New Mexico Roofing Workers Comp Rates (2026)
New Mexico does not publish its roofing class figures online. Across the 26 states that do, the median typical premium is about $11.21 per $100 of payroll. Ask a carrier or the state's rating bureau for the current New Mexico figure.
No official New Mexico figure is available online, so the numbers below use the US median of the states that publish one.
New Mexico 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 New Mexico
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 1,160 roofers on payrolls in New Mexico (May 2025), the 29th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $21.78 an hour, 18% below the US median of $26.65.
This trade is a bigger part of the New Mexico job market than it is nationally: roofers hold 1.5 times their national share of jobs there.
At the US median of $11.21 per $100 of payroll (New Mexico does not publish its figure online), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $2.44 for every hour worked, or $5,078 a year full time. A 4-person crew comes to roughly $20,314 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. New Mexico pay runs from $17.25 an hour at the 10th percentile to $35.51 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $1.93 an hour on a new hire and $3.98 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in New Mexico
- Coverage required: 3+ employees; construction of any size requires coverage
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owner exemptions must be approved by the WCA Compliance Bureau; may elect in
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive if disability lasts more than 4 weeks
- Penalty for going without: Up to $1,000 per day, plus reimbursement of the Uninsured Employers' Fund with a 15-50% penalty
New Mexico requires construction coverage at any size and makes sole-proprietor exemptions subject to state approval rather than automatic.
New Mexico vs neighboring states
New Mexico does not publish its figure, so the first row is the US median. Among neighbors that publish, Texas is the cheapest for roofing comp at about $2.92 and Colorado the most expensive at about $8.11 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.