How much life insurance do you need? This free life insurance coverage calculator gives you a number in about two minutes.
Enter what your family would need to replace, and what they already have. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, and there is no email to give.
Start Your Estimate: Free Life Insurance Needs Calculator
Fill in what you know. Only the first two fields are required — leave anything else blank to skip it.
Estimated life insurance coverage needed
This is an estimate based on the information you entered.
This calculator provides an estimate for educational purposes only. It is not financial or insurance advice. Coverage needs vary with individual circumstances. Consult a licensed insurance professional for personalized guidance.
The figure above is an estimate, not a quote. It adds up what your family would need — income, debts, education and final expenses — then subtracts what they already have. Most calculators skip that subtraction. It is usually why their numbers come out too high.
How the estimate is worked out
Six inputs. The figure you choose matters more than the math.
- Annual income. Your gross pay, before tax.
- Years of income to replace. The biggest input, and the easiest to guess wrong. A good default is the number of years until your youngest child is grown. If your mortgage runs longer, use that.
- Outstanding debts. Anything that would not disappear: the mortgage, car loans, credit cards, private student loans, and any debt someone co-signed.
- Education fund. Only fill this in if you plan to pay for it. If not, leave it blank.
- Final expenses. Funeral and estate costs. Ten to fifteen thousand dollars is typical.
- Existing savings and assets. Savings, investments, and any life insurance you already have, including cover through work. This gets subtracted. Most calculators leave it out.
Why not just use ten times your income
The ten-times rule is popular because it is easy to remember. It is not accurate.
It gives too much cover to people with savings, no children, or a paid-off house, because it ignores what you already own. It gives too little to people with a big mortgage or several young children, because a multiple of your pay cannot know about them. And for a parent who earns nothing it returns almost zero, which shows it is measuring the wrong thing.
A needs analysis is not harder. It just asks what the money is for.
What this calculator leaves out
Every estimate makes assumptions. Here are ours.
- Inflation and investment returns. The number is in today’s dollars. We do not assume the payout gets invested. Over a typical term the two effects mostly cancel out, and doing it properly needs guesses about future returns that nobody can make for you.
- Taxes. A death benefit is usually free of federal income tax, so we do not reduce the figure. If the money is invested afterwards, that income is taxable.
- Social Security survivor benefits. These can be large, and they lower what you need. We leave them out because the amount depends on your work record. Check yours at ssa.gov.
- Your own situation. The math treats every family the same. In practice the answer moves — see how the answer changes with your situation.
Treat the result as a starting point. It is a number to shop with, not a number to defend.
What to do with the number
How long do you need it? Match the term to the obligation: until the children are grown, or the mortgage is paid off. Our guide to term life insurance policy options covers the choices, and it is worth knowing what happens when a term policy ends before you pick a length.
Which type fits? For most families it is level term. If you are not sure, the two-minute quiz will point you at an answer.
Which company? Start with financial strength, then compare the price for your health and the conversion terms. See the best term life insurance companies, or learn to check an insurer’s financial strength yourself.