North Dakota Flooring Workers Comp Rates (2026)
North Dakota employers buy flooring workers comp from the state fund. The 2026 base rate for class 5502 (Floor Covering Installation) is $2.94 per $100 of payroll, before your experience modifier.
The state fund sets one base rate per class; your experience modifier moves it up or down. Source.
North Dakota class code for flooring
- 5502: Floor Covering Installation
Monopolistic state fund with its own manual of about 140 rate classes; several numbers echo NCCI codes but scopes are broader (for example 5183 covers plumbing, HVAC and sheet metal together, and roofing is 5545 hot process or 5410 cold process).
Flooring carries knee injury, back strain, silica dust from cutting tile or concrete, and adhesive vapor risks.
What comp costs per flooring installer in North Dakota
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 90 floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles on payrolls in North Dakota (May 2025), the 39th largest workforce of the 44 states with published figures. The median wage is $23.10 an hour, 15% below the US median of $27.15.
This trade is a bigger part of the North Dakota job market than it is nationally: floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles hold 1.4 times their national share of jobs there.
At the North Dakota state fund's 2026 base rate of $2.94 per $100 of payroll for class 5502, comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.68 for every hour worked, or $1,413 a year full time. A 2-person crew comes to roughly $2,825 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. North Dakota pay runs from $14.90 an hour at the 10th percentile to $36.69 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.44 an hour on a new hire and $1.08 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in North Dakota
- Coverage required: Any employee (coverage in force before work begins)
- Owners and sole proprietors: Not required to cover self; optional personal coverage through WSI
- State fund: Monopolistic; coverage only from Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI), no private carriers or self-insurance
- Waiting period: 5 days
- Penalty for going without: Up to $10,000 plus $100 per day, cease-and-desist orders, and liability for claim costs during the lapse
North Dakota is one of only four monopolistic states, and it allows neither private carriers nor self-insurance, only WSI.
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.