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State Health Compare

Percent of annual premiums contributed by employees

Measure Overview

A health insurance premium is a fee paid monthly (or annually) to maintain insurance coverage. As explained by SHADAC, in employer-sponsored insurance (ESI), “the cost of premiums is often split between employee and employers, with the latter typically paying a larger portion of the share.” The portion that employees pay is called the employee contribution. 

The share of ESI premiums paid by employees across single and family insurance policies has been increasing, meaning that employee contributions to ESI premiums represent a growing share of workers’ incomes. This, combined with an increasing cost of living and other increasing costs associated with ESI (like health insurance premiums), means that millions of Americans covered by employer-sponsored insurance are impacted financially. With more funds put towards maintaining health care coverage, some find that they have less to spend on other necessities, like housing, food, and accessing health care services. Tracking employee contributions to ESI premiums is a key step in understanding and comparing the cost of ESI plans between states and over time. This can help to identify and address financial impacts of and barriers to health coverage and care.

Percent of Annual Premiums Contributed by Employees by State: Breakdowns and Data Source


State Health Compare provides annual, state-level estimates of the percent of annual premiums contributed by employees using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance Component (MEPS-IC). This measure can be broken down by plan type: Single Plan and Family Plan.

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