Most people in North Mississippi can tell you their homeowners deductible off the top of their head. Fewer can tell you their wind and hail deductible — and on a lot of policies written in this state, those are two different numbers. The second one is usually bigger.

That gap is where the surprise lives. Here’s how it actually works, in real dollars, on real local home values.

Your policy may carry two deductibles, not one

A homeowners policy has an all-other-perils deductible — the flat amount that applies to a kitchen fire, a burst pipe, a theft. Many policies written in Mississippi also carry a separate wind and hail deductible that applies only to loss caused by wind or hail.

Same policy. Same house. Two different numbers depending on what broke it.

If a tree limb comes through the roof in a straight-line wind event, the wind and hail deductible is the one you pay. If the same roof is damaged by a fire, the all-other-perils deductible applies. Read your declarations page and you’ll see both listed, often several lines apart.

Flat dollar versus percentage — this is the part that surprises people

An all-other-perils deductible is usually a flat dollar amount. $1,000. $2,500. It says what it says.

A wind and hail deductible is often a percentage instead — and here’s the thing most homeowners get backwards: that percentage is applied to your dwelling coverage limit, not to the amount of the claim. A 1% wind and hail deductible on a home insured for $200,000 is not 1% of your $6,000 roof claim. It’s 1% of $200,000.

It also moves. Every year your dwelling limit gets adjusted for rebuild costs, your percentage deductible quietly gets bigger too. The percentage stays put; the dollars don’t.

The local math, in real dollars

The median value of an owner-occupied home in Tishomingo County is $145,100, and in Lee County it’s $199,500. Run the percentages on homes insured at those amounts and the difference stops being abstract:

A home insured for $145,100:

  • 1% wind and hail deductible — $1,451
  • 2% wind and hail deductible — $2,902

A home insured for $199,500:

  • 1% wind and hail deductible — $1,995
  • 2% wind and hail deductible — $3,990

Now set that against a flat $1,000 all-other-perils deductible on the same policy. On the Tishomingo home, going from that flat $1,000 to a 2% wind deductible means you’re out of pocket $1,902 more before the policy pays a dime. On the Lee County home, it’s $2,990 more.

Same house. Same premium notice. Nobody sends you a letter explaining it.

Why the wind deductible is the one most likely to get tested

Wind and hail accounted for the largest share of homeowners claims in the country — 2.8 percent of insured homes had such a loss, with an average claim severity of $14,747. It isn’t an exotic peril. It’s the ordinary one.

And this is storm country. Mississippi recorded 111 tornadoes in 2025, fourth in the nation, with 8 fatalities. Tishomingo County has absorbed 19 federal disaster declarations, 8 of them severe storms. The risk here isn’t constant — it’s episodic. That’s precisely why people under-insure for it. Nothing happens for six years and the deductible on page two starts to feel theoretical.

It isn’t theoretical. It’s the number you write a check for.

What to check on your own policy — a five-minute audit

  1. Find both deductibles on your declarations page. All-other-perils, and wind/hail. Confirm they’re actually separate.
  2. Check whether the wind/hail deductible is a flat dollar amount or a percentage. If it reads “1%” or “2%,” it’s tied to your dwelling limit.
  3. Do the multiplication yourself. Dwelling limit times the percentage. Write the number down. That’s your real out-of-pocket on a storm claim.
  4. Ask whether you could cover that number tomorrow. Not in six months. Tomorrow, while a tarp is on the roof.
  5. Ask what a lower percentage would cost, and what a higher one would save. Both directions are worth pricing before you decide.

A higher deductible can lower your premium. That’s a real trade, and for some households it’s the right one — if the money to cover it is actually sitting somewhere. The mistake isn’t choosing a 2% deductible. The mistake is having one and not knowing it.

Deductible structure is one of the levers we look at on every home quote — alongside dwelling limit, roof age, and how your coverage responds to the storms this part of the state actually gets.

We’re not trying to be the fastest quote in your inbox. We want to be the one that’s actually right — which means walking through what your wind deductible costs you before storm season, not after. We shop 20+ carriers across Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, and we’ll tell you in plain English what changes and what doesn’t.

Pull out your declarations page and call or text us at 662-454-7831. A real person picks up, and there’s no runaround.