Tennessee Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)
Tennessee 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 Tennessee figure.
No official Tennessee figure is available online, so the numbers below use the US median of the states that publish one.
Tennessee 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 Tennessee
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 3,040 painters on payrolls in Tennessee (May 2025), the 25th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $20.78 an hour, 13% below the US median of $23.75.
This trade is a smaller part of the Tennessee job market than it is nationally: painters hold 0.64 times their national share of jobs there.
At the US median of $4.43 per $100 of payroll (Tennessee does not publish its figure online), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.92 for every hour worked, or $1,915 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $5,744 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Tennessee pay runs from $16.88 an hour at the 10th percentile to $29.34 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.75 an hour on a new hire and $1.30 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Tennessee
- Coverage required: 5+ employees; 1 for construction
- Owners and sole proprietors: Construction owners may exempt themselves via the state registry; employees must be covered
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive to day one if disability lasts more than 14 days
- Penalty for going without: Civil penalties $50-$10,000 or 1.5x the avoided premium; an injury while uninsured escalates to a misdemeanor
Tennessee runs an Uninsured Employers Fund, financed by penalties, that pays workers injured by illegally uninsured employers.
Tennessee vs neighboring states
- Alabama: about $3.77 per $100 of payroll
- Georgia: about $9.72 per $100 of payroll
- Missouri: about $5.51 per $100 of payroll
- North Carolina: about $4.17 per $100 of payroll
Tennessee does not publish its figure, so the first row is the US median. Among neighbors that publish, Alabama is the cheapest for painting comp at about $3.77 and Georgia the most expensive at about $9.72 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.