Insure.com ranks 2025’s best insurers. See the winners.

John Hancock life insurance review and ratings 2025

John Hancock tied for third place in our 2025 Best Life Insurance Companies ranking, receiving 4.54 out of 5 stars. We analyzed the NAIC complaint index, AM Best scores, and surveyed customers.

Please enter valid zip Compare top carriers in your area
 | Updated on:
insure logo

Why you can trust Insure.com

quality icon

Quality Verified

At Insure.com, we are committed to providing the timely, accurate and expert information consumers need to make smart insurance decisions. All our content is written and reviewed by industry professionals and insurance experts. Our team carefully vets our rate data to ensure we only provide reliable and up-to-date insurance pricing. We follow the highest editorial standards. Our content is based solely on objective research and data gathering. We maintain strict editorial independence to ensure unbiased coverage of the insurance industry.

Our take

John Hancock tied for third place with New York Life in our 2025 Best Life Insurance Companies ranking, receiving 4.54 out of 5 stars. In our customer service survey, 87% of respondents said they were satisfied with the company, which is above average. 

Credit-rating agency AM Best gave John Hancock a score of A+ (Superior), which is the second-highest a company can get. This indicates that John Hancock is a financially strong company. Of the customers we surveyed, around 97% reported that they plan to renew their policies. John Hancock also received some of the best survey scores for customer satisfaction in the billing process. 

Below is our review of the full company and its line of life insurance products. It’s based on third-party metrics and an in-depth survey of insurance customers. Find the full methodology here, including an explanation of our survey scores.

John Hancock
John Hancock Ratings
Overall Rating: 4.54
Ease of service: 4.37
NAIC: 0.38
Customer Satisfaction: 4.23
AM Best Rating: A+
Effective date:

Pros and Cons

Pros:
  • Above-average scores in customer satisfaction, billing process, and policy offerings
  • Strong AM Best rating
Cons:
  • Above-average premiums

How John Hancock scores on customer satisfaction

Of the customers surveyed, 87% say they’re satisfied with John Hancock. This is an above-average score in our analysis. However, John Hancock scored slightly below average in the J.D. Power customer satisfaction study, receiving 644 points out of 1,000. The industry average is 648.

CompanyPercent of customers that are satisfiedJ.D. Power overall satisfaction score (out of 1,000)
John Hancock87%644
Guardian93%685
New York Life79%639
life-insurance

QuickTake

See more >

How much does John Hancock cost? 

John Hancock’s term life insurance policies cost more than the industry average of $377 per year. According to our analysis of rates, John Hancock charges an average of $415 a year for a 20-year term policy for a 35-year-old non-smoker with a $500,000 death benefit.

CompanyAverage annual premium
John Hancock$415
New York Life$353
AAA$385

How John Hancock scores on ease of service

Customers need to easily access their policy documents and get service when it’s needed.

John Hancock ranks around average in this category, with 80% of customers saying they’re satisfied with the ease of service.

CompanyPercent of respondents that are satisfied with ease of service
John Hancock80%
AIG90%
State Farm73%

How John Hancock scores on policy offerings

John Hancock scored above average in our survey, meaning most customers are satisfied with the insurer’s policy offerings. This is important because a wide range of offerings ensures policyholders get the specific coverage they need.

CompanyPercent of respondents satisfied with the company’s policy offerings
John Hancock87%
Brighthouse81%
Guardian97%

How trustworthy is John Hancock?

You want a company you can trust with your life insurance policy. In our survey, 90% of customers said they trust John Hancock. While this is a good score, several insurers scored higher with their customers. 

CompanyPercent of survey respondents who find the company trustworthy
John Hancock90%
Prudential99%
MassMutual95%

Do John Hancock customers plan to renew? 

Most John Hancock customers we surveyed plan to renew, with 97% responding as such. This indicates that customers are loyal to the company and satisfied with its services. However, a few insurers in our analysis scored 100%. 

CompanyPercent of survey respondents who plan to renew
John Hancock97%
Mutual of Omaha100%
Brighthouse81%

John Hancock product details

  • Term life insurance
  • Universal life insurance
  • Indexed universal life insurance
  • Variable universal life insurance

Other services offered

  • Investments & retirement plans
  • College savings plans
  • Travel insurance
  • Annuities

States where John Hancock offers coverage

Graph
Table
States where John Hancock offers coverage
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Washington D.C.
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DC DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY
Available
Not available

Note: The only state John Hancock is not available in is New York. Products and services vary by location.

Company background

John Hancock

John Hancock was founded in 1862, named after the founding father and patriot. The company, based in Boston, Massachusetts, has served customers nationwide for 160 years. In 2004, John Hancock merged with ManuLife, creating North America’s second-largest life insurance company at the time.

Resources and Methodology

Sources:

J.D. Power. “Individual Life Insurance Study.” Accessed March 2025.

Methodology

Insure.com in the fall of 2024 surveyed more than 1,750 insurance consumers (973 people with life insurance). The survey was conducted by online market research company Slice MR.

Respondents were asked to name their life insurer and then grade it in the following categories: 

  • Customer satisfaction
  • Ease of service
  • Policy offerings
  • Billing process
  • Adding policy riders
  • Seniors/older adults
  • Middle-aged adults
  • Young people
  • Term life policies
  • Whole life policies
  • People with pre-existing conditions
  • People who are overweight
  • People who don’t want to take a medical exam

The percentage of respondents who said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their insurer is presented in the results.

We then asked respondents to provide a yes or no response to indicate their agreement with the following statements:

  1. I plan to keep my coverage with my current life insurance company
  2. I would recommend my life insurance company to others
  3. I trust my life insurance company

The percentage of respondents who said yes is presented in the results.

The editors compiled the survey results and then selected – based on the number of survey responses – the top companies for further evaluation.

They then collected AM Best data, which measure financial strength, and National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ complaint data, which ranks a company by the number of customer complaints it receives. The Insure.com team identified the NAIC codes of each underwriting company for each carrier and calculated a weighted average complaint index, weighted by the annual written premium. The associated NAIC complaint index score was used in the calculations.They also collected insurance rate data from Compulife.

With the help of Prof. David Marlett, Ph.D., Managing Director of the Brantley Risk and Insurance Center at Appalachian State University, the editors created a rating system to determine which insurance companies were best in each sector. For life insurers, we took the following and gave each a weight.

  • Survey: 60% of the total score (10% customer satisfaction, 10% ease of service, 10% policy offerings, 10% recommended, 10% policy retention and 10% trust)
  • AM Best: 25% of total score
  • NAIC: 15% of total score

Each insurer was awarded between half a star and 5 stars. No company in the ranking received less than half a star in any category, and 5 stars was the most any insurer could receive.

×
Please enter valid zip
Compare Quotes
author image
Kara McGinley

 
  

Kara McGinley has over 6 years of experience writing, editing, and reporting on insurance and the insurance industry. She's been a licensed property and casualty expert in New York since 2021. Kara has been featured in several national publications, including USA TODAY, MSN, LifeHacker, Kiplinger, PropertyCasualty360, Policygenius, Rental Housing Journal, and WRAL.

Similar Companies

ZIP Code Please enter valid ZIP
On this page