Enter your state, industry, and payroll to get an instant estimate of your workers' compensation insurance cost — no broker call needed.
Workers' compensation insurance premiums are not one-size-fits-all. Your cost depends on four key factors: where your business operates (state), what your employees do (class code), how much you pay them (payroll), and your claims history (experience modifier).
The class code rate is the base cost per $100 of payroll for a specific type of work. Rates are set by state rating bureaus (mostly NCCI) and vary significantly by risk level — a clerical worker costs roughly $0.21 per $100 of payroll, while a roofer can cost $35+ per $100.
| Industry | Class Code | Base Rate / $100 | Risk Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clerical / Office | 8810 | $0.21 | Low |
| Outside Sales | 8742 | $0.45 | Low |
| Retail Store | 8017 | $1.28 | Low |
| Restaurant / Food Service | 9082 | $2.85 | Medium |
| Janitorial / Cleaning | 9014 | $5.90 | Medium |
| Landscaping / Lawn Care | 0042 | $9.50 | Medium |
| Trucking / Long Haul | 7231 | $12.50 | High |
| Carpentry (residential) | 5645 | $22.50 | High |
| Roofing | 5551 | $35.20 | Very High |
Workers' comp is regulated at the state level. California, New York, and Illinois have some of the highest rates. North Carolina, Indiana, and Arkansas tend to have lower rates. Four states (North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, Wyoming) operate exclusive state funds — private insurers cannot sell workers' comp there.
Understanding the claims process matters as much as understanding the premium — a single mishandled claim can move your experience modifier for the next three policy years, so knowing what's expected of you at each step is worth more than any rate-shopping trick.
Most states require the employer to report a workplace injury to their carrier within a set window, commonly 24 to 72 hours, and to file a first report of injury with the state workers' comp board within 7 to 10 days. Missing these deadlines can trigger state penalties even if the claim itself is legitimate and uncontested. Get the injured worker to appropriate medical care first — reporting paperwork is secondary to treatment, but it cannot be skipped or delayed indefinitely.
The carrier's adjuster determines whether the injury is compensable — meaning it arose out of and in the course of employment. Disputed claims (pre-existing conditions, off-the-clock injuries, disputed causation) can take weeks longer to resolve and often involve an independent medical exam. A documented safety program and clear incident reporting procedures speed this step up considerably and reduce the odds of litigation.
Once a claim is accepted, the carrier sets a "reserve" — an estimated total cost of the claim, including medical treatment and indemnity (lost wage) payments. This reserve amount, not just the final paid amount, feeds directly into your experience modifier calculation the following year. This is why two employers with identical actual claim costs can end up with different e-mods: the one with a claim that was reserved conservatively and closed quickly usually comes out ahead of one with a claim left open with a high reserve for years.
Claims stay open until the employee reaches maximum medical improvement and either returns to work or is deemed permanently disabled. A formalized return-to-work program — offering modified or light duty rather than leaving an injured employee home on indemnity payments — is one of the few claims-management levers an employer directly controls, and it's consistently cited by underwriters as a top factor in keeping future premiums down.
Rates shown are national averages. Your actual rate depends on state, experience, and carrier.