Here are the 6 best life insurance companies of 2024 (2024)

For many people, life insurance is a necessary part of their financial plan. It can help protect your loved ones financially or pay off debt if you pass away unexpectedly. It can give you peace of mind, and it can also help you leave a financial legacy.

However, life insurance can be complicated. There are several different types of life insurance, and finding the right type for your needs is important. Term life insurance, where coverage expires after a certain number of years, is one popular type among people with young families looking to keep premiums down. Meanwhile, permanent insurance, like whole and universal life insurance policies, keep coverage in place no matter how long you live, and can even build cash value.

To help you choose the best coverage for your situation and needs, CNBC Select compared dozens of life insurance companies and ranked them based on factors like customer satisfaction as rated by JD Power's Individual Life Insurance Study, best ratings for financial stability as rated by rating agency AM Best, online usability, and whether or not an exam is required. (Seeour methodologyfor more information on how we chose the best life insurance companies.)

• Best overall: Northwestern Mutual
• Best for customer satisfaction: State Farm
• Best for seniors: Mutual of Omaha
• Best for term life insurance: Guardian
• Best for whole life insurance: MassMutual
• Best for universal life insurance: Pacific Life

Guardian shines with a top-tier A++ rating from AM Best for financial strength. For those looking for term insurance, Guardian makes it easy to get an idea of how much coverage could cost for those interested in term life policies with a tool on their website. Guardian’s level term insurance offers the option of conversion to a whole life policy in the first five years for free if your needs change, a perk that generally costs extra as a rider on other policies we considered.

• Do I need life insurance?
• How does life insurance work?
• What are the different types of life insurance?
• How much life insurance should a person have?
• How much does life insurance cost?
• What age is best to get life insurance?
• What is final expense insurance?
• Can I use life insurance coverage while I'm still alive?
• I have a life insurance policy through work — is that enough?

Life insurance functions differently depending on what type of coverage you choose.

Generally, you first receive your life insurance quotes and then you apply for a policy. After applying, your information is sent through underwriting, a process that determines your life insurance rates, and the amount of coverage you're eligible for. This is also where you'll undergo a medical exam if required. From there, your application will be approved or denied.

For term life insurance, you'll make monthly payments for a set number of years. If you survive to the end of the term, there's no payout. If you die before the end of the term, your loved ones receive a payout from the policy.

With whole or permanent life insurance policies, such as universal life insurance, you'll pay into the account, and the coverage will follow you for your entire life. With whole life insurance, the premiums and death benefit are fixed from the beginning of the policy. With universal life insurance, the premium and death benefit can both change throughout the life of the policy. At the end of your life, as long as there's value in the policy, there will be a payout to your family and loved ones.

Different policy options, called riders, can be added to personalize your coverage. Things like accelerated death benefit riders or long-term care provisions can be added to your policy to make it a better fit for your needs.

Here's what you need to know about several common types of life insurance:

• Term insurance: This coverage generally has the cheapest premiums and offers coverage for a set number of years. After that term expires, there's no coverage or death benefit.
• Whole life insurance: Whole life insurance policies follow you for your whole life, building a cash value. The family or organizations you choose, also called beneficiaries, will receive money when you die.
• Indexed universal life insurance: Like whole life insurance, this policy also lasts a lifetime and builds cash value, earning value based on index funds.
• Guaranteed universal life insurance: Like term policies, this type of permanent life insurance generally has a very high age as an end date where the policy will remain active, usually between ages 90 and 100. But, this policy generally doesn't accumulate much cash value, if any.
• Variable universal life insurance: A type of life insurance where you control how the account is invested. This type of life insurance generally doesn't have a guaranteed death benefit.

If you're not sure which type of life insurance coverage is best for you, speaking with a financial advisor or insurance agent could help you decide.

Life insurance costs vary largely based on your gender, age, health information and how much coverage you're buying. While small, guaranteed-issue policies might have lower premiums, a large whole life policy will have much higher premiums.

For term policies, which generally have the lowest premiums, the typical life insurance premium for a $500,000 term policy is about $26 per month for a 35-year-old female, and about $30 per month for a male of the same age according to Policygenius data.

For a whole life policy, premium payments are higher. Policygenius estimates that a 35-year-old male will pay about $571 per month to pay up their premiums by age 99.

There are some life insurance policies that allow for options that could be useful while you're alive. Some life insurance policies offer insurance riders which are add-ons to your coverage that could help cover the costs of things like long-term care or coverage to pay for terminal illnesses.

An accelerated death benefit is one of these provisions. This insurance rider could help while you're still alive if you're diagnosed with a chronic or terminal illness.

Additionally, some permanent coverage allows you to borrow against the cash value component built into the policy.

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To determine the best life insurance companies, CNBC Select collected data points on dozens of U.S. life insurance companies with a variety of policies.

When selecting the best life insurance companies, we focused on insurance companies that write individual policies. From there, we considered ratings from JD Power’s life insurance customer satisfaction ratings, AM Best financial strength ratings (which measure a company’s ability to pay on debts), and market share data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. We also considered the types of life insurance products offered, the number of riders available, the availability of online quotes, and medical exam requirements.

After considering the features listed above, we sorted recommendations by the best insurance companies for term life insurance, best for whole life insurance, best for universal life insurance, best for customer satisfaction, best life insurance for seniors, and the best life insurance company overall.

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