State Workers Comp Rates for Roofing: 2026 Guide

The short version

Workers comp for roofing is expensive almost everywhere. In 2026, roofing rates typically run $20 to $45 per $100 of payroll depending on the state and your experience mod. A few states push higher than that. A handful sit lower. And every state updates rates annually, so anything you read — including this article — needs to be confirmed with your broker before you bake it into bids.

This is a state-by-state directional guide. I'll walk through what drives the rate, how NCCI classification works, why your e-mod might be the single biggest lever you have, and how to fold WC into the fully-burdened cost you use to build piece rates. If you want to plug real numbers in as you read, open the workers comp estimator in another tab.

A quick note on where I'm coming from

I ran roofing crews before building Piece Work Pro. Workers comp is one of the two or three line items that kept margins under pressure every month. Roofers pay some of the highest WC rates in construction, and the check you write every month is big enough that a single audit mistake or a couple of claims can move your profit margin by multiple points. That is why this line item earns its own deep-dive article.

What actually drives your WC rate

Four things set your final rate:

1. Classification code. For most roofing work, that's NCCI code 5551 (Roofing — All Kinds). In monopolistic states the code number differs but the concept is the same.
2. Base rate by state. Every state or rating bureau publishes a loss cost or manual rate per $100 of payroll for each class code. This is the starting point.
3. Carrier loss cost multiplier (LCM). In NCCI states, the carrier multiplies the loss cost by their own LCM to get the manual premium. That's where carriers compete with each other.
4. Experience modification factor (e-mod). This is your multiplier based on your claims history compared to peers. Under 1.00 is good. Over 1.00 means you pay more than average.

Final rate per $100 of payroll = (Loss cost) x (LCM) x (e-mod) x (any schedule credits/debits)

So on a $30 loss cost, a 1.10 LCM, and a 0.90 e-mod, you're looking at $30 x 1.10 x 0.90 = $29.70 per $100 of payroll. A mid-sized roofer with $600,000 in annual payroll would pay $29.70 × 6,000 = $178,200 a year.

NCCI states versus monopolistic states

Most states use NCCI (National Council on Compensation Insurance) to produce loss costs and rating rules. A few states have their own independent rating bureaus:

• California — WCIRB
• New York — NYCIRB
• Pennsylvania — PCRB
• Delaware — DCRB

Texas is a special case — it uses NCCI loss costs, but is the only state where private employers can legally opt out of carrying workers comp altogether (regulated by TDI). If you opt out in Texas, you lose the liability shield WC provides and you are fully exposed to employee lawsuits.

And four states are monopolistic — you can only buy WC from the state fund:

• Ohio — BWC
• North Dakota — WSI
• Washington — L&I
• Wyoming — state fund

Monopolistic states don't let you shop carriers. Your rate is whatever the state fund charges, adjusted for your industry and claims history. If you do work across a state line into a monopolistic state, you need a separate policy for that state — your NCCI policy from home doesn't follow you across.

Directional state rate ranges for roofing in 2026

These are directional. I am not publishing authoritative 2026 rates because rates change every year, differ by carrier, and depend heavily on your e-mod and any schedule credits. Use these tiers as a rough map, then confirm with your broker.

Tier	Typical 2026 range (per $100 payroll)	Example states
High	$35 – $50+	FL, CA, NY, NJ, IL
Mid-high	$25 – $35	TX, GA, NC, TN, AZ, CO
Mid	$18 – $25	PA, VA, MI, MN
Lower	$12 – $20	ID, UT, IN, NE, KS

Monopolistic states (OH, ND, WA, WY) aren't directly comparable to the tiers above because rates come from the state fund on a different basis. WA publishes hourly rates; OH uses a manual rate schedule that's effectively mid-tier after experience modification; ND and WY are generally lower than the national average. Confirm monopolistic-state rates directly with the state fund.

A few observations:

• Florida tends to run at or near the top of the country for roofing. Hurricane exposure, year-round steep-slope work, and a heavy claims history keep rates high.
• California is a high-rate state for roofing partly because of WCIRB rules and partly because the state has strict benefit levels and a mature litigation environment.
• New York has its own rating bureau and tends to price roofing aggressively, especially around NYC.
• Idaho, Utah, and a few Midwest states tend to be more reasonable because loss costs are lower and schedule credits are more available.

Again — these are directional. Get quotes before trusting any number.

How the e-mod actually hits your wallet

Here's a worked example to make it real.

Take a roofer in a mid-tier state with:

• Base rate (loss cost x LCM): $25 per $100 payroll
• Annual payroll: $800,000

At a 1.00 e-mod, premium = $25 x ($800,000 / $100) = $200,000 At a 0.85 e-mod, premium = $200,000 x 0.85 = $170,000 At a 1.25 e-mod, premium = $200,000 x 1.25 = $250,000

The difference between a 0.85 and a 1.25 is $80,000 a year on the same payroll. That's why safety programs, return-to-work protocols, and good claim management aren't optional — they directly drive your mod.

Three things that move your e-mod:

• Frequency (how often claims happen) hurts more than severity in most rating formulas
• Open claims stay on your mod longer than closed ones
• Reporting speed affects reserves — if a claim sits for months before you report it, the reserve can balloon

Why roofing WC eats so much margin

Let's take a real piece rate scenario. Say you pay a crew $75 per square installed. On a mid-tier state with a $25 per $100 rate and a 1.00 e-mod:

• For every $100 in piece rate wages, you pay $25 in WC
• So on $75 of piece rate pay, WC adds $18.75
• True piece rate labor cost is $93.75 per square — not $75

If you bid the roof thinking labor is $75 a square, you miss by 25 percent. This is a common way piece rate contractors end up wondering why the books don't match the per-square math. The piece rate check is the visible part. The WC, payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, and benefits are the invisible part, and for roofers the invisible part is enormous.

If you haven't already built a fully-burdened labor rate, read how to calculate labor burden for construction and then what a fully-burdened labor rate looks like for construction. Those two articles pair with this one.

Monopolistic state quirks

Working in a monopolistic state is different enough to call out.

Ohio BWC. Uses its own rate schedule, and you can qualify for group rating programs that can dramatically lower premium if you join one through a trade association. Ohio also uses payroll cap rules on high earners.

Washington L&I. Rates are quoted per hour, not per $100 of payroll. Roofing rates in WA commonly run $3 to $6+ per hour worked, and workers pay a small portion. When you convert that to a per-$100 number it's in the same ballpark as high-tier NCCI states.

Wyoming and North Dakota. Smaller state funds, rates fluctuate year to year. Less administrative overhead but fewer options if you disagree with a rating or a claim decision.

If you're expanding across state lines, talk to your broker about an "all states" endorsement and confirm whether the target state is monopolistic before the first crew crosses the line.

How WC gets baked into piece rates

Here's the part most small roofers get wrong. They set a per-square rate based on what it takes to attract crews, then look at profit at the end of the year and wonder where the money went.

The right order is:

1. Decide what you want to pay per hour equivalent (say, $35/hour blended)
2. Back into a per-square rate based on realistic daily output
3. Add WC, payroll taxes, GL, and benefits as a burden percentage
4. Add overhead and profit markup on top
5. That's your bid number — not your piece rate

Example:

• Target wage equivalent: $35/hour x 9 hour day = $315/day
• Output: 4.5 squares/day per roofer
• Piece rate: $70/square (roughly — leave a little upside for fast installers)
• WC at $25 per $100 payroll: $17.50 per square
• Payroll taxes (FICA, FUTA, SUTA): ~10% = $7/square
• GL, tools, other overhead allocated: $8/square
• Fully-burdened labor cost per square: ~$102.50

If you bid the roof at $85 a square thinking you've got $10 of margin, you're actually $17.50 underwater per square. Multiply that by 30 squares and that's $525 of loss on a single roof. Over a season, it's the whole year.

The workers comp estimator and the labor burden calculator walk you through the math if you want to plug your own numbers in.

How to lower your WC cost

A few levers that actually work:

Drive your e-mod down

This is the biggest one. Write a safety manual, do toolbox talks, document training, run a return-to-work program so claims close as medical-only instead of lost-time. A single lost-time claim can spike your mod for three years.

Shop your policy every year

In NCCI states, carrier LCMs differ. A 1.20 LCM versus a 0.95 LCM is a 26 percent difference on the same loss cost. Brokers who don't re-market your policy are leaving money on the table.

Audit your payroll classifications

Not every hour of every worker belongs in 5551. Office staff, estimators, and dedicated sales people should be coded separately. A misclassified office worker at roofing rates can cost you $6,000+ a year per head.

Clean up 1099 versus W-2 treatment

This one trips up more roofers than any other. If your "1099 subs" look like W-2 employees (you supply tools, set hours, direct the work), the carrier will pull that payroll back into your audit. Read W-2 vs 1099 piece work crews for the test carriers apply.

Get certificates of insurance from real subs

If you use actual subs, collect their COIs every year. If they don't have their own WC, their payroll lands on your audit whether you wrote them a 1099 or not.

Use safety credits and schedule credits

Many carriers offer 5 to 15 percent schedule credits for formal safety programs, drug testing, and documented training. Ask.

Budgeting for WC through the year

A practical tip: WC premium is usually paid on estimated payroll, then trued up at audit. If you under-estimate and have a big year, the audit bill can be ugly.

A common hedge is to set aside 2 to 4 percent of every roofing check into a WC reserve account so the audit invoice doesn't surprise you. A shop that grew 30 percent and under-reported estimated payroll could easily see a $30K–$60K trueup for a mid-sized roofer.

Putting it together

Workers comp for roofing in 2026 is expensive, but it's manageable if you know the levers. Know your class code. Know your base rate. Watch your e-mod like you watch your bank balance. Shop carriers. Classify your crew correctly. And bake the real number into your piece rates instead of pretending WC doesn't exist.

If you want a single place to run the labor math so WC and the rest of the burden get captured in every bid, that's what I built Piece Work Pro for. You set the piece rates, track actual output, and the burdened cost gets applied automatically so you know whether each job is actually making money.

Related reading:

• How to calculate overtime for piece rate workers
• The biggest mistake roofers make with piece rate overtime