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Kansas business insurance: requirements and costs

Kansas ties the workers' comp mandate to payroll, not headcount: an employer outside agriculture must insure once total gross payroll passes $20,000 a year.⁠6⁠5 NCCI's loss-cost filing for policies starting on or after January 1, 2026 proposed lowering voluntary loss costs 1.0%, and NCCI has proposed a further 1.9% cut from January 1, 2027.⁠1⁠2 The Kansas Department of Insurance publishes the loss cost multiplier each insurer applies on top, and those multipliers run from 0.746 to 3.32, so the carrier you pick moves your premium far more than either filing.⁠3

Checked against 16 sources Last reviewed How we check figures

Kansas at a glance

Workers’ comp requiredPayroll over $20,000/yr (non-farm); family wages excluded except corporations
Where employers buy itPrivate insurers
Rates set byNational Council on Compensation Insurance
Employer comp cost, 2023$0.84 per $100 of covered wages (US $0.98)
Comp rate index, 2024$0.91, ranked 35 of 51 (1 = most expensive)
Employer health premium, 2025$8,657 single, $25,493 family (average total premium)
Auto liability minimum25/50/25

Kansas is an NCCI state with no state fund. NCCI, a licensed rating organization, files advisory loss costs by class with the Kansas Department of Insurance; those cover expected losses but not an insurer's expenses or profit.⁠1 Each insurer turns loss costs into rates with its own loss cost multiplier (LCM), and the department posts every company's multiplier in force, its effective date and the one it replaced.⁠3 By our count of that table on October 13, 2026, it lists 446 insurer entries with a median LCM of 1.493. The lowest is 0.746 and the highest 3.32. Not every listed company actively writes Kansas comp. Businesses no insurer will take go to the Kansas Workers Compensation Insurance Plan, which NCCI administers. The plan had 3,703 policies and $16.4 million of premium in force on December 31, 2025, against 3,700 policies and $15.1 million a year earlier.⁠4

The January 1, 2026 filing was the smaller of two consecutive proposed cuts. NCCI filed it on September 2, 2025, at −1.0% for voluntary loss costs and −0.9% for assigned-risk rates, using policy years 2021-2023.⁠1 The January 1, 2027 filing, now with the department, proposes −1.9% and −1.4%.⁠2 NCCI says the drivers pull in opposite directions. Claim frequency fell about 20% cumulatively over policy years 2022-2024. But policy years 2023 and 2024 each carry more losses from claims above $500,000 than usual, and SB 430 raises indemnity costs for injuries on or after July 1, 2024.⁠2 That 2024 law lifted the lifetime cap on permanent total disability benefits from $155,000 to $400,000 and death benefits from $300,000 to $500,000. It raised the temporary and permanent partial caps from $130,000 to $225,000 and starts an annual adjustment of the caps in 2027.⁠10 Our reading: the proposed cuts are modest because higher benefits are being priced in as claims shrink.

On official measures Kansas is a below-average comp state and the cheapest of its four neighbors on the Oregon rate index. NASI puts employer spending at $0.84 per $100 of covered wages in 2023, against $0.98 nationally, which is about 15% lower by our calculation. Kansas was at $0.98 in 2019.⁠14 Oregon's 2024 ranking, which prices the same 50 classes in every state, put Kansas 35th of 51 at an index of $0.91, 83% of the median state. Missouri ($1.31), Oklahoma ($1.33), Nebraska ($1.12) and Colorado ($1.05) all ranked as more expensive.⁠15 Colorado's employers still spent less per $100 of wages in 2023 ($0.64), a reminder that the Oregon index measures rates on a fixed class mix, not actual spending.⁠14⁠15

Group health tells a different story for small employers. AHRQ's 2025 survey puts the average single premium at Kansas firms with fewer than 50 workers at $7,572, against $9,034 nationally. The small-firm family premium was $19,915, against $24,176.⁠16 Kansas small-firm employees paid $9,353 of that family premium, though. That is 47% of it by our calculation, against $7,760 (32%) nationally, so lower premiums there come with heavier cost-sharing.⁠16 Kansas has no state disability or paid family leave program to fund.

For budgeting, start from the class loss cost and multiply by the insurer's LCM, then apply your experience modification and any schedule credits. Our worked example uses an assumed loss cost of $1.00 per $100 of payroll on $500,000 of payroll, or $5,000 of loss cost. At the median LCM that becomes $7,465 of manual premium; at the lowest it is $3,730 and at the highest $16,600.⁠3 The proposed 2026 cut would take $50 off that loss cost. Insurers re-file multipliers on their own schedule, though: of the 51 LCMs that took effect in 2026, 25 were higher than the one they replaced and 19 lower.⁠3 A renewal can rise even in a year NCCI's loss costs fall, so check your insurer's line in the department's table.

Workers’ compensation in Kansas

Every employer outside agriculture whose total gross payroll was more than $20,000 last calendar year, or is reasonably expected to exceed $20,000 this year, must secure comp.⁠6 Wages paid in and outside Kansas count. Family members' wages are left out of the total, except at corporations, which count everyone.⁠5⁠6

Who is exempt

  • Agricultural pursuits and employment incident to them
  • Employers with $20,000 or less of annual gross payroll
  • Sole proprietors, LLC members and partners themselves (their employees count toward the threshold)
  • Licensed real estate salespeople who qualify as independent contractors
  • Firefighters in a firefighters' relief association that has filed an election to exclude them
  • Certain owner-operator drivers covered by their own occupational accident policy (per the Department of Labor)
  • Corporate employees owning 10% or more of the stock may file an election to opt out

Buying coverage and who sets the rates

Employers buy a policy from an insurer authorized in Kansas, join a qualified group-funded workers' comp pool, or qualify as a self-insurer.⁠7 Businesses insurers decline go to the Kansas Workers Compensation Insurance Plan, which NCCI administers at assigned-risk rates.⁠4⁠1

Latest rate decision (1 Jan 2026): NCCI's loss cost and assigned risk rate filing for new and renewal policies on or after Jan. 1, 2026: voluntary loss costs −1.0%, assigned-risk rates −0.9% (filed with the Kansas Department of Insurance Sept. 2, 2025; we could not find the department's approval order). NCCI filed Sept. 2, 2026 for −1.9% loss costs and −1.4% assigned-risk rates effective Jan. 1, 2027, pending review. Official notice.

Allowed for an employer that proves to the Director of Workers Compensation it can pay compensation itself, and through membership in a qualified group-funded workers' comp pool.⁠7

Penalties for going without

Knowingly and intentionally failing to secure comp is a class A misdemeanor. The Director can also assess, after a hearing, a civil penalty of twice the annual premium you would have paid or $25,000, whichever is greater.⁠7 A self-employed subcontractor is not fined for leaving only themselves uninsured.⁠7 Failing to report a work accident that keeps an employee off for more than one day, shift or turn within 28 days can cost $250 per report.⁠5

What Kansas employers pay

Employer workers’ compensation costs per $100 of covered wages, 2019–2023
YearKansasUnited States
2019$0.98$1.17
2020$0.73$1.08
2021$0.89$1.01
2022$0.89$1.00
2023$0.84$0.98

Employer cost per $100 of covered wages: premiums paid by insured employers plus benefits and administrative costs of self-insured employers, divided by the wages of workers covered by workers’ compensation. The United States figure is NASI’s national total, which includes federal programs. Source: National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI), published 11 Aug 2026.

Oregon’s biennial comparison of workers’ comp rates puts Kansas’s index for rates in effect on 1 January 2024 at $0.91 per $100 of payroll, 17% below the national median of $1.09 (rank 35 of 51, where 1 is the most expensive). The index prices the same 50 risk classes, weighted by Oregon payroll, in every state, so it compares rate levels rather than what employers actually pay. Compare every state.

Employer health insurance in Kansas

Average annual premium per enrolled employee at private-sector employers, 2025
MeasureKansasFirms under 50United States
Single coverage, total premium$8,657$7,572$9,025
Family coverage, total premium$25,493$19,915$26,281
Employee share, single$1,784–$1,817
Employers offering coverage52.6%34.6%49.2%

Average total annual premium per enrolled employee at private-sector establishments that offer health insurance; the offer rate is the share of establishments offering coverage. Small firms have fewer than 50 employees. Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, 2025 survey year. All states.

Commercial auto in Kansas

Every vehicle registered in Kansas, including business vehicles, must carry at least 25/50/25 in liability limits (bodily injury per person / per accident / property damage, in thousands of dollars). Official source.

Kansas is a no-fault state: every policy must also include personal injury protection, with at least $4,500 for medical care, $4,500 for rehabilitation, disability benefits up to at least $900 a month for one year, $2,000 for funeral costs and $25 a day for replacement services. The liability section was last amended effective Jan. 1, 2017; no 2025-2026 change.

Trucks and buses used in interstate commerce must also meet federal minimums of $750,000 to $5 million: see commercial auto minimums and what commercial auto costs.

Other Kansas rules that affect insurance costs

General contractors answer for subcontractors' workers

If you hire a contractor to do work that is part of your own trade or business, or that you contracted to perform, you owe comp to the contractor's injured workers as if you had employed them directly.⁠9 A certificate showing the sub carries its own comp is the evidence that this liability is covered elsewhere. A self-employed sub can go without cover for themselves without a fine, but not for their employees.⁠7

Noneconomic damages cap struck down

The statute still lists a cap on noneconomic damages in personal injury cases, $350,000 for causes of action accruing on or after July 1, 2022.⁠13 The Kansas Supreme Court held in Hilburn v. Enerpipe (2019) that the cap violates the right to a jury trial.⁠13 For liability buyers, that means Kansas pain-and-suffering awards are not limited by that statute, a factor in choosing general liability, auto and umbrella limits.

Opting in or out takes a filing

Individuals, proprietors and partnerships, and employers at or under the $20,000 payroll line, are outside the act unless they elect in. A shareholder owning 10% or more of a corporation can elect out.⁠5⁠8 Elections must be filed electronically in the Department of Labor's OSCAR system.⁠5

Kansas compared with its neighbors

Workers’ comp and health insurance costs, Kansas and neighboring states
Kansas$0.84$0.91$8,657
Nebraska$0.89$1.12$8,907
Missouri$1.01$1.31$8,084
Oklahoma$0.91$1.33$8,124
Colorado$0.64$1.05$8,816

Sources

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National figures: NASI (employer comp costs), Oregon DCBS (rate index), AHRQ MEPS-IC (health premiums).

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Other states

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