Life insurance is evolving from a product often viewed as a one-time purchase into a more relationship-driven experience as younger generations bring new expectations for engagement, communication and personalization. According to the JD Power 2026 U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study,SM released today, many life insurance providers are struggling to navigate that transition, with trust levels declining year over year despite overall customer satisfaction remaining relatively stable. The declines are sharpest among members of Gen Z1 and those who are financially vulnerable.

“Life insurance has really moved from a transactional relationship to a long-term relationship, and while many providers are succeeding at building engagement through increased use of digital channels and more frequent communications, others are struggling to forge those meaningful connections that really stick with customers,” said Meaghan Hafner, senior director of health & life solutions at JD Power. “Customers who say their providers offer seamless interaction across multiple channels are driving the highest levels of overall satisfaction, trust and advocacy.”

Following are some key findings of the 2026 study:

  • Trust declines among younger customers and those who are more financially vulnerable: Overall customer satisfaction with individual life insurance providers is 649 (on a 1,000-point scale), down 1 point from last year. Declines are steepest in the trust dimension, which falls 9 points in this year’s study. Among members of Gen Z, trust satisfaction falls 39 points, and among those with poor or fair credit scores, trust falls 28 points year over year.
  • Trust is hard won, easily lost: A single negative experience with a life insurance provider, such as difficulty reaching a representative, an unexpected fee change or a reduction in level of service or support causes overall trust satisfaction to fall 96 points.
  • Trust improves with more frequent, seamless interactions: Trust satisfaction is highest (757) when customers interact with advisors, agents, mobile apps and website and lowest (581) when customers have no interaction at all. Customers who strongly agree their life insurance delivers a seamless cross-channel experience have trust scores that are 148 points higher than those who somewhat agree their digital, phone and in-person interactions are seamlessly coordinated.
  • Overall satisfaction declines for centrally distributed plans: Overall satisfaction with individual life insurance plans that are delivered direct-to-consumer from a central provider’s call center, website, bank or third-party website declines 12 points to 684 this year, while overall satisfaction with policies sold by a distributor, such as an agent, broker, agency or financial advisor improves 6 points to 645.

Study Ranking

Nationwide ranks highest among individual life insurance providers with a score of 701. State Farm (692) ranks second and Mutual of Omaha (680) ranks third.

To view the complete rankings, visit: http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2026100.

The U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study measures the experiences of customers of the largest individual life insurance companies in the United States across eight core dimensions (in order of importance): trust; value for price; ease of doing business; people; product offerings; ability to get service; problem resolution; and digital channels. The 2026 study is based on responses from 6,145 individual life insurance customers and was fielded from July 2025 through July 2026.

For more information about the U.S. Individual Life Insurance Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/u-s-individual-life-insurance-study/.

About JD Power

JD Power delivers mission-critical data, analytics and intelligence that help businesses improve customer experience and operational performance with confidence and clarity. Using proprietary, comprehensive data–including millions of consumer interactions and authoritative automotive datasets–combined with advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and deep industry expertise, JD Power enables leaders to respond to market shifts, make smarter decisions and drive measurable performance improvements.

As an objective source of deep insight into real-world customer interactions with brands and products, JD Power provides the independent intelligence organizations need to anticipate change, strengthen customer engagement and advance growth. Learn more at JDPower.com.

1 JD Power defines generational groups as Pre-Boomers (born before 1946); Boomers (1946-1964); Gen X (1965-1976); Gen Y (1977-1994); and Gen Z (1995-2008). Millennials (1982-1994) are a subset of Gen Y.

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