Is California banning marital status in car insurance pricing? (2026)

Is marital status banned in California car insurance yet?

No. Since 1996, California has let insurers use marital status as an optional rating factor. On September 16, 2026, the Insurance Commissioner announced regulations to prohibit it and submitted them to the Office of Administrative Law. Insurers that use it would bring their rating plans into compliance through CDI's Prop. 103 review, so a change reaches your policy only through your insurer's revised plan.

CDI's release says the proposal follows the First District Court of Appeal's July 16, 2026 decision in Ison v. Lara, which upheld the Commissioner's authority over optional rating factors, and that "the ruling itself does not increase or decrease automobile insurance premiums" (CDI release).

CDI's statement of reasons describes the proceeding as exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act's rulemaking provisions under Government Code 11340.9(g) (statement of reasons).

Key dates in the regulation text

The text CDI submitted applies the new rule to rating plans filed on or after October 26, 2026. Insurers that use marital status must file a revised plan without it by July 1, 2027, and no plan that still uses it can be approved after June 30, 2027. Insurers that never used it file nothing. These dates hold if the text is adopted as written.

How marital status is used today

Proposition 103 makes three factors mandatory and gives them the most weight: your driving safety record, the miles you drive each year and your years of driving experience. The Commissioner may also approve optional factors. Marital status of the rated driver is one of them, listed today as optional factor (d)(9) in 10 CCR 2632.5, and an insurer may use it only in a CDI-approved rating plan.

• Mandatory factors, in order of importance: driving safety record, annual miles driven, years of driving experience (Insurance Code 1861.02(a)).
• Marital status can also be combined with years of driving experience, combined with verified actual mileage, and used inside the "secondary driver characteristics" factor (10 CCR 2632.5(c)(2)(F)(viii), (d)(12) and (e)).
• Insurers may elect to use it if they show it complies with Prop. 103 and CDI approves their rating plan (CDI release).
• Registered domestic partners are treated as married persons under Insurance Code section 381.5 (CDI release).

What the regulation would change

It deletes marital status from the list of optional rating factors and removes it everywhere it can be combined with another factor: with years of driving experience, with verified mileage and inside the secondary-driver factor. Insurers that use it would file a revised rating plan that changes nothing except the removal of marital status. Insurers that never used it do not file.

The text amends 10 CCR sections 2632.5, 2632.9 and 2632.11 (statement of reasons). The removal procedure in section 2632.11(c) is the one CDI used when it removed gender as a rating factor in amendments effective January 1, 2019, with "gender" replaced by "marital status" (CDI 2018 gender rule text).

What it could mean for married and single drivers

CDI hasn't published an estimate of how any premium would change. The regulation requires each revised plan to be revenue neutral for the insurer's whole book of business, lets a base-rate change get it there, and requires an exhibit showing the expected market dislocation. Where a plan charged unmarried drivers more, that difference would be spread across the insurer's customers instead.

So the effect will differ by insurer: one that doesn't use marital status has nothing to change, and one that does will show the shift in its filing. CDI says any resulting change to an insurer's rates or class plan remains subject to its review to ensure rates are "justified, not excessive, not inadequate" (CDI release).

CDI's statement of reasons lists Massachusetts, Hawaii and Michigan as states that don't allow marital status as a rating factor, and Colorado, Maine, Maryland and Pennsylvania as states that restrict its use (statement of reasons).

What you can do now

Nothing on your current policy has to change today. When you compare quotes, give every insurer the same facts, including your marital status, because it is still an allowed factor. Your driving record, annual miles and years licensed carry the most weight under Prop. 103, and the Good Driver Discount of at least 20% applies whether you're married or not.

See who qualifies for the Good Driver Discount and how to compare California car insurance rates.

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