Kentucky Flooring Workers Comp Rates (2026)
Kentucky does not publish its flooring class figures online. Across the 26 states that do, the median typical premium is about $2.94 per $100 of payroll. Ask a carrier or the state's rating bureau for the current Kentucky figure.
No official Kentucky figure is available online, so the numbers below use the US median of the states that publish one.
Kentucky class code for flooring
- 5478: Floor Covering Installation - Resilient Flooring, Carpet and Laminate Flooring
- 5437 (Carpentry - Installation of Cabinet Work or Interior Trim, includes wood floor installation and sanding)
- 5348 (Tile, Stone, Mosaic or Terrazzo Work - Inside)
Flooring carries knee injury, back strain, silica dust from cutting tile or concrete, and adhesive vapor risks.
What comp costs per flooring installer in Kentucky
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 390 floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles on payrolls in Kentucky (May 2025), the 20th largest workforce of the 44 states with published figures. The median wage is $24.22 an hour, 11% below the US median of $27.15.
This trade is a bigger part of the Kentucky job market than it is nationally: floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles hold 1.3 times their national share of jobs there.
At the US median of $2.94 per $100 of payroll (Kentucky does not publish its figure online), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.71 for every hour worked, or $1,481 a year full time. A 2-person crew comes to roughly $2,962 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Kentucky pay runs from $18.38 an hour at the 10th percentile to $37.50 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.54 an hour on a new hire and $1.10 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Kentucky
- Coverage required: 1 employee
- Owners and sole proprietors: Excluded by default; may elect in; officers may elect out
- State fund: Competitive state fund (Kentucky Employers' Mutual, KEMI)
- Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive if disability lasts 14+ days
- Penalty for going without: $100-$1,000 fine per employee, per day without coverage
Kentucky's uninsured-employer fine is assessed per employee, per day, so exposure compounds quickly.
Kentucky vs neighboring states
- Indiana: about $1.20 per $100 of payroll
- Missouri: about $4.07 per $100 of payroll
- Ohio: about $1.67 per $100 of payroll
- West Virginia: about $1.25 per $100 of payroll
Kentucky does not publish its figure, so the first row is the US median. Among neighbors that publish, Indiana is the cheapest for flooring comp at about $1.20 and Missouri the most expensive at about $4.07 per $100 of payroll.
Working across the line into Ohio needs separate coverage from that state's fund. A private policy's other-states coverage (item 3.C) does not reach monopolistic states.
What moves a flooring comp bill
- Floor installers file knee, back, and repetitive-strain claims more than falls. Kneepads and lifting aids are cheap ways to keep the experience mod down.
- Tile, hardwood, and carpet installation can be separate classes in some states. If your crews do several, record payroll by type of work.
- Many flooring shops pay installers by the square foot as 1099 subs. If they cannot show their own coverage, the auditor counts what you pay them as your payroll.
- Showroom and sales staff who do not install can usually be rated as sales or clerical when their duties are documented.