EPLI Insurance Cost: State and Industry Ranges (2026)
Median small-business EPLI (Employment Practices Liability Insurance) premium is $222/month ($2,664/year) per Insureon's 2024 cost report. Cost varies dramatically by state + industry — Texas/Florida office businesses pay ~$80-$120/mo; California restaurants $300-$600/mo; healthcare + education $250-$500+/mo.
State surcharge is the biggest cost driver. California, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey impose 30-100% surcharges on EPLI premium due to PAGA (CA), state wage-hour laws (NY/IL/NJ), and class-action exposure. Texas + most Southern states are typically the cheapest.
What EPLI covers: wrongful termination, discrimination (Title VII + ADA + ADEA + state equivalents), sexual harassment, retaliation, FLSA wage-and-hour claims (some policies — verify), and defense costs (often the biggest line item — defense alone runs $40K-$100K per claim). What it doesn't cover: bodily-injury, intentional acts, criminal acts, and breach of express contract. Required by most enterprise clients for any vendor with employees.
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Plug in a few business details and we'll show an industry-typical annual range for General Liability + Workers Compensation + Commercial Auto, with the source for every number. Real quotes vary by carrier, claims history, and underwriting — get an actual quote here.
Industry-typical market ranges
Sourced from III, NCCI, BLS, Insureon, NerdWallet — not from our quote form
Market ranges from published industry sources:
- Median EPLI: $222/month, $2,664/year (Insureon 2024)
- Annual range: $800-$10,000+/year — driven by state of operations, employee count, industry, revenue, prior claims, and coverage limits
- State multipliers: CA + NY + IL + NJ price 30-100% above average (PAGA + wage-hour exposure + plaintiff bar). TX + FL + most Midwest/South price 20-30% below average
- Industry-tier ranges (Insureon): Office services $80-$150/mo; Retail/restaurant $200-$400/mo; Healthcare/education $250-$500/mo; Manufacturing $150-$300/mo
- Coverage limits: $1M aggregate is typical floor; $2M-$5M common for businesses with 25+ employees or operations in CA/NY/IL/NJ; $5M+ for healthcare + financial services
- What EPLI covers: wrongful termination, discrimination (Title VII/ADA/ADEA/state), sexual harassment, retaliation, hostile work environment, FLSA wage-hour claims (some carriers — check sublimit), defense costs (often the bulk of any claim payout)
- What EPLI does NOT cover: bodily injury (GL/WC), intentional/criminal acts (excluded everywhere), breach of express contract (D&O may), workers-comp injuries (WC), benefits-related ERISA claims (Fiduciary Liability)
- Defense-cost reality: defense alone runs $40K-$100K per claim per Insureon; the claim doesn't have to win — just be filed — to consume your full limit if you're underinsured
- Discount stacking: documented HR policies, anti-harassment training, EAP/anonymous-reporting hotline can reduce premium 10-20% on standard markets
Recent rate-filing activity — 8 state filings across 1 commercial line
Commercial carriers can't charge whatever they want — each state's Department of Insurance must approve loss-cost filings before they take effect. These are primary-source, government-held records available on SERFF Filing Access. Cited below: the most-recent active filings affecting epli operations, with the real SERFF tracking number for each.
| Line | State | Overall change | Effective | SERFF tracking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WC | NV | -32.8% voluntary loss cost decrease (legislatively-driven; SB 317) | Oct 1, 2026 | NCCI-134895530 |
| WC | RI | Overall -2.5% voluntary (industrial); -12.9% federal classes | Aug 1, 2026 | NCCI-134743616 |
| WC | TX | Overall -3.8% adjustment to voluntary loss cost level | Jul 1, 2026 | NCCI-134745334 |
| WC | AR | Overall -9.8% voluntary loss cost; -9.8% assigned risk market | Jul 1, 2026 | NCCI-134876672 |
| WC | OH | -1% private-employer rate cut (~$10M aggregate; -50% cumulative since 2019) | Jul 1, 2026 | OH-BWC-2026-PA-1PCT |
| WC | SC | -0.4% voluntary loss cost decrease | Apr 1, 2026 | NCCI-134702984 |
| WC | NC | Industrial -7.8% / Federal -12.8% overall loss cost level | Apr 1, 2026 | NCRB-NC-2026-LC |
| WC | PA | -1.22% overall collectible loss cost decrease | Apr 1, 2026 | PCRB-PA-2026-C-387 |
Source: SERFF Filing Access (filingaccess.serff.com) — the official public-records interface for state Department of Insurance filings. Loss-cost changes shown are the overall bureau-wide change in each state; the actual impact on your quote depends on your class code, payroll, experience modifier, and carrier-specific loss-cost multiplier (LCM). Get a quote for your exact numbers.
EPLI insurance cost by state — 40 states with filed-rate data
Filed-rate activity differs by state — each link below opens a epli-specific page showing only that state's most-recent workers' comp and commercial-lines filings, with the real SERFF tracking numbers.
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