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New York Life insurance review and ratings 2025

New York Life is tied for third in our Best Life Insurance Companies ranking. The insurer has a low level of NAIC consumer complaints, an excellent AM Best score, and received high marks from surveyed customers.
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Our take

New York Life tied at the No. 3 spot with John Hancock in our 2025 Best Life Insurance Companies ranking. The insurer received 4.54 stars out of 5.0. In our customer survey, around 84% of respondents reported being satisfied with New York Life’s billing process and policy offerings. 

The insurer also received excellent scores from third-party rating agencies. New York Life has a low rate of customer complaints to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), which compiles this data from state regulators. AM Best gave New York Life an A++ (Superior), its highest rating for financial stability. 

Below is our review of the company and its entire life insurance product. 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.

New York Life
New York Life Ratings
Overall Rating: 4.54
Ease of service: 4.01
NAIC: 0.16
Customer Satisfaction: 3.97
AM Best Rating: A++
Effective date:

Pros and Cons

Pros:
  • Highest-possible AM Best score
  • Most surveyed customers plan to renew
  • Low level of consumer complaints to the NAIC
Cons:
  • Other companies had better customer recommendation scores

How New York Life scores on customer satisfaction

New York Life scored around 79% in our customer satisfaction survey, which is about average. In J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction study, New York Life came in slightly below the study’s average of 648 — it received 639 out of 1,000 points. 

CompanyPercent of customers that are satisfiedJ.D. Power overall satisfaction score (out of 1,000)
New York Life79%639
State Farm71%699
Guardian 93%685
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How much does New York Life cost? 

Because term life is generally the most straightforward and affordable life insurance product, we used premiums collected by CompuLife to evaluate New York Life’s term life offerings.

New York Life costs $353 a year for a 20-year term policy for a 35-year-old non-smoker with a $500,000 death benefit. That’s below the industry average cost of $377 per year.  

CompanyAverage annual premium
New York Life$353
Prudential$361
AAA$385

How New York Life scores on ease of service

It’s important that an insurance company offers easy-to-use services when it comes to filing a claim or paying premiums. Around 79% of New York Life survey respondents said they were satisfied with the insurer’s ease of service. That’s about average in our analysis, with some top competitors beating it out. 

CompanyPercent of respondents that are satisfied with ease of service
New York Life79%
Brighthouse86%
AIG90%

How New York Life scores on policy offerings

A wide range of policy offerings makes it easier for consumers to find the coverage they need.

The percentage of those satisfied with New York Life’s policy offerings is 84%. This puts it in the top half of companies in this category. 

CompanyPercent of respondents satisfied with the company’s policy offerings
New York Life84%
Northwestern Mutual78%
Guardian97%

How trustworthy is New York Life?

Policyholders want an insurance company they can trust. About 90% of surveyed customers said that New York Life is trustworthy. While this is a high score, several competitors, including Northwestern Mutual and Prudential, scored higher. 

CompanyPercent of survey respondents who find the company trustworthy
New York Life90%
State Farm 89%
Northwestern Mutual100%

Do New York Life customers plan to renew? 

Consumers who are loyal to a company offer testimony about the insurer’s performance. About 96% of New York Life customers responded to our survey that they plan to renew with the insurer. 

CompanyPercent of survey respondents who plan to renew
New York Life96%
Globe Life91%
Lincoln National100%

New York Life life product details

Other services offered

  • Individual disability insurance
  • Long-term care insurance
  • Annuities 
  • Investment vehicles 

Company background

New York Life

New York Life is one of the biggest mutual life insurance companies in the U.S. The insurer also has some of the highest financial ratings when compared to its peers.

New York Life’s history stretches back to 1841, when its predecessor – the Nautilus Insurance Company – was founded. Today, New York Life is one of the oldest and largest mutual insurance companies in the United States.

Policyholders share in the ownership and have received dividends based on the company’s investment performance every year since 1854.

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.

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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.

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