Tennessee Concrete Workers Comp Rates (2026)
Tennessee does not publish its concrete class figures online. Across the 26 states that do, the median typical premium is about $3.84 per $100 of payroll. Ask a carrier or the state's rating bureau for the current Tennessee figure.
No official Tennessee figure is available online, so the numbers below use the US median of the states that publish one.
Tennessee class code for concrete
- 5213: Concrete Construction NOC
- 5215 (Concrete Work - Incidental to the Construction of Private Residence)
- 5221 (Concrete or Cement Work - Floors, Driveways, Yards or Sidewalks & Drivers)
Concrete work involves heavy lifting, silica dust from cutting and grinding, skin burns from wet cement, and equipment hazards from mixers, vibrators and pumps.
What comp costs per concrete finisher in Tennessee
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 3,920 cement masons and concrete finishers on payrolls in Tennessee (May 2025), the 18th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $23.04 an hour, 16% below the US median of $27.41.
Cement masons and concrete finishers make up about the same share of Tennessee jobs as they do nationally (location quotient 0.90).
At the US median of $3.84 per $100 of payroll (Tennessee does not publish its figure online), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.88 for every hour worked, or $1,840 a year full time. A 4-person crew comes to roughly $7,361 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Tennessee pay runs from $17.30 an hour at the 10th percentile to $29.06 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.66 an hour on a new hire and $1.12 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Tennessee
- Coverage required: 5+ employees; 1 for construction
- Owners and sole proprietors: Construction owners may exempt themselves via the state registry; employees must be covered
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive to day one if disability lasts more than 14 days
- Penalty for going without: Civil penalties $50-$10,000 or 1.5x the avoided premium; an injury while uninsured escalates to a misdemeanor
Tennessee runs an Uninsured Employers Fund, financed by penalties, that pays workers injured by illegally uninsured employers.
Tennessee vs neighboring states
- Alabama: about $3.75 per $100 of payroll
- Georgia: about $5.42 per $100 of payroll
- Missouri: about $5.19 per $100 of payroll
- North Carolina: about $3.46 per $100 of payroll
Tennessee does not publish its figure, so the first row is the US median. Among neighbors that publish, North Carolina is the cheapest for concrete comp at about $3.46 and Georgia the most expensive at about $5.42 per $100 of payroll.
If your crews work across the line, list those states under item 3.A or 3.C of your policy before the job starts. Rates follow the state where the work is done, not where your office is.
What moves a concrete comp bill
- Concrete classes depend on the work: flatwork and driveways often rate differently from foundations and structural pours. Getting the class right is the first saving.
- Back and crush injuries from forms, rebar, and pump hoses drive claims. A short pre-pour safety check on every job helps your mod over three years.
- Concrete crews often hire short-term labor during the pour season. Every worker you pay counts at audit, so keep clean payroll records for temporary hires.
- Owner-operators who pour alone can often exclude themselves; the rules vary by state, so check before you skip coverage.