West Virginia Painting Workers Comp Rates (2026)
The published West Virginia loss cost for painting workers comp, class 5474 (Painting or Paperhanging NOC & Shop Operations, Drivers), is $1.039 per $100 of payroll (effective January 1, 2026). Carriers multiply it by their own filed multiplier, so a typical premium is about $1.56.
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.
West Virginia 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 West Virginia
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 720 painters on payrolls in West Virginia (May 2025), the 44th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $21.26 an hour, 10% below the US median of $23.75.
This trade is a smaller part of the West Virginia job market than it is nationally: painters hold 0.70 times their national share of jobs there.
At a typical West Virginia premium of about $1.56 per $100 of payroll (the published loss cost of $1.04 for class 5474 times a 1.5 carrier multiplier), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $0.33 for every hour worked, or $690 a year full time. A 3-person crew comes to roughly $2,070 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. West Virginia pay runs from $14.04 an hour at the 10th percentile to $30.60 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $0.22 an hour on a new hire and $0.48 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in West Virginia
- Coverage required: Any employee (from the first)
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owners not required to cover themselves; may elect in
- State fund: Private market (fully privatized in 2008)
- Waiting period: 3 days; retroactive only if lost time exceeds 7 consecutive days
- Penalty for going without: An uninsured employer loses statutory immunity and can be sued in tort
West Virginia is the most recent state to fully privatize, ending a roughly 90-year monopolistic fund in 2008.
West Virginia vs neighboring states
- Ohio: about $2.08 per $100 of payroll
- Pennsylvania: about $5.68 per $100 of payroll
West Virginia has the lowest painting comp rate in its region; every neighboring state charges more 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.