New Yorkers and their employers continued to face some of the nation’s highest health insurance costs in 2025, with the average premium for a single worker climbing nearly 14% in one year and approaching $11,000, according to federal data highlighted in a new analysis.
The Empire Center for Public Policy said New York had the highest average premiums among the lower 48 states for both single and employee-plus-one coverage. Family coverage averaged $29,752, second only to Alaska.
The figures come from an annual survey by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality examining health benefits offered by private-sector employers.
For single coverage, New York’s average annual premium reached $10,913 in 2025, about 20.9% higher than the national average. The Empire Center said that was the largest gap between New York and the national average since the federal survey began in 1996.
The increase was also substantially faster than what workers and employers experienced nationally. Single-coverage premiums in New York rose nearly 14% from 2024, compared with an increase of about 6% nationwide.
The numbers represent the total cost of employer-sponsored coverage, rather than necessarily what an employee pays directly out of a paycheck. Employers commonly pay part of the premium, with workers responsible for the remainder.
New York’s high health care costs have several potential causes. The Empire Center, an Albany-based think tank that advocates for free-market policy reforms, pointed to the state’s comparatively high medical costs and cost of living, particularly in the New York City region, as factors.
The organization also argued that state taxes and insurance mandates contribute to the difference.
New York imposes several taxes and assessments related to health insurance and health care. Citing insurance industry estimates, the Empire Center said those charges can add between 7% and 14% to premiums.
The organization also pointed to state laws requiring health plans to cover certain treatments or services or restricting how much patients can be required to pay for them.
An older study commissioned by the Employer Alliance for Affordable Health Care estimated in 2003 that insurance mandates then in effect increased premiums by 12.2%. The Empire Center noted that state lawmakers have enacted additional coverage requirements in the more than two decades since that analysis.
More recently, lawmakers extended a tax on managed care organizations that had been scheduled to expire. The Empire Center estimates that tax adds roughly half of 1% to commercial insurance premiums, equivalent to about $50 per insured person.
Lawmakers have also considered expanding required insurance benefits. Bills passed by the Legislature this year would require coverage of lactation consultant services for new mothers and speech therapy for stuttering. Both were awaiting action by Gov. Kathy Hochul when the Empire Center published its analysis Aug. 27.
The federal data don’t establish how much of New York’s premium difference is attributable to medical prices, taxes, coverage mandates or other factors. They do, however, show that the state’s employer-sponsored insurance costs remain unusually high compared with most of the country.
For a family plan, the average annual premium of $29,752 works out to nearly $2,480 per month in combined employer and employee costs. For single coverage, the $10,913 annual average is equivalent to about $909 per month.
And the latest increase suggests the gap isn’t narrowing. With New York’s single premiums rising more than twice as quickly as the national rate in 2025, the state’s already high cost of employer-sponsored health coverage moved further above the rest of the country.
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