New York Life ranks well for policy renewal, trustworthiness and customer satisfaction.
Chris Kissell is a Denver-based writer and editor with work featured on U.S. News & World Report, MSN Money, Fox Business, Forbes, Yahoo Finance, Money Talks News and more.
Nupur Gambhir is a content editor and licensed life, health, and disability insurance expert. She has extensive experience bringing brands to life and has built award-nominated campaigns for travel and tech. Her insurance expertise has been featured in Bloomberg News, Forbes Advisor, CNET, Fortune, Slate, Real Simple, Lifehacker, The Financial Gym, and the end-of-life planning service.
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New York Life’s customers rank it high for customer satisfaction and its policy offerings.
The company earned 4.2 out of a possible 5 stars and ranks second on Insure.com’s list of the best life insurance companies. It scores high in multiple categories and received strong third-party ratings. Almost 95% of the customers we surveyed said they planned to renew their New York Life policy.
Below is Insure.com’s review of the company. It’s based on third-party metrics and an in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.
AM Best's Financial Strength Rating is an independent opinion of an insurer's financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations.
New York Life received a score of 82% in this category. It ranked higher than several other companies here, although a few insurers scored higher. State Farm led this category. The company’s J.D. Power score was a tick above the 774 average.
Term life insurance is usually the most simple and affordable life insurance product. Insure.com used premiums collected by data provider CompuLife to evaluate New York Life’s term life offerings.
New York Life’s life insurance’s term life insurance rates are comparable to most other insurers evaluated in the Insure.com survey. Most insurers provided coverage for under $500 a year for 35-year-old non-smokers purchasing $500,000 in coverage for a 20-year-term. New York Life’s average annual premium is cheaper, at $465.
New York Life’s rates are 3% lower than the industry average premium of $481, according to Insure.com’s 2022 data.
Policyholders want an insurer that makes it easy to use a policy. New York Life’s score of 84% put it in the middle of the ranked insurers in this category. State Farm customers scored it the highest.
A wide range of policy offerings makes it easier for consumers to find the coverage they need.
The percentage of those satisfied with New York Life’s policy offerings is 82%. A few competitors scored higher. State Farm led this category.
Trust is at the heart of the relationship between an insurer and its customers. New York Life had one of the highest scores in this category, with 76% of the customers we surveyed saying they trust the company. State Farm was the most trusted life insurer.
Consumers who are loyal to a company offer testimony about the insurer’s performance.
About 94% of customers plan to stick with New York Life. A good score, but 100% of Prudential customers said they would renew.
New York Life is one of the biggest mutual life insurance companies in the U.S. The insurer also has some of the highest financial ratings when compared to its peers. The company anticipates a dividend payout of more than $2 billion in 2023.
New York Life’s history stretches back to 1841, when its predecessor – the Nautilus Insurance Company – was founded. Today, New York Life is one of the oldest and largest mutual insurance companies in the United States.
Policyholders share in the ownership and have received dividends based on the company’s investment performance every year since 1854. In 2020, the company paid out $1.9 billion in dividends to eligible policyholders.
New York Life. “Over 12,000 agents. One who will be there for you.” Accessed December 2022.
New York Life. “Five things to know about the founding of New York Life.” Accessed December 2022.
New York Life. “Over 175 years of helping people act on their love.” Accessed December 2022.
J.D. Power. “Individual Life Insurance Study.” Accessed December 2022.
Insure.com in the fall of 2022 surveyed more than 1,500 people with auto, home, life and health insurance (540 with life insurance). The survey was conducted by online market research company Slice MR. Respondents were asked to name their insurer and the editors then selected – based on the number of responses – the top companies for this year’s Best Life Insurance Companies ranking. Insure.com needed 20 or more of a company’s customers to respond to the survey for that insurer to be included in the ranking, although in some categories the editors did consider companies with 18 or 19 responses.
Respondents were first asked to grade their insurer in the following categories – customer satisfaction, claims satisfaction and policy offerings. The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.
Survey score calculation: Respondents were then asked to rank their insurer’s top three attributes out of more than a dozen presented – including customer satisfaction and policy offerings. For a number one choice, five points were given; for a second choice, three points; and for a third choice, a single point. The total points for each choice – first, second and third – were then divided by the number of each company’s customers who responded to that survey question to create a percentage. Those percentages are presented in the results as scores.
Respondents were then asked if they would recommend their insurer to someone else. The percentage who said yes is presented in the results.
They also were given the statement “I trust my insurance company” and asked if they strongly agreed, agreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. The percentage of those who said they agreed or strongly agreed is presented in the results.
The editors compiled the survey results and then collected National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives, and AM Best data, which measures financial strength.
They also collected insurance rate data from Quadrant Information Services (for auto and home insurance), Compulife (for life insurance) and the public health marketplace (for health insurance).
With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., managing director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For life insurers, we used the following weights to calculate the overall score for each company:
To find the industry average annual premium, insure.com weighed the rates from 9 companies: AAA, Farmers, Guardian Life, John Hancock, Lincoln Financial, MassMutual, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual and Transamerica. Rates are based on premiums for 35-year-old males and females who are non-smokers and in good health. Rates are for a 20-year-term policy that provides $500,000 in coverage.
No insurer in our star ranking received less than 1 star and the highest possible ranking is 5 stars.