Michigan drivers are paying an average of 81% more than the national average for car insurance — the most in the nation, according to a new analysis.

MarketWatch Guides took “an in-depth look at average car insurance rates in Michigan, including those for drivers in different ages, driving histories and vehicles” and found “Michigan drivers of all profiles pay the highest average car insurance rates in the country for full and minimum coverage.”

The analysis found Michigan drivers pay an average of $1,360 per year, or about $113 per month, for minimum coverage, and $3,643 per year, or $304 per month, for full coverage car insurance.

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The national average for minimum coverage is $52 per month, or $627 per year, while it’s $167 a month, or $2,008 per year, for full coverage.

“Michigan car insurance rates are as much as 81% to 117% higher than the national average,” researchers wrote.

MarketWatch found that while average Michigan insurance rates are more than double the national average for every age group, it’s the state’s youngest drivers who have the highest rates.

Full coverage for a 16-year-old in Michigan costs an average of $1,077 per month, or $12,921 per year, according to the analysis.

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“Many factors affect the cost of car insurance. Chief among them are a driver’s age and driving record, followed by the make, model and model year of the vehicle being insured,” MarketWatch reports. “In most states, a driver’s location, age, credit history, gender and marital status play a role in determining car insurance costs. However, Michigan forbids insurance companies from using these facts to set policy rates.”

In 2019, sweeping, fundamental and unprecedented changes to Michigan’s insurance law were approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who promised the changes would lower costs for drivers.

Whitmer in 2022 touted $400 per vehicle refund checks to Michigan motorists as a result of the law she said “has put money back in people’s pockets while helping to attract new businesses and jobs to our state.”

She claimed at the time the reforms generated more than $1 billion in premium savings, and resulted in more than $3 billion in refunds. Michigan is no longer the most expensive state for auto insurance, she said in 2022.

The MarketWatch data shows the opposite is true two years later.

Democrats and some Republicans in the Legislature are now working to undo one of the key reforms from 2019 that limited reimbursement of seriously injured motorists, prompting warnings from Whitmer and Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbit, R-Porter Township, that the two-bill package could raise rates further, Bridge Michigan reports.

That will pose a serious problem for the 41% of residents who are currently living paycheck to paycheck in Whitmer’s Michigan.

A recent United for ALICE report shows that equates to 4 million Michigan households that can’t afford basics like housing, child care, food, transportation and health care, despite working full-time. In 11 Michigan counties, the figure is more than half of the population.

“This ALICE Report provides the first look at the extent of financial hardship in Michigan using ALICE metrics as prices rose following the economic shocks of the pandemic,” according to the report.

“Our latest estimates from 2022 – the entry of 100,000 additional households below the ALICE threshold while our state’s population has declined – must be received as both a call to action and a challenge to complacency,” the ALICE report read.

Another analysis from the personal finance website WalletHub in July that looked at “States with the Most People in Financial Distress” examined average credit scores, change in bankruptcy filings, and share of residents with accounts in distress to rank Michigan Number 1.

“Michigan residents are the most financially distressed people in the country,” according to the report. “In Q! 2024, Michigan had the most accounts per person in financial distress, meaning accounts where the account holder was temporarily allowed to not make payments due to financial difficulty.

“Michigan also had the second-highest increase in the share of people with distressed accounts between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024, at over 70%,” it read. “In addition, the Great Lakes State had the fourth-highest overall share of people with accounts in distress, at 7.9%.”

Similar reports detailing the struggles of residents in Whitmer’s Michigan have come from UM’s Michigan Poverty & Well-being Map, a 2024 Kids Count Data Book, a WalletHub analysis of the “Best and Worst-Run Cities in America,” U.S. News & World Report’s “50 Best Places to Live & Retire,” news reports on skyrocketing homelessness, a national “Best States” ranking, the U.S. Census Bureau, news reports on increasing demand at food banks and discount stores, and even Whitmer’s own Growing Michigan Together Council.