​Car Insurance More Expensive For the Poor in Chicago, Study Shows

Chicago, IL - A recent study by financial website Value Penguin shows the less income someone has, the more they are paying in car insurance in Chicago.

The study used a 30 year-old male with average credit driving a 2013 Toyota Camry as a control, only changing the zip code in which he lived as a factor in soliciting quotes from 14 auto insurance companies with a basic policy.

The study found that residents in affluent neighborhoods where the average income is more than $100,000 a year pay 16 percent less for auto insurance than residents in low income neighborhoods where the average income is less than $20,000 a year. A ValuePenguin graphic shows a consistent decline in premiums with rising incomes.

As a whole, the ten lowest earning neighborhoods in Chicago pay 13 percent more per year than the ten highest earning zip codes. Premiums are lowest in Central Chicago and the North Side, while the highest auto insurance payers are generally from the city’s South Side and Southwest Side.

View the full ValuePenguin study here