Operating under the holding company umbrella of Nationwide Mutual Insurance & Affiliated Companies, Nationwide Life Insurance functions as a subsidiary based in Ohio but operates in facilities located in five different states across the U.S.

The original company was first started in 1925 under the name and operation of the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, based on Ohio, with 1,000 policyholders (not to be confused with Farmers Insurance). Only agricultural farmers at the time were able to purchase the offered policies. Eventually, that original limitation was relaxed, widening the company's reach and market potential.

However, since the early days of the company, Nationwide has become a big enough operation to help Columbus Ohio build a professional team stadium in the late 1990s. Nationwide had the muscle to build the facility and far more, because the company has since become one of the biggest entities offering personal and business insurance and financial products globally. The main insurance policy business offered today by Nationwide still remains primarily property and casualty, but the company still continues to gain quite a bit of business in the life insurance market as well as retirement planning and financial advising.