Statutory Financial Information and Dividend Limitations (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
Statutory Financial Information and Dividend Limitations
Restricted net assets	$ 25,000,000,000
Amount per statutory accounting practices
Net income	3,211,000,000	2,470,000,000	171,000,000
Capital and surplus	18,276,000,000	17,279,000,000
Dividend Limitations
Action level RBC expressed as a multiplier of authorized control level RBC, which if not achieved would require specific actions to be taken	2
Allstate Insurance Company ("AIC")
Amount per statutory accounting practices
Capital and surplus	17,810,000,000
Dividend Limitations
Dividends paid	1,950,000,000
Maximum amount of dividends in 2014 without prior approval	2,470,000,000
Advance notice period required for payment of dividend in excess of amount available for distribution without prior approval	30 days
Unassigned surplus excluding unrealized appreciation from investments	11,990,000,000
Authorized control level RBC	2,690,000,000
Property-Liability
Amount per statutory accounting practices
Net income	2,707,000,000	2,014,000,000	213,000,000
Capital and surplus	15,256,000,000	13,743,000,000
Allstate Financial
Amount per statutory accounting practices
Net income	504,000,000	456,000,000	(42,000,000)
Capital and surplus	$ 3,020,000,000	$ 3,536,000,000