Ohio Flooring Workers Comp Rates (2026)
Ohio employers buy flooring workers comp from the state fund. The 2026 base rate for class 5478 (Floor covering installation (resilient flooring, carpet, linoleum)) is $1.67 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.
Ohio class code for flooring
- 5478: Floor covering installation (resilient flooring, carpet, linoleum)
Monopolistic state fund that uses NCCI manual classification numbers but sets its own base rates (about 500 classes) and does not use NCCI loss costs; some NCCI or state-specific codes (e.g. 5436, 5651) are not in Ohio's table.
Flooring carries knee injury, back strain, silica dust from cutting tile or concrete, and adhesive vapor risks.
What comp costs per flooring installer in Ohio
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 850 floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles on payrolls in Ohio (May 2025), the 7th largest workforce of the 44 states with published figures. The median wage is $28.59 an hour, 5% above the US median of $27.15.
Floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles make up about the same share of Ohio jobs as they do nationally (location quotient 1.01).
At the Ohio state fund's 2026 base rate of $1.67 per $100 of payroll for class 5478, comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.48 for every hour worked, or $993 a year full time. A 2-person crew comes to roughly $1,986 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Ohio pay runs from $21.41 an hour at the 10th percentile to $36.21 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.36 an hour on a new hire and $0.60 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Ohio
- Coverage required: 1 employee
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owners with no employees may elect self-coverage; mandatory once any employee is hired
- State fund: Monopolistic; coverage only from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC)
- Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive to day one if disability exceeds 14 days
- Penalty for going without: Liable for all claim costs during a lapse, BWC penalties, and personal officer liability
Ohio is one of four monopolistic states and offers state-run group-rating and rebate programs unavailable in private-market states.
Ohio vs neighboring states
- Indiana: about $1.20 per $100 of payroll
- Michigan: about $1.16 per $100 of payroll
- Pennsylvania: about $5.09 per $100 of payroll
- West Virginia: about $1.25 per $100 of payroll
Among its neighbors, Michigan is the cheapest for flooring comp at $1.16 and Pennsylvania the most expensive at $5.09 per $100 of payroll.
If your crews cross into Indiana or Kentucky or Michigan or Pennsylvania or West Virginia, your Ohio state-fund coverage does not follow them. Buy a private policy for the out-of-state work, with Ohio excluded from it.
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.