You make regular payments to keep your policy active, and then if you die during this time, your loved ones receive a payment.
Best whole life insurance in Massachusetts: MassMutual
The best whole life insurance company in Massachusetts is MassMutual. We like MassMutual because it received an A++ financial strength rating from AM Best. Financial stability is important for whole life insurance because it’s a kind of permanent life insurance, meaning your policy is guaranteed to pay out, no matter when you die.
On top of the death benefit, a whole life insurance policy includes a cash value portion that gains interest over time and can even pay out dividends. You can use your policy’s cash value portion while you’re still alive to pay part of your premiums.
Best no-medical-exam life insurance in Massachusetts: Brighthouse Financial
Brighthouse Financial has the best no-medical exam life insurance in Massachusetts. Available to certain applicants with a clean medical record, no-medical life insurance is just a regular policy that doesn’t require the medical exam portion of the application process.
If you qualify, getting a no-medical exam life insurance policy can take as little as 24 hours.
Best life insurance for seniors in Massachusetts: Prudential
The best life insurance company if you’re a senior in Massachusetts is Prudential. Prudential offers affordable life insurance rates even for applicants over 60 years old. You may even find affordable life insurance rates from Prudential if you have an age-related health condition like osteoporosis, high blood pressure, or arthritis.
Best life insurance for young adults in Massachusetts: Brighthouse Financial
The best life insurance company for young adults in Massachusetts is Brighthouse Financial. It’s not hard to find affordable life insurance while you’re young, but we found that Brighthouse Financial may offer even better rates for younger applicants than other life insurance companies.
Best life insurance for for pre-existing conditions in Massachusetts: Lincoln Financial
Lincoln Financial is the best life insurance company in Massachusetts if you have a pre-existing condition, like arthritis, diabetes, or have had a stroke. That’s because Lincoln Financial still offers relatively cheap rates even for applicants with a pre-existing condition who might not be able to find affordable life insurance elsewhere.
Best life insurance for marijuana users in Massachusetts: Lincoln Financial
The best life insurance company in Massachusetts if you’re a marijuana user is Lincoln Financial. Lincoln Financial treats marijuana users differently than tobacco users, which means better rates than at other life insurance companies where marijuana users and smokers are lumped together.
If you use marijuana (which is legal in Massachusetts) be sure you let your life insurance company know when you apply for a policy. If you’re not fully honest in the application process and your life insurance company finds out, it can cancel your policy or deny a future claim.
Best life insurance for smokers in Massachusetts: Legal & General America
The best life insurance for smokers in Massachusetts is Legal & General America. While smoking always leads to higher life insurance rates, smoker rates from Legal & General America are more affordable than average.
Plus, you can re-apply for life insurance a year after you’re smoke-free and get lower rates — other companies make you wait up to two years after you quit smoking.
How is life insurance different in Massachusetts?
Living in Massachusetts doesn’t affect the cost of life insurance, but it does affect certain life insurance laws and regulations. [1]
Contestable period: The contestable period in Massachusetts is two years. That’s the amount of time your insurance company has to deny a claim or cancel your policy if it finds out you weren’t truthful when you bought your policy.
Free look period: The free look period in Massachusetts is 10 days from when you buy life insurance. That’s the amount of time you have to cancel your policy and get a full refund.
Grace period: You have 30 days to catch up on a missed payment before your insurance company can cancel your policy for nonpayment.
Guaranty Fund: If your life insurance company goes bankrupt, the Guaranty Fund of Massachusetts can step in and cover part of your life insurance benefits. In Massachusetts you’re covered for up to $300,000 in death benefits and $100,000 in cash surrender value.
Time to settle a claim: Massachusetts requires life insurance companies to settle a claim quickly; if a claim takes longer than a month to settle, your insurance company may have to pay interest on a settlement.
Largest life insurance companies in Massachusetts
Many of the largest life insurance companies in the country offer coverage in Massachusetts. [2] Here are the 10 largest life insurance companies in the Bay State by market share:
Company | Market share in Massachusetts |
|---|---|
New York Life | 9.36% |
Northwestern Mutual | 8.52% |
MassMutual | 8.05% |
MetLife | 7.50% |
Prudential | 6.33% |
Lincoln Financial | 5.05% |
Guardian Life | 4.19% |
John Hancock | 3.78% |
SBLI | 3.15% |
Nationwide | 2.50% |
What happens if a life insurance company goes bankrupt in Massachusetts?
It’s rare for life insurance companies to go bankrupt, although it’s possible. If yours does, Massachusetts Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association will step in to cover part of your policy.
The MLHIGA will cover your death benefits for up to $300,000 and your cash surrender value up to $100,000.
How to find a lost life insurance policy in Massachusetts
If you’re a family member of someone who died or the executor of their estate, you can use a national database run by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to find a missing life insurance policy.
Once you submit a request through the database, every insurance company in the state of Massachusetts will search its records for the missing policy and you’ll be notified if it’s found.
Average life insurance rates in Massachusetts
According to Policygenius data from 2023, the average cost of life insurance in Massachusetts for someone who’s 35 years old, healthy, and looking for a $500,000, 20-year term life insurance policy is $27 per month ($307 per year) for women and $32 per month ($373 per year) for men.
But remember: while the cost of life insurance depends on many factors, where you live isn’t one of them.
Age | Gender | $250,000 coverage amount | $500,000 coverage amount | $1 million coverage amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
20 | Female | $15 | $23 | $34 |
Male | $19 | $29 | $48 | |
30 | Female | $15 | $23 | $37 |
Male | $18 | $29 | $49 | |
40 | Female | $22 | $35 | $61 |
Male | $25 | $43 | $75 | |
50 | Female | $44 | $78 | $139 |
Male | $57 | $102 | $188 | |
60 | Female | $108 | $194 | $355 |
Male | $149 | $268 | $500 |
Methodology: Average monthly rates are calculated for male and female non-smokers in a Preferred health classification obtaining a 20-year $250,000, $500,000, or $1,000,000 term life insurance policy. Life insurance averages are based on a composite of policies offered by Policygenius from Brighthouse Financial, Corebridge Financial, Foresters Financial, Legal & General America, Lincoln Financial, Mutual of Omaha, Pacific Life, Protective, Prudential, Symetra, and Transamerica, and the Policygenius Life Insurance Price Index, which uses real-time data from leading life insurance companies to determine pricing trends. Rates may vary by insurer, term, coverage amount, health class, and state. Not all policies are available in all states. Rate illustration valid as of 09/01/2024.
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