South Dakota Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)
South Dakota 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 South Dakota figure.
No official South Dakota figure is available online, so the numbers below use the US median of the states that publish one.
South Dakota 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 South Dakota
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 670 painters on payrolls in South Dakota (May 2025), the 45th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $23.15 an hour, 3% below the US median of $23.75.
Painters make up about the same share of South Dakota jobs as they do nationally (location quotient 1.01).
At the US median of $4.43 per $100 of payroll (South Dakota does not publish its figure online), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $1.03 for every hour worked, or $2,133 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $6,399 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. South Dakota pay runs from $17.26 an hour at the 10th percentile to $28.63 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.76 an hour on a new hire and $1.27 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in South Dakota
- Coverage required: Not mandatory at any headcount (elective for all employers)
- Owners and sole proprietors: Excluded; may elect coverage
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 7 consecutive days; benefits then compute from the injury date
- Penalty for going without: No statutory fine, but an uninsured employer loses exclusive remedy and faces unlimited civil liability
South Dakota is one of only two states (with Texas) where workers comp is not legally mandatory.
South Dakota vs neighboring states
- Iowa: about $4.45 per $100 of payroll
- North Dakota: about $3.85 per $100 of payroll
- Wyoming: about $2.39 per $100 of payroll
South Dakota does not publish its figure, so the first row is the US median. Among neighbors that publish, Wyoming is the cheapest for painting comp at about $2.39 and Iowa the most expensive at about $4.45 per $100 of payroll.
Working across the line into North Dakota or Wyoming 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.