Iowa Roofing Workers Comp Rates (2026)
The published Iowa rate for roofing workers comp, class 5551 (Roofing - All Kinds and Drivers), is $10.14 per $100 of payroll (effective January 1, 2026). Your experience modifier and any carrier discounts adjust it.
This is the published manual rate, so it already includes carrier expenses. Source.
Iowa class code for roofing
- 5551: Roofing - All Kinds & Drivers
Falls are the main hazard in roofing. In 2023 roofing contractors accounted for 110 fatal falls, 26 percent of all fatal falls in construction (BLS).
What comp costs per roofer in Iowa
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 930 roofers on payrolls in Iowa (May 2025), the 34th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $23.39 an hour, 12% below the US median of $26.65.
This trade is a smaller part of the Iowa job market than it is nationally: roofers hold 0.68 times their national share of jobs there.
At the published Iowa rate of $10.14 per $100 of payroll for class 5551, comp on one worker at that wage costs about $2.37 for every hour worked, or $4,933 a year full time. A 4-person crew comes to roughly $19,733 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Iowa pay runs from $17.82 an hour at the 10th percentile to $31.26 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $1.81 an hour on a new hire and $3.17 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Iowa
- Coverage required: 1 employee; no payroll or headcount floor
- Owners and sole proprietors: A full-time sole proprietor or partner is auto-excluded; may decline in writing or elect in
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 3 days; retroactive if disability continues more than 14 days
- Penalty for going without: An uninsured employer loses tort immunity and can be sued for uncapped civil damages
Iowa has no small-employer exemption at all, requiring coverage from the first employee with no payroll floor.
Iowa vs neighboring states
Iowa has the lowest roofing comp rate in its region; every neighboring state charges more 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 roofing comp bill
- Falls drive roofing claims, and one serious fall can push your experience mod well above 1.0 for three policy years. A written fall-protection plan and documented toolbox talks are what carriers ask to see before they offer a safety credit.
- Uninsured subcontractors are the most common audit surprise in roofing. If a sub cannot show you a certificate of insurance, the auditor adds what you paid them to your own payroll at the roofing rate.
- Estimators and salespeople who never go on a roof can often be classed separately at a far lower rate, but only if your payroll records show their hours apart from field work.
- Overtime premium (the extra half in time and a half) is excluded from comp payroll in most states. Record it separately so you are not charged the roofing rate on it.