New Jersey Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)
The published New Jersey rate for painting workers comp, class 5474 (Painting or Decorating - Interior or Exterior Work NOC & Drivers), is $8.88 per $100 of payroll (effective January 1, 2026). Your experience modifier and any carrier discounts adjust it.
This is the published manual rate, so it already includes carrier expenses. Source.
New Jersey class code for painting
- 5474: Painting or Decorating - Interior or Exterior Work NOC & Drivers
New Jersey is an independent bureau state that uses NCCI-style 4-digit codes but with its own phraseologies and several state-specific assignments, e.g. HVAC under 3724, concrete flatwork under 5200, and no 5537, 5478 or 5221.
Painting carries ladder fall risk, solvent exposure and lead paint hazards in buildings built before 1978.
What comp costs per painter in New Jersey
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 4,110 painters on payrolls in New Jersey (May 2025), the 16th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $28.49 an hour, 20% above the US median of $23.75.
This trade is a smaller part of the New Jersey job market than it is nationally: painters hold 0.66 times their national share of jobs there.
At the published New Jersey rate of $8.88 per $100 of payroll for class 5474, comp on one worker at that wage costs about $2.53 for every hour worked, or $5,262 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $15,787 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. New Jersey pay runs from $18.11 an hour at the 10th percentile to $46.13 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $1.61 an hour on a new hire and $4.10 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in New Jersey
- Coverage required: 1 employee
- Owners and sole proprietors: Automatically excluded on a policy; may elect coverage via a Notice of Election
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive to day one if disability extends beyond 7 days
- Penalty for going without: Up to $5,000 per 10-day period; knowing failure is a fourth-degree crime (up to $10,000 and 18 months)
New Jersey sets rates through its own independent bureau (NJCRIB) rather than NCCI, and caps temporary disability at 400 weeks.
New Jersey vs neighboring states
- Delaware: about $4.40 per $100 of payroll
- New York: about $12.09 per $100 of payroll
- Pennsylvania: about $5.68 per $100 of payroll
Among its neighbors, Delaware is the cheapest for painting comp at $4.40 and New York the most expensive at $12.09 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.