West Virginia Flooring Workers Comp Rates (2026)
The published West Virginia loss cost for flooring workers comp, class 5478 (Floor Covering Installation - Resilient Flooring - Carpet and Laminate Flooring), is $0.832 per $100 of payroll (effective January 1, 2026). Carriers multiply it by their own filed multiplier, so a typical premium is about $1.25.
A loss cost covers expected claims only. Each carrier files its own multiplier for expenses; in the states that publish the full list, the median is about 1.5, which is what the typical premium here uses. Your quote can be lower or higher. Source.
West Virginia 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 West Virginia
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 30 floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles on payrolls in West Virginia (May 2025), the 44th largest workforce of the 44 states with published figures. The median wage is $21.82 an hour, 20% below the US median of $27.15.
This trade is a smaller part of the West Virginia job market than it is nationally: floor layers, except carpet, wood, and hard tiles hold 0.28 times their national share of jobs there.
At a typical West Virginia premium of about $1.25 per $100 of payroll (the published loss cost of $0.83 for class 5478 times a 1.5 carrier multiplier), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.27 for every hour worked, or $567 a year full time. A 2-person crew comes to roughly $1,135 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. West Virginia pay runs from $13.10 an hour at the 10th percentile to $38.41 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.16 an hour on a new hire and $0.48 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in West Virginia
- Coverage required: Any employee (from the first)
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owners not required to cover themselves; may elect in
- State fund: Private market (fully privatized in 2008)
- Waiting period: 3 days; retroactive only if lost time exceeds 7 consecutive days
- Penalty for going without: An uninsured employer loses statutory immunity and can be sued in tort
West Virginia is the most recent state to fully privatize, ending a roughly 90-year monopolistic fund in 2008.
West Virginia vs neighboring states
- Ohio: about $1.67 per $100 of payroll
- Pennsylvania: about $5.09 per $100 of payroll
West Virginia has the lowest flooring comp rate in its region; every neighboring state charges more 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.