Massachusetts Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)
The published Massachusetts rate for painting workers comp, class 5474 (Painting or Paperhanging NOC & Drivers), is $3.21 per $100 of payroll (effective July 1, 2024). Your experience modifier and any carrier discounts adjust it.
This is the published manual rate, so it already includes carrier expenses. Source.
Massachusetts class code for painting
- 5474: Painting or Paperhanging NOC & Drivers
Massachusetts has its own classification system and manual, with NCCI-style numbers for most trades but its own codes in places (roofing split into 5545 sloped and 5547 flat, no 5537 HVAC class, no 5436), plus a wage-based Massachusetts Construction Classification Premium Adjustment Program (MCCPAP) credit for qualifying construction employers.
Painting carries ladder fall risk, solvent exposure and lead paint hazards in buildings built before 1978.
What comp costs per painter in Massachusetts
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 4,430 painters on payrolls in Massachusetts (May 2025), the 14th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $27.65 an hour, 16% above the US median of $23.75.
Painters make up about the same share of Massachusetts jobs as they do nationally (location quotient 0.84).
At the published Massachusetts rate of $3.21 per $100 of payroll for class 5474, comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.89 for every hour worked, or $1,846 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $5,538 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Massachusetts pay runs from $20.92 an hour at the 10th percentile to $52.81 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.67 an hour on a new hire and $1.70 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Massachusetts
- Coverage required: 1 employee
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owners of an unincorporated business excluded by default; may elect in
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 5 days; 21+ days paid retroactively from day one
- Penalty for going without: Immediate stop-work order plus $100 per day, and criminal exposure for willful failure
Massachusetts is an administered-pricing state, so carriers generally cannot compete on base rates the way they do elsewhere.
Massachusetts vs neighboring states
- Connecticut: about $5.82 per $100 of payroll
- New York: about $12.09 per $100 of payroll
- Vermont: about $6.20 per $100 of payroll
Massachusetts has the lowest painting comp rate in its region; every neighboring state charges more 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.