Workers' Compensation Loss Costs by State: 2026 Filed-Rate Study

The same job costs a wildly different amount to insure depending on the state. Using real filed advisory loss costs — the regulator-published starting point every carrier builds its workers' comp rate on — this study ranks 13 states on the industry's baseline class code, Clerical Office (NCCI 8810), and shows how far the number stretches once you move into higher-hazard trades.

In NC, a roofer's filed workers'-comp loss cost is 171× a clerical worker's — $6.84 vs $0.04 per $100 of payroll.

Source: NCCI & independent-bureau advisory loss-cost filings and state Department of Insurance records (2025–2026 effective dates). A loss cost is the pure claims cost per $100 of payroll; a carrier's final rate = loss cost × its filed loss-cost multiplier (typically 1.20–1.50) × your experience modifier. These are filed advisory figures, not a quote.

Clerical (8810) loss cost by state — ranked low to high

Advisory-loss-cost states only. Click a column heading to re-sort.

Clerical (8810) loss cost by state — charted

How far a roofer's loss cost outruns a clerical worker's

Same payroll, same state — the class code is the whole difference. Bars are roofing (5551); the navy tick is the clerical (8810) baseline on the same scale.

Why the same class code costs so much more in some states

Workers' comp is priced per state, not nationally. Each state's rating bureau (usually the NCCI, or an independent bureau like California's WCIRB, New York's NYCIRB, or Pennsylvania's PCRB) files an advisory loss cost for every class code, reflecting that state's injury frequency, medical-cost inflation, wage levels, and benefit rules. A clerical worker in a low-benefit, low-medical-cost state can carry a loss cost a fraction of the same worker's in a state with richer statutory benefits — which is exactly the spread the table above quantifies.

The gap widens dramatically as hazard rises. Clerical office (8810) is the industry's floor; move to residential carpentry (5645) or nursery and grounds work (0005) and the loss cost can be dozens of times higher for identical payroll. That is why a contractor and an accountant in the same city pay such different premiums — the class code, not the address, drives most of it.

Administered & state-fund states — a separate table

5 states don't publish an advisory loss cost. Monopolistic state funds (like Ohio's BWC) and administered-pricing states (like Florida, and the independent bureaus in NJ/WI) file a final rate with carrier expense and profit already built in — so no loss-cost multiplier is applied. Because those numbers aren't comparable to the advisory loss costs above, they get their own table and are never mixed into the ranking.

Market context — carrier profitability by state (NAIC loss ratios, 51 states)

A different metric, from a different source — kept deliberately separate so the two are never conflated. The tables above are what a business pays (filed loss costs). This is how profitable workers' comp is for carriers in each state: the loss ratio (incurred losses ÷ premiums earned) from the NAIC 2023 Report on Profitability by Line by State. Lower loss ratio = more profitable for insurers, which tends to keep pricing competitive. Nationally, WC ran a 45.1% loss ratio in 2023.

Source: NAIC 2023 Report on Profitability by Line by State (public regulator data). Loss ratio and underwriting profit measure carrier economics, not what a policyholder is charged.

Frequently asked questions

Methodology

Every figure in the ranked table is a filed advisory loss cost pulled from a primary regulator source — an NCCI or independent-bureau filing, or a state DOI record — with the tracking reference and effective date shown on each row so any number can be verified. We rank on class code 8810 because it is filed in essentially every jurisdiction and is the universal comparison baseline. Values are shown per $100 of payroll as filed; we apply no loss-cost multiplier here, so these are advisory inputs, not carrier rates or quotes. Monopolistic state-fund states and administered-pricing states publish a final rate rather than an advisory loss cost, so they are reported in their own table above and are never blended into this ranking. States without a filed 8810 loss cost we could verify are omitted rather than estimated — pending beats a guess.

Data Study #1 · 2026 Edition · Get Business Coverage. Advisory loss costs are filed inputs and do not represent final premiums. Compiled 2026 from public regulator filings.