Massachusetts Roofing Workers Comp Rates (2026)
The published Massachusetts rate for roofing workers comp, class 5545 (Roofing NOC & Yard Employees, Drivers), is $31.21 per $100 of payroll (effective July 1, 2024). Your experience modifier and any carrier discounts adjust it.
This is the published manual rate, so it already includes carrier expenses. Source.
Massachusetts class codes for roofing
- 5545: Roofing NOC & Yard Employees, Drivers
- 5547: Roofing - Built Up - Yard Employees & Drivers
Massachusetts has its own classification system and manual, with NCCI-style numbers for most trades but its own codes in places (roofing split into 5545 sloped and 5547 flat, no 5537 HVAC class, no 5436), plus a wage-based Massachusetts Construction Classification Premium Adjustment Program (MCCPAP) credit for qualifying construction employers.
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 Massachusetts
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 1,950 roofers on payrolls in Massachusetts (May 2025), the 23rd largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $34.98 an hour, 31% above the US median of $26.65.
This trade is a smaller part of the Massachusetts job market than it is nationally: roofers hold 0.62 times their national share of jobs there.
At the published Massachusetts rate of $31.21 per $100 of payroll for class 5545, comp on one worker at that wage costs about $10.92 for every hour worked, or $22,708 a year full time. A 4-person crew comes to roughly $90,832 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Massachusetts pay runs from $24.42 an hour at the 10th percentile to $51.10 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $7.62 an hour on a new hire and $15.95 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Massachusetts
- Coverage required: 1 employee
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owners of an unincorporated business excluded by default; may elect in
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 5 days; 21+ days paid retroactively from day one
- Penalty for going without: Immediate stop-work order plus $100 per day, and criminal exposure for willful failure
Massachusetts is an administered-pricing state, so carriers generally cannot compete on base rates the way they do elsewhere.
Massachusetts vs neighboring states
- Connecticut: about $15.88 per $100 of payroll
- New York: about $13.35 per $100 of payroll
- Vermont: about $11.98 per $100 of payroll
Massachusetts has the highest roofing comp rate in its region; every neighboring state charges less 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.