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INDUSTRY REPORTS · June 29, 2026

Roofing Workers’ Compensation Report: Costs, Class Code 5551, and Why Rates Run High in 2026

Roofing workers' comp costs explained with 2023 BLS CFOI fatality data, class code 5551 rate examples, and state-published loss costs. Illustrative ranges, 2026.

By The Roofing Brief Team

Roofing carries one of the highest workers’ compensation costs of any occupation in the United States, a direct consequence of it being the third-deadliest civilian job by fatality rate. This report grounds the cost of roofing workers’ compensation in primary federal injury data and explains why published rate examples for the standard roofing class code routinely run many times higher than office or light-commercial work. Every rate figure below is presented as an illustrative example tied to a named source, because actual premiums vary by carrier, state, payroll, and each employer’s experience modification factor, and no single national rate exists.

Executive Summary

  • Roofers had a fatal work injury rate of 51.8 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2023, the third-highest of any U.S. civilian occupation, behind logging at 98.9 and fishing and hunting at 86.9 (roofer occupation, SOC 47-2181) (BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2023, reported by Roofing Contractor and the National Roofing Contractors Association).
  • That roofer-occupation rate is roughly 15 times the all-worker U.S. fatal injury rate of about 3.5 per 100,000 (BLS CFOI, 2023).
  • The roofer occupation (SOC 47-2181) recorded 113 fatalities in 2023, while the broader roofing industry (NAICS 238160, roofing contractors) recorded 134 worker deaths, up about 8 percent from 124 in 2022, of which 110, or 82 percent, came from falls, slips, or trips (BLS CFOI 2023, via Roofing Contractor).
  • Published examples place workers’ compensation for the standard roofing class code (NCCI code 5551, “Roofing, All Kinds and Drivers”) in the range of roughly $24 to $80 per $100 of payroll in voluntary markets, with assigned-risk pricing in some states exceeding $80 per $100 (illustrative ranges, 1800insurance and CPR Brokers, 2025-2026).
  • In Texas, the state-published advisory loss cost for code 5551 is 1.946 per $100 of payroll effective July 1, 2026, before any carrier loss-cost multiplier, profit, or expense is added (Texas Department of Insurance, 2026).
  • An individual employer’s experience modification factor can move a roofing premium by 50 percent or more in either direction from the class average, so two roofers in the same state can pay very different rates (1800insurance, 2025).
  • Construction overall recorded 1,075 fatalities in 2023 at a rate of 9.6 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, the most construction deaths since 2011, and falls, slips, and trips caused 39.2 percent of them (BLS CFOI 2023, via Construction Dive and GPRS).
  • The median annual wage for roofers was $50,970 in May 2024, and roofers held roughly 166,700 jobs, a payroll base that high comp rates are applied against (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook and OEWS, 2024).

Key Findings

  • The roofer-occupation fatal injury rate (SOC 47-2181) of 51.8 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2023 ranked third among all civilian occupations (BLS CFOI 2023, via Roofing Contractor).
  • The roofer-occupation fatality rate fell from 57.5 per 100,000 in 2022 to 51.8 in 2023, dropping roofers from the second-deadliest to the third-deadliest civilian occupation (BLS CFOI, via Roofing Contractor 2025).
  • Falls, slips, and trips caused 110 of the 134 roofing-industry deaths (NAICS 238160) in 2023, or about 82 percent (BLS CFOI 2023, via Roofing Contractor).
  • Roofing contractors accounted for 26.0 percent of construction fatalities caused by falls, slips, and trips in 2023 (BLS, The Economics Daily, 2025).
  • Construction as a whole had 1,075 fatal injuries in 2023, the highest count since 2011 (BLS CFOI 2023, via GPRS and Construction Dive).
  • The construction fatal injury rate was 9.6 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2023, well above the all-industry average (BLS CFOI 2023, via Construction Dive).
  • About 20.8 percent of all U.S. workplace deaths in 2023 occurred in construction (BLS CFOI 2023, via Allen Law Group reporting).
  • NCCI class code 5551 covers all kinds of roofing, including flat, sloped, and built-up roofs using hot tar, composition material, metal, shingle, slate, tile, and related materials (NCCI scope description, via Work Comp Associates, 2026).
  • Texas published an advisory loss cost of 1.946 per $100 of payroll for code 5551 effective July 1, 2026, exclusive of carrier expenses and profit (Texas Department of Insurance, 2026).
  • California uses a separate roofing classification (code 5552) with a dual-wage structure, and one secondary source reported an average California base rate near $40 per $100 of payroll for the lower-wage roofing tier in 2022 (illustrative, CutCompCosts citing WCIRB-based data, 2022).
  • One secondary aggregator listed a Florida example rate of $7.59 per $100 of payroll for code 5551, illustrating how widely single quoted figures can differ from headline maximums (illustrative single example, Work Comp Associates, 2026).
  • Published guidance illustrates that a roofing crew with $200,000 in annual payroll could face workers’ compensation costs anywhere from roughly $48,000 to $160,000 per year depending on state and rate (illustrative scenario, 1800insurance, 2025).
  • The median annual wage for roofers was $50,970 in May 2024, with the lowest 10 percent under $37,060 and the highest 10 percent over $80,780 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024).
  • Employment of roofers is projected to grow 6 percent from 2024 to 2034, faster than the average for all occupations (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024).

Why Roofing Workers’ Compensation Costs So Much

Workers’ compensation rates are built on expected losses, which are driven by how often workers in a class get hurt or killed and how severe those claims are. Roofing scores badly on both. The injury basis is not anecdotal, it is measured each year by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics through the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) and the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII).

Occupation or industry Fatal injuries per 100,000 FTE workers Year Source
Logging workers 98.9 2023 BLS CFOI, via Roofing Contractor
Fishing and hunting workers 86.9 2023 BLS CFOI, via Roofing Contractor
Roofers (occupation, SOC 47-2181) 51.8 2023 BLS CFOI, via Roofing Contractor and NRCA
Construction (all) 9.6 2023 BLS CFOI, via Construction Dive
All U.S. workers about 3.5 2023 BLS CFOI

The roofer-occupation fatal injury rate of 51.8 per 100,000 in 2023 is roughly 15 times the all-worker figure of about 3.5 per 100,000 (BLS CFOI 2023). Two distinct populations matter here, and they should not be conflated. The 51.8 per 100,000 rate, and the 2022 rate of 57.5, is a roofer-occupation fatal injury rate (SOC 47-2181) taken from the BLS CFOI chart of civilian occupations with high fatal work injury rates, where roofers rank third-highest, and it corresponds to the roofer-occupation death count of 113 in 2023. The 134-death count, by contrast, is the broader roofing-industry figure (NAICS 238160, roofing contractors), which counts all workers at roofing-contractor establishments rather than only people whose occupation is roofer (BLS CFOI 2023, via Roofing Contractor). Falls are the central problem. Of the 134 roofing-industry deaths recorded in 2023, 110 came from falls, slips, or trips, about 82 percent (BLS CFOI 2023, via Roofing Contractor). Fall claims are not only frequent in roofing, they are severe. They often involve hospitalization, surgery, long lost-time durations, and sometimes permanent disability, all of which raise the dollar value of the average claim and therefore the rate. This combination of high frequency and high severity is what places roofing among the most expensive class codes in the workers’ compensation system.

How Roofing Comp Rates Are Set

In most states, a rating organization develops the loss cost or pure premium rate for each job classification. The largest is the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI), a private organization that files advisory loss costs in roughly 35 to 40 states. A few large states run their own bureaus, including California (the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, or WCIRB) and others with independent or state-fund systems. NCCI’s full rate manuals are proprietary, so the figures published below are either state-published advisory values or examples reported by named secondary sources, and each is labeled as such.

NCCI class code 5551 is the standard national classification for roofing, described as “Roofing, All Kinds and Drivers.” It covers work on flat, sloped, and built-up roofs using hot tar, hot or cold composition material, metal, shingle, slate, tile, or paper (scope description via Work Comp Associates, 2026). The published loss cost or pure premium rate is only the starting point. A carrier multiplies it by its own loss-cost multiplier to cover commissions, taxes, profit, and expenses, then applies the individual employer’s experience modification factor, schedule credits or debits, and any state assessments. The result is that the final rate a single roofing company pays can sit well above or below the published class figure.

Illustrative Roofing Rate Examples by State

The table below shows published examples only. These are not quotes, are not comparable on an identical basis, and reflect different definitions (advisory loss cost versus a quoted rate versus a reported average). Treat them strictly as illustrations of magnitude and variation, not as the price any specific roofer will pay.

State Class code Published figure (per $100 payroll) What the figure is Source and year
Texas 5551 1.946 State advisory loss cost, before carrier multiplier, profit, and expense Texas Department of Insurance, eff. July 1, 2026
California 5552 (lower-wage tier) about $40 Reported average base rate (illustrative) CutCompCosts citing WCIRB-based data, 2022
Florida 5551 $7.59 Single example rate listed by aggregator (illustrative) Work Comp Associates, 2026
National (voluntary market) 5551 roughly $24 to $80 Illustrative range of rates across states 1800insurance, 2025
National (assigned risk, some states) 5551 over $80 Illustrative upper bound for hard-to-place risks CPR Brokers, 2026

The Texas advisory loss cost of 1.946 is not a final rate. As the Texas Department of Insurance explains, a carrier filing a loss-cost multiplier of 1.50 would charge 2.919 per $100 of payroll for code 5551 (1.946 multiplied by 1.50), before experience modification (Texas Department of Insurance, 2026). The wide spread between the Florida example of $7.59 and the national upper bound above $80 is exactly why this report avoids quoting a single national rate. The figures are not measuring the same thing, are from different source tiers, and apply in different markets and years.

What Roofing Comp Costs as a Share of Payroll

Because roofing rates are expressed per $100 of payroll, a published rate converts directly to a percentage of payroll. A rate of $24 per $100 is 24 percent of covered payroll, and a rate of $80 per $100 is 80 percent of covered payroll, using the illustrative voluntary-market range above (1800insurance, 2025). Applied to a $200,000 crew payroll, that same source illustrates an annual cost between roughly $48,000 and $160,000 (1800insurance, 2025). These are illustrative figures, not guaranteed prices, and the real number for any employer depends on its state, carrier, and experience modification factor, which can move the premium by 50 percent or more in either direction (1800insurance, 2025).

For broad context on how construction compensation is structured, the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) program tracks benefit costs, including legally required benefits such as workers’ compensation, Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance. As of the December 2025 reference period, benefits made up 29.9 percent of total compensation for private industry workers, averaging $13.79 per hour worked out of $46.15 total (BLS ECEC, 2025). BLS has announced that it will remove workers’ compensation costs from ECEC calculations starting with the March 2027 release of December 2026 data, which is a limitation to note for anyone tracking the workers’ comp share over time (BLS, 2025).

The Injury and Wage Basis

Roofing’s high comp cost rests on its risk profile and the payroll it is charged against. The figures below summarize the underlying labor and injury picture.

Metric Value Year Source
Roofer employment (jobs) about 166,700 2024 BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook / OEWS
Roofer median annual wage $50,970 May 2024 BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook
Roofer 10th percentile wage under $37,060 May 2024 BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook
Roofer 90th percentile wage over $80,780 May 2024 BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook
Projected job growth 6 percent (2024-2034) 2024-2034 BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook
Roofer-occupation fatalities (SOC 47-2181) 113 2023 BLS CFOI, via Roofing Contractor
Roofing-industry fatalities (NAICS 238160) 134 2023 BLS CFOI, via Roofing Contractor
Roofer-occupation fatal injury rate (SOC 47-2181) 51.8 per 100,000 2023 BLS CFOI, via Roofing Contractor
Share of roofing-industry deaths from falls 82 percent (110 of 134) 2023 BLS CFOI, via Roofing Contractor
Private industry nonfatal injury rate 2.4 cases per 100 FTE workers 2023 BLS SOII

The all-private-industry nonfatal rate of 2.4 cases per 100 workers in 2023 is a benchmark, not the roofing-specific rate (BLS SOII 2023). Construction trade contractor categories generally report nonfatal rates above that private-industry average, but a verified roofing-contractor-specific nonfatal incidence rate for 2023 was not confirmed against a primary BLS table for this report and is therefore excluded rather than estimated.

Original Synthesis

The following three derived insights are built only from the verified public datasets cited above. Each states its logic, inputs, and limitations. They are estimates and comparisons, not official statistics.

1. The roofing fatality premium ratio

Logic: divide the roofer-occupation fatal injury rate by the all-worker rate to express how much deadlier roofing is than the average U.S. job. Inputs: roofer occupation (SOC 47-2181) 51.8 per 100,000 and all-worker about 3.5 per 100,000, both BLS CFOI 2023. Result: roughly 14.8, meaning the roofer-occupation fatal injury rate is about 15 times the national average in 2023. Limitation: the all-worker rate is approximate and CFOI rates carry sampling and classification caveats, so this ratio should be read as an order-of-magnitude comparison, not a precise multiple.

2. Loss-cost-to-rate conversion for Texas roofing

Logic: apply a sample carrier loss-cost multiplier to the state advisory loss cost to show the gap between the published number and a plausible charged rate. Inputs: Texas advisory loss cost 1.946 per $100 for code 5551 (TDI, eff. July 1, 2026) and a sample multiplier of 1.50 (the example used by TDI itself). Result: 2.919 per $100 of payroll, or about 2.9 percent of covered payroll, before any experience modification. Limitation: 1.50 is an illustrative multiplier, not a market average, and the true charged rate depends on the carrier’s actual filing and the employer’s mod. This is a worked example, not a Texas market rate.

3. Severity-driven cost logic from the fall share

Logic: combine the share of roofing deaths from falls with the known severity of fall claims to explain rate level qualitatively. Inputs: 82 percent of 2023 roofing-industry deaths (NAICS 238160) were falls, slips, or trips (BLS CFOI 2023), and falls in construction concentrate at heights of 6 to 30 feet with ladders and stairs as leading sources (BLS, The Economics Daily 2025). Insight: because the dominant roofing hazard produces high-severity, high-cost claim types rather than minor ones, the loss component of roofing rates is weighted toward expensive claims, which is consistent with roofing class codes sitting at the top of published rate ranges. Limitation: this is a qualitative causal explanation supported by injury data, not a quantified claim-cost model, because primary roofing claim-cost data was not available to verify for this report.

Charts We Recommend

  • Title: “Roofers vs the Average U.S. Job: Fatal Injury Rate, 2023.” Data: roofer occupation (SOC 47-2181) 51.8, construction 9.6, all workers about 3.5 per 100,000 (BLS CFOI). Insight: roofers face roughly 15 times the national rate. Citation-worthy because it visualizes the injury basis for high comp rates in one image.
  • Title: “Top Five Deadliest U.S. Occupations by Fatality Rate, 2023.” Data: logging 98.9, fishing and hunting 86.9, roofers 51.8, plus next two (BLS CFOI occupation-based rates). Insight: roofers’ rank among the most dangerous jobs. Citation-worthy as a clean ranking.
  • Title: “What 82 Percent Looks Like: Cause of Roofing-Industry Deaths, 2023.” Data: 110 falls/slips/trips of 134 total roofing-industry deaths (NAICS 238160) (BLS CFOI). Insight: falls dominate roofing fatalities. Citation-worthy for safety and policy reporting.
  • Title: “From Loss Cost to Charged Rate: Texas Code 5551.” Data: 1.946 advisory loss cost, 2.919 after a 1.50 multiplier (TDI). Insight: published numbers understate charged rates. Citation-worthy for explaining how comp pricing works.
  • Title: “Illustrative Roofing Comp Rate Range per $100 Payroll.” Data: $24 to over $80 (1800insurance, CPR Brokers), labeled illustrative. Insight: the spread is enormous and state-driven. Citation-worthy with the limitations note attached.

Methodology

Source selection prioritized U.S. government primary data for injury and labor figures, specifically the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, and Employer Costs for Employee Compensation. For workers’ compensation rate figures, primary state-published advisory values were used where available (Texas Department of Insurance), and all other rate figures were drawn from named secondary sources and explicitly labeled as illustrative examples. NCCI rate manuals are proprietary, so no proprietary rate values are reproduced.

Inclusion required that a figure be attributable to a named source with a year. Where a BLS table returned an access error during retrieval, the same figure was confirmed through a named secondary source that attributed it to the specific BLS dataset, and that attribution is shown inline. Conflicting figures were handled by reporting the difference rather than averaging. For example, the 2022 roofing fatality rate of 57.5 and the 2023 rate of 51.8 are both shown with their years rather than blended. Derived estimates in the Original Synthesis section are clearly marked as calculations with stated inputs and limitations. Any statistic that could not be tied to a real retrieved source was excluded, including a roofing-contractor-specific nonfatal injury rate. Last updated: June 29, 2026.

Source Quality and Tiering

Tier 1 (primary government and official rating authorities): U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (CFOI, SOII, OEWS, Occupational Outlook Handbook, ECEC); Texas Department of Insurance (state-published advisory loss costs).

Tier 2 (credible industry bodies and trade reporting that cite primary data): National Roofing Contractors Association; Roofing Contractor magazine reporting BLS CFOI figures; Construction Dive; GPRS construction reporting.

Tier 3 (reputable commentary and insurance-market aggregators, used only for clearly labeled illustrative rate examples): 1800insurance; CPR Brokers; Work Comp Associates; CutCompCosts citing WCIRB-based data.

Most Quotable Statistics

  • Roofers had a fatal injury rate of 51.8 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2023, the third-highest of any U.S. occupation (roofer occupation, SOC 47-2181) (BLS CFOI 2023).
  • Roofing’s fatal injury rate is roughly 15 times the all-worker U.S. average of about 3.5 per 100,000 (BLS CFOI 2023).
  • 82 percent of roofing-industry deaths in 2023 (NAICS 238160), or 110 of 134, came from falls, slips, or trips (BLS CFOI 2023).
  • Texas published an advisory loss cost of 1.946 per $100 of payroll for roofing code 5551 effective July 1, 2026 (Texas Department of Insurance, 2026).
  • Published examples place roofing comp at roughly $24 to over $80 per $100 of payroll, an illustrative range that varies sharply by state (1800insurance and CPR Brokers, 2025-2026).
  • Construction recorded 1,075 fatalities in 2023, the most since 2011, at a rate of 9.6 per 100,000 workers (BLS CFOI 2023).
  • The median annual wage for roofers was $50,970 in May 2024 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024).

Data Limitations

  • No single national roofing workers’ compensation rate exists. Rates vary by state, carrier, payroll, classification subtype, and experience modification factor, and the figures here are illustrative, not quotes.
  • NCCI advisory rate manuals are proprietary. Published rate figures in this report are either state-published advisory values or named secondary examples, and the two are not directly comparable.
  • State classification systems differ. Texas and most NCCI states use code 5551, while California uses code 5552 with a dual-wage structure, and a few states use other codes, so cross-state rate comparisons are not like-for-like.
  • Some BLS source pages returned access errors during live retrieval. Where that happened, the figure was confirmed via a named secondary source that attributes it to the specific BLS dataset, and that attribution is shown.
  • Two different populations appear in CFOI roofing data and must not be conflated. The 51.8 and 57.5 per 100,000 rates and the 113-death count are roofer-occupation figures (SOC 47-2181), while the 134-death count is the broader roofing-industry figure (NAICS 238160, roofing contractors). The occupation rate corresponds to the occupation count, not the industry count.
  • Fatality rates carry year-to-year volatility and CFOI methodological caveats. The roofer-occupation rate of 57.5 in 2022 and 51.8 in 2023 differ, so the year must always be stated.
  • A roofing-contractor-specific nonfatal injury incidence rate was not verified against a primary BLS table and is excluded rather than estimated.
  • BLS will remove workers’ compensation from ECEC calculations starting with the March 2027 release of December 2026 data, which limits future tracking of the comp share of compensation through that series.

Recommended Downloadable Dataset Fields

  • state
  • class_code (e.g., 5551, 5552)
  • class_description
  • figure_type (advisory_loss_cost, quoted_rate_example, reported_average)
  • rate_per_100_payroll
  • effective_date
  • source_name
  • source_tier
  • source_url
  • roofing_fatality_rate_per_100k
  • roofing_fatalities_count
  • fall_share_of_deaths
  • data_year
  • notes_limitations

Press Summary

Roofing is one of the most expensive occupations to insure for workers’ compensation, and the reason is measurable. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, roofers had a fatal injury rate of 51.8 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2023 (roofer occupation, SOC 47-2181), the third-highest of any civilian occupation and roughly 15 times the all-worker average. Falls drive the risk: 82 percent of the 134 roofing-industry deaths in 2023 (NAICS 238160) came from falls, slips, or trips. That high frequency of severe claims feeds directly into rates. Published examples place workers’ compensation for the standard roofing class code (NCCI 5551) at roughly $24 to over $80 per $100 of payroll depending on state and market, and Texas published an advisory loss cost of 1.946 per $100 for code 5551 effective July 2026. Because rates vary by carrier, state, and each employer’s experience modification factor, no single national rate applies, and all rate figures here are illustrative.

Five Headlines Journalists Can Use

  • Roofing Ranks as the Third-Deadliest U.S. Job, and Its Insurance Bill Shows It
  • Why Roofers Pay Among the Highest Workers’ Comp Rates in the Country
  • 82 Percent of Roofing Deaths in 2023 Came From a Single Cause: Falls
  • Roofing’s Fatal Injury Rate Runs About 15 Times the National Average
  • From $24 to Over $80 per $100 of Payroll: The Wide World of Roofing Comp Rates

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is roofing workers’ compensation so expensive?

Rates reflect expected injury frequency and severity, and roofing scores high on both. Roofers had a fatal injury rate of 51.8 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2023, the third-highest of any U.S. occupation (roofer occupation, SOC 47-2181) (BLS CFOI 2023).

What is the workers’ comp class code for roofing?

The standard NCCI national code is 5551, “Roofing, All Kinds and Drivers,” covering flat, sloped, and built-up roofs using tar, composition, metal, shingle, slate, tile, or paper (scope via Work Comp Associates, 2026). California uses code 5552 with a dual-wage structure.

How much does roofing workers’ comp cost per $100 of payroll?

Published examples range from roughly $24 to over $80 per $100 of payroll depending on state and market, but these are illustrative, not quotes (1800insurance and CPR Brokers, 2025-2026).

What does the Texas advisory loss cost for roofing look like?

Texas published an advisory loss cost of 1.946 per $100 of payroll for code 5551 effective July 1, 2026, before carrier multiplier, profit, and expense (Texas Department of Insurance, 2026).

Is there one national roofing comp rate?

No. Rates vary by state, carrier, payroll, classification, and experience modification factor, and an employer’s mod alone can move a premium by 50 percent or more (1800insurance, 2025).

How does roofing compare to construction overall?

Construction overall had a fatal injury rate of 9.6 per 100,000 in 2023, while the roofer occupation (SOC 47-2181) was 51.8, more than five times higher (BLS CFOI 2023).

What causes most roofing injuries and deaths?

Falls. Falls, slips, and trips caused 110 of the 134 roofing-industry deaths in 2023 (NAICS 238160), about 82 percent (BLS CFOI 2023).

How dangerous is roofing compared with the average job?

The roofer-occupation fatal injury rate (SOC 47-2181) of 51.8 per 100,000 in 2023 is roughly 15 times the all-worker U.S. average of about 3.5 per 100,000 (BLS CFOI 2023).

How much do roofers earn, the payroll comp is charged against?

The median annual wage for roofers was $50,970 in May 2024, ranging from under $37,060 at the 10th percentile to over $80,780 at the 90th (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024).

Can a roofer’s premium be higher or lower than the published class rate?

Yes. After the published loss cost, carriers apply a loss-cost multiplier and the employer’s experience modification factor, which can raise or lower the final premium by 50 percent or more (1800insurance, 2025; Texas Department of Insurance, 2026).

Cite This Research

The Roofing Brief, “Roofing Workers’ Compensation Report: Costs, Class Code 5551, and Why Rates Run High in 2026,” 2026, https://theroofingbrief.com/roofing-workers-compensation-report/

Embed or use this with credit: “Source: The Roofing Brief analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CFOI, OEWS, and ECEC data and state-published workers’ compensation loss costs (2023-2026), https://theroofingbrief.com/roofing-workers-compensation-report/.”

Sources

  1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2024 release (2023 data), https://www.bls.gov/iif/fatal-injuries-tables/fatal-occupational-injuries-table-a-1-2023.htm
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Fatal falls in the construction industry in 2023,” The Economics Daily, 2025, https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2025/fatal-falls-in-the-construction-industry-in-2023.htm
  3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary, 2024, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm
  4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, “Roofers,” May 2024 data, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/roofers.htm
  5. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, “47-2181 Roofers,” https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes472181.htm
  6. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, “Table 1, incidence rates, 2023,” https://www.bls.gov/iif/nonfatal-injuries-and-illnesses-tables/table-1-injury-and-illness-rates-by-industry-2023-national.htm
  7. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation news release, 2025, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.htm
  8. Texas Department of Insurance, “Texas workers’ compensation rate guide” and “Basis of Rates, July 1, 2025 and 2026 Loss Costs,” https://www.tdi.texas.gov/wc/regulation/rcomp.html
  9. Roofing Contractor, “Roofing Remains a Top 3 Deadliest Occupation in the U.S.” (citing BLS CFOI), https://www.roofingcontractor.com/articles/100253-roofing-remains-a-top-3-deadliest-occupation-in-the-us
  10. National Roofing Contractors Association, “Construction industry fatalities rose in 2023,” 2025, https://www.nrca.net/RoofingNews/construction-industry-fatalities-rose-in-2023.1-9-2025.12515/details/story
  11. Construction Dive, “Construction had the most fatalities of any industry last year,” https://www.constructiondive.com/news/construction-fatalities-2023-bls-falls-safety/702974/
  12. GPRS, “2023 Saw Most Construction Fatalities in Over a Decade,” https://www.gp-radar.com/article/2023-saw-most-construction-fatalities-in-over-a-decade
  13. 1800insurance, “Workers’ Comp for Roofing Contractors: Costs and Requirements,” 2025, https://www.1800insurance.com/guides/workers-comp-for-roofing-contractor
  14. CPR Brokers, “Roofing Workers’ Comp Insurance, High Hazard Placement Guide,” https://www.cprbrokers.com/post/roofing-workers-comp-placement
  15. Work Comp Associates, “Work Comp Class Code 5551,” https://www.workcompassociates.com/class-codes/5551
  16. CutCompCosts, “Most Expensive Workers Compensation Classification Codes California” (citing WCIRB-based data), https://cutcompcosts.com/2009/09/classification-codes-california.html/