New Hampshire Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)
New Hampshire does not publish its painting class figures online. Across the 26 states that do, the median typical premium is about $4.43 per $100 of payroll. Ask a carrier or the state's rating bureau for the current New Hampshire figure.
No official New Hampshire figure is available online, so the numbers below use the US median of the states that publish one.
New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 910 painters on payrolls in New Hampshire (May 2025), the 42nd largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $23.88 an hour, in line with the US median of $23.75.
Painters make up about the same share of New Hampshire jobs as they do nationally (location quotient 0.92).
At the US median of $4.43 per $100 of payroll (New Hampshire does not publish its figure online), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $1.06 for every hour worked, or $2,200 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $6,601 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. New Hampshire pay runs from $19.63 an hour at the 10th percentile to $30.54 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.87 an hour on a new hire and $1.35 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in New Hampshire
- Coverage required: 1 employee
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owners excluded for self; construction officers doing hands-on site work must be covered
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 3 days; retroactive if disability exceeds 14 days or the worker returns to light duty within 5 days
- Penalty for going without: Up to $2,500 plus $100 per employee per day; purposeful failure is a Class B felony
New Hampshire waives the waiting period retroactively if the worker returns to temporary alternative work within five days.
New Hampshire vs neighboring states
- Massachusetts: about $3.21 per $100 of payroll
- Vermont: about $6.20 per $100 of payroll
New Hampshire does not publish its figure, so the first row is the US median. Among neighbors that publish, Massachusetts is the cheapest for painting comp at about $3.21 and Vermont the most expensive at about $6.20 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.