Ohio Painting Workers Comp Rates 2026: Class Code, Cost

Painting workers comp in Ohio 2026: the state's class code, rate, cost per worker from BLS wages, and neighboring states.

Ohio Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)

Ohio employers buy painting workers comp from the state fund. The 2026 base rate for class 5474 (Painting or Paperhanging NOC and Shop Operations, Drivers) is $2.08 per $100 of payroll, before your experience modifier.

The state fund sets one base rate per class; your experience modifier moves it up or down. Source.

Ohio class code for painting

  • 5474: Painting or Paperhanging NOC and Shop Operations, Drivers

Monopolistic state fund that uses NCCI manual classification numbers but sets its own base rates (about 500 classes) and does not use NCCI loss costs; some NCCI or state-specific codes (e.g. 5436, 5651) are not in Ohio's table.

Painting carries ladder fall risk, solvent exposure and lead paint hazards in buildings built before 1978.

What comp costs per painter in Ohio

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 5,600 painters on payrolls in Ohio (May 2025), the 9th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $23.77 an hour, in line with the US median of $23.75.

This trade is a smaller part of the Ohio job market than it is nationally: painters hold 0.70 times their national share of jobs there.

At the Ohio state fund's 2026 base rate of $2.08 per $100 of payroll for class 5474, comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.49 for every hour worked, or $1,028 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $3,084 a year in premium before any experience mod.

Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Ohio pay runs from $17.82 an hour at the 10th percentile to $35.77 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.37 an hour on a new hire and $0.74 on a senior hand.

Workers comp requirements in Ohio

  • Coverage required: 1 employee
  • Owners and sole proprietors: Owners with no employees may elect self-coverage; mandatory once any employee is hired
  • State fund: Monopolistic; coverage only from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC)
  • Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive to day one if disability exceeds 14 days
  • Penalty for going without: Liable for all claim costs during a lapse, BWC penalties, and personal officer liability

Ohio is one of four monopolistic states and offers state-run group-rating and rebate programs unavailable in private-market states.

Ohio vs neighboring states

Among its neighbors, West Virginia is the cheapest for painting comp at $1.56 and Pennsylvania the most expensive at $5.68 per $100 of payroll.

If your crews cross into Indiana or Kentucky or Michigan or Pennsylvania or West Virginia, your Ohio state-fund coverage does not follow them. Buy a private policy for the out-of-state work, with Ohio excluded from it.

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.

Related Ohio Painting pages