Georgia Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)
The published Georgia loss cost for painting workers comp, class 5474 (Painting or Paperhanging NOC and Shop Operations, Drivers), is $6.480 per $100 of payroll (effective March 1, 2025). Carriers multiply it by their own filed multiplier, so a typical premium is about $9.72.
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.
Georgia class code for painting
- 5474: Painting NOC & Shop Operations, Drivers
- 5037 (Painting: Metal Structures - Over Two Stories in Height & Drivers)
- 5491 (Paperhanging & Drivers)
Painting carries ladder fall risk, solvent exposure and lead paint hazards in buildings built before 1978.
What comp costs per painter in Georgia
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 2,760 painters on payrolls in Georgia (May 2025), the 26th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $23.24 an hour, 2% below the US median of $23.75.
This trade is a smaller part of the Georgia job market than it is nationally: painters hold 0.39 times their national share of jobs there.
At a typical Georgia premium of about $9.72 per $100 of payroll (the published loss cost of $6.48 for class 5474 times a 1.5 carrier multiplier), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $2.26 for every hour worked, or $4,699 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $14,096 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Georgia pay runs from $17.64 an hour at the 10th percentile to $32.72 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $1.71 an hour on a new hire and $3.18 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Georgia
- Coverage required: 3+ employees (lowered from 5 on Jan 1, 2026)
- Owners and sole proprietors: Sole proprietors and partners excluded by default; officers count toward the threshold even if exempt
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive if disability lasts 21+ days
- Penalty for going without: Willful failure is a misdemeanor ($1,000-$10,000 fine) plus civil penalties of $500-$5,000
Georgia lowered its threshold from five to three employees effective January 1, 2026, pulling many small contractors newly into the mandate.
Georgia vs neighboring states
- Alabama: about $3.77 per $100 of payroll
- North Carolina: about $4.17 per $100 of payroll
Georgia has the highest painting comp rate in its region; every neighboring state charges less 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 painting comp bill
- Painting rates are set by height and surface: interior repaint work and exterior or industrial painting can fall into different classes in many states. Describe your mix accurately at quote time.
- Ladder and scaffold falls are the costly claims. Scaffold training and inspection logs help when you ask a carrier for safety credits.
- Painting crews lean on 1099 labor. Without a certificate of insurance on file, the auditor will add those payments to your payroll.
- Seasonal exterior work makes payroll hard to forecast. Estimate the year, not your busiest month, so the deposit and the audit stay close.