Ohio Roofing Workers Comp Rates (2026)
Ohio employers buy roofing workers comp from the state fund. The 2026 base rate for class 5551 (Roofing - All Kinds and Drivers) is $5.77 per $100 of payroll, before your experience modifier.
The state fund sets one base rate per class; your experience modifier moves it up or down. Source.
Ohio class code for roofing
- 5551: Roofing - All Kinds and Drivers
Monopolistic state fund that uses NCCI manual classification numbers but sets its own base rates (about 500 classes) and does not use NCCI loss costs; some NCCI or state-specific codes (e.g. 5436, 5651) are not in Ohio's table.
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 Ohio
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 4,610 roofers on payrolls in Ohio (May 2025), the 6th largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $23.74 an hour, 11% below the US median of $26.65.
Roofers make up about the same share of Ohio jobs as they do nationally (location quotient 0.95).
At the Ohio state fund's 2026 base rate of $5.77 per $100 of payroll for class 5551, comp on one worker at that wage costs about $1.37 for every hour worked, or $2,850 a year full time. A 4-person crew comes to roughly $11,398 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. Ohio pay runs from $19.20 an hour at the 10th percentile to $36.22 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $1.11 an hour on a new hire and $2.09 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in Ohio
- Coverage required: 1 employee
- Owners and sole proprietors: Owners with no employees may elect self-coverage; mandatory once any employee is hired
- State fund: Monopolistic; coverage only from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC)
- Waiting period: 7 days; retroactive to day one if disability exceeds 14 days
- Penalty for going without: Liable for all claim costs during a lapse, BWC penalties, and personal officer liability
Ohio is one of four monopolistic states and offers state-run group-rating and rebate programs unavailable in private-market states.
Ohio vs neighboring states
- Indiana: about $4.59 per $100 of payroll
- Michigan: about $7.28 per $100 of payroll
- Pennsylvania: about $11.32 per $100 of payroll
- West Virginia: about $3.33 per $100 of payroll
Among its neighbors, West Virginia is the cheapest for roofing comp at $3.33 and Pennsylvania the most expensive at $11.32 per $100 of payroll.
If your crews cross into Indiana or Kentucky or Michigan or Pennsylvania or West Virginia, your Ohio state-fund coverage does not follow them. Buy a private policy for the out-of-state work, with Ohio excluded from it.
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.