Utah Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)
Utah 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 Utah figure.
No official Utah figure is available online, so the numbers below use the US median of the states that publish one.
Utah 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 Utah
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 3,510 painters on payrolls in Utah (May 2025), the 22nd largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $22.14 an hour, 7% below the US median of $23.75.
This trade is a bigger part of the Utah job market than it is nationally: painters hold 1.4 times their national share of jobs there.
At the US median of $4.43 per $100 of payroll (Utah does not publish its figure online), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.98 for every hour worked, or $2,040 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $6,120 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Utah pay runs from $17.41 an hour at the 10th percentile to $31.62 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.77 an hour on a new hire and $1.40 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Utah
- Coverage required: 1 employee
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owners with no employees must file an annual Workers' Compensation Coverage Waiver to opt out
- State fund: Competitive state fund (WCF Insurance)
- Waiting period: 3 days; retroactive if disability lasts more than 14 days
- Penalty for going without: Fines of at least $1,000, scaling to three times the avoided premium
Utah requires an owner with no employees to actively file and annually renew a state waiver to stay exempt.
Utah vs neighboring states
- Colorado: about $3.78 per $100 of payroll
- Idaho: about $5.35 per $100 of payroll
- Wyoming: about $2.39 per $100 of payroll
Utah 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 Idaho the most expensive at about $5.35 per $100 of payroll.
Working across the line into 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.