Car Insurance in Pullman: A College Town on the Palouse

Car insurance in Pullman averages about $1,401 a year, or roughly $117 a month — comfortably under the $2,172 Washington drivers pay on average statewide for full coverage. That's a solid number for a city whose population effectively doubles up every September.

Pullman has about 33,500 year-round residents. Washington State University alone enrolled 16,449 students in fall 2024 — nearly half the town's total population, arriving and leaving with the academic calendar. Few Washington cities see that kind of seasonal churn in who's actually behind the wheel.

What Washington Requires in Pullman

The legal floor is the same as anywhere else in the state: 25/50/10 liability, meaning $25,000 in bodily injury coverage per person, $50,000 per accident, and $10,000 for property damage. Washington also automatically includes at least $10,000 in personal injury protection and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage on every new policy — Pullman drivers keep both unless they sign a written decline.

• 25/50/10 liability: the statewide minimum, same as Seattle or Spokane.
• PIP by default: at least $10,000 in your own medical coverage, opt out only in writing.
• UM/UIM by default: protects against Washington's estimated 16.5% uninsured-driver rate.
• Comprehensive coverage: optional under state law, but worth a look given Palouse-region hail, ice, and deer strikes.

A Town Where Enrollment Nearly Matches Population

WSU Pullman is the flagship, largest campus in the system, offering more than 200 degree programs and awarding 8,218 degrees in 2024. About 40% of undergrads live in residence halls or university-owned apartments, which means the rest are renting locally and, in a lot of cases, driving locally too.

That mix brings a lot of newly-licensed and out-of-state drivers into Pullman every fall, followed by a sharp drop in traffic each summer when campus empties out. Insurers price ZIP codes on the driver pool they actually see, and Pullman's pool changes more than most.

The Intersection Everyone in Pullman Drives Through

SR-27 and SR-270 cross in downtown Pullman, and it's the busiest junction in the region — WSDOT counts put SR-270 at roughly 19,000 vehicles a day east of the intersection and SR-27 at about 16,000 vehicles a day south of it. Commuters, freight heading through the Palouse, and WSU game-day traffic all funnel across the same crossing.

That volume is exactly why WSDOT, the Palouse Regional Transportation Planning Organization, WSU, and local police formed the WSU Driver Safety Committee — a standing group focused on crash patterns and driver behavior specific to this corridor. It doesn't change the legal minimum on a Pullman policy, but it's the kind of local risk factor that shows up in claims data.

Eight Miles From the Idaho Border

Pullman sits just eight miles from Moscow, Idaho along SR-270 — home to the University of Idaho and Pullman's twin college town on the Palouse. Plenty of Pullman residents cross that state line daily for work, shopping, or classes, and WSU and University of Idaho students cross it constantly in both directions.

None of that changes the coverage a Pullman-based policy has to carry. Washington's 25/50/10 minimum and default PIP/UM coverage apply to the car and its Washington policy, not the roads it drives on — a detail worth knowing if most of your daily miles happen on the Idaho side of the line.

Getting the Best Rate in Pullman

Start by checking whether your policy still carries the default PIP and UM/UIM coverage — some drivers pay for both without realizing they could decline either in writing. If you're a student on a parent's out-of-state policy, ask specifically how a Pullman address affects the rate versus keeping the car registered elsewhere.

Compare quotes from at least three carriers before your next renewal. For help deciding how much coverage to carry beyond the state minimum, see our minimum vs. full coverage guide.