New Mexico Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)
New Mexico 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 Mexico figure.
No official New Mexico figure is available online, so the numbers below use the US median of the states that publish one.
New Mexico 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 Mexico
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 1,010 painters on payrolls in New Mexico (May 2025), the 40th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $22.23 an hour, 6% below the US median of $23.75.
Painters make up about the same share of New Mexico jobs as they do nationally (location quotient 0.80).
At the US median of $4.43 per $100 of payroll (New Mexico does not publish its figure online), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.98 for every hour worked, or $2,048 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $6,145 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. New Mexico pay runs from $18.16 an hour at the 10th percentile to $33.92 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.80 an hour on a new hire and $1.50 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in New Mexico
- Coverage required: 3+ employees; construction of any size requires coverage
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owner exemptions must be approved by the WCA Compliance Bureau; may elect in
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive if disability lasts more than 4 weeks
- Penalty for going without: Up to $1,000 per day, plus reimbursement of the Uninsured Employers' Fund with a 15-50% penalty
New Mexico requires construction coverage at any size and makes sole-proprietor exemptions subject to state approval rather than automatic.
New Mexico vs neighboring states
New Mexico does not publish its figure, so the first row is the US median. Among neighbors that publish, Texas is the cheapest for painting comp at about $1.03 and Colorado the most expensive at about $3.78 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.