Pennsylvania Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)
The published Pennsylvania loss cost for painting workers comp, class 0665 (Painting and Decorating, Including Shop), is $3.784 per $100 of payroll (effective April 1, 2026). Carriers multiply it by their own filed multiplier, so a typical premium is about $5.68.
A loss cost covers expected claims only. Each carrier files its own multiplier for expenses; in the states that publish the full list, the median is about 1.5, which is what the typical premium here uses. Your quote can be lower or higher. Source.
Pennsylvania class code for painting
- 0665: Painting and Decorating, Including Shop
Pennsylvania uses its own independent classification system of about 330 classes with PCRB code numbers (written as 3-digit codes or with a leading zero, e.g. 659 or 0659) that do not map one-to-one to NCCI codes.
Painting carries ladder fall risk, solvent exposure and lead paint hazards in buildings built before 1978.
What comp costs per painter in Pennsylvania
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 5,980 painters on payrolls in Pennsylvania (May 2025), the 7th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $25.06 an hour, 6% above the US median of $23.75.
This trade is a smaller part of the Pennsylvania job market than it is nationally: painters hold 0.68 times their national share of jobs there.
At a typical Pennsylvania premium of about $5.68 per $100 of payroll (the published loss cost of $3.78 for class 0665 times a 1.5 carrier multiplier), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $1.42 for every hour worked, or $2,961 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $8,882 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Pennsylvania pay runs from $17.91 an hour at the 10th percentile to $34.73 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $1.02 an hour on a new hire and $1.97 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Pennsylvania
- Coverage required: 1 employee
- Owners and sole proprietors: A sole proprietor with no employees is exempt; required once any employee is hired
- State fund: Competitive state fund (State Workers' Insurance Fund, SWIF)
- Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive to day one if disability lasts more than 14 days
- Penalty for going without: Failure to insure is a misdemeanor per day (up to $2,500); intentional failure is a felony (up to $15,000)
Pennsylvania sets rates through the independent PCRB (not NCCI) and runs its own competitive state fund, SWIF.
Pennsylvania vs neighboring states
- Delaware: about $4.40 per $100 of payroll
- New Jersey: about $8.88 per $100 of payroll
- New York: about $12.09 per $100 of payroll
- Ohio: about $2.08 per $100 of payroll
- West Virginia: about $1.56 per $100 of payroll
Among its neighbors, West Virginia is the cheapest for painting comp at $1.56 and New York the most expensive at $12.09 per $100 of payroll.
Working across the line into Ohio needs separate coverage from that state's fund. A private policy's other-states coverage (item 3.C) does not reach monopolistic states.
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.