Michigan Roofing Workers Comp Rates (2026)
The published Michigan pure premium for roofing workers comp, class 5551 (Roofing - Application or Installation - All Kinds Except Flat), is $4.852 per $100 of payroll (effective January 1, 2026). Carriers multiply it by their own filed multiplier, so a typical premium is about $7.28.
A pure premium 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.
Michigan class codes for roofing
- 5551: Roofing - Application or Installation - All Kinds Except Flat
- 5552: Roofing - Flat Roof Only
Michigan is an independent bureau state that uses NCCI-style four-digit codes (the manual contains NCCI copyrighted material) but has Michigan-specific classes for several trades, e.g. 5476 painting instead of 5474, 5550 HVAC instead of 5537, a 5551 pitched vs 5552 flat roofing split, and 9521 for carpet and resilient flooring instead of 5478.
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 Michigan
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 3,090 roofers on payrolls in Michigan (May 2025), the 12th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $28.62 an hour, 7% above the US median of $26.65.
Roofers make up about the same share of Michigan jobs as they do nationally (location quotient 0.80).
At a typical Michigan premium of about $7.28 per $100 of payroll (the published pure premium of $4.85 for class 5551 times a 1.5 carrier multiplier), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $2.08 for every hour worked, or $4,334 a year full time. A 4-person crew comes to roughly $17,335 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Michigan pay runs from $20.15 an hour at the 10th percentile to $38.59 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $1.47 an hour on a new hire and $2.81 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Michigan
- Coverage required: 3+ employees, or 1 employee working 35+ hours/week for 13+ weeks
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owners excluded for themselves; officers may exclude themselves if they own 10%+
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 7 days; first week also retroactive if disability continues 14+ days
- Penalty for going without: Misdemeanor: up to $1,000 and/or 6 months jail, each day a separate offense
Michigan pays wage loss at 80% of after-tax average weekly wage, not the roughly two-thirds of gross most states use.
Michigan vs neighboring states
- Indiana: about $4.59 per $100 of payroll
- Ohio: about $5.77 per $100 of payroll
- Wisconsin: about $12.79 per $100 of payroll
Among its neighbors, Indiana is the cheapest for roofing comp at $4.59 and Wisconsin the most expensive at $12.79 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 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.