South Dakota Roofing Workers Comp Rates (2026)
South Dakota 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 South Dakota figure.
No official South Dakota figure is available online, so the numbers below use the US median of the states that publish one.
South Dakota 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 South Dakota
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 400 roofers on payrolls in South Dakota (May 2025), the 42nd largest workforce among the 50 states and DC. The median wage is $22.94 an hour, 14% below the US median of $26.65.
Roofers make up about the same share of South Dakota jobs as they do nationally (location quotient 0.99).
At the US median of $11.21 per $100 of payroll (South Dakota does not publish its figure online), comp on one worker at that wage costs about $2.57 for every hour worked, or $5,349 a year full time. A 4-person crew comes to roughly $21,395 a year in premium before any experience mod.
Because premium is charged on payroll, who you hire moves the bill. South Dakota pay runs from $16.61 an hour at the 10th percentile to $28.46 at the 90th, so the same rate costs $1.86 an hour on a new hire and $3.19 on a senior hand.
Workers comp requirements in South Dakota
- Coverage required: Not mandatory at any headcount (elective for all employers)
- Owners and sole proprietors: Excluded; may elect coverage
- State fund: Private market (no state fund)
- Waiting period: 7 consecutive days; benefits then compute from the injury date
- Penalty for going without: No statutory fine, but an uninsured employer loses exclusive remedy and faces unlimited civil liability
South Dakota is one of only two states (with Texas) where workers comp is not legally mandatory.
South Dakota vs neighboring states
- Iowa: about $10.14 per $100 of payroll
- North Dakota: about $3.39 per $100 of payroll
- Wyoming: about $2.39 per $100 of payroll
South Dakota does not publish its figure, so the first row is the US median. Among neighbors that publish, Wyoming is the cheapest for roofing comp at about $2.39 and Iowa the most expensive at about $10.14 per $100 of payroll.
Working across the line into North Dakota or Wyoming 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.