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West Virginia business insurance: requirements and costs

West Virginia requires workers' compensation from an employer's first employee, and since privatization in 2006 the coverage is sold by private carriers.⁠1⁠3⁠6 NCCI publishes advisory loss costs that each carrier multiplies by its own loss cost multiplier, and the Insurance Commissioner posted a 2026 schedule effective January 1, 2026.⁠5 Auto liability minimums are 25/50/25.⁠4

Checked against 10 sources Last reviewed How we check figures

West Virginia at a glance

Workers’ comp required1+ employee (all regularly employing employers)
Where employers buy itPrivate insurers
Rates set byNational Council on Compensation Insurance
Employer comp cost, 2023$1.05 per $100 of covered wages (US $0.98)
Comp rate index, 2024$0.54, ranked 49 of 51 (1 = most expensive)
Employer health premium, 2025$8,878 single, $26,094 family (average total premium)
Auto liability minimum25/50/25

West Virginia privatized its workers' comp market under legislation that took effect in 2006. The Insurance Commissioner's office says the market now has more than 350 carriers, and that aggregate loss costs have fallen more than 82% since the privatization legislation took effect in 2006.⁠6 State law lets an employer buy from a licensed private carrier or self-insure if it meets the code's requirements.⁠3 Prices start from NCCI, the state's statistical rating agent. NCCI's class loss costs are advisory and exclude each carrier's loss cost multiplier (LCM), so the rate you are quoted is the class loss cost times the carrier's LCM, then adjusted for your experience modification, credits or debits, and surcharges.⁠5 By our calculation, with an assumed LCM of 1.20 (an assumption, not a published figure), roofing (class 5551, advisory loss cost 2.218 per $100 of payroll for 2026) comes to 2.218 × 1.20 = 2.6616 per $100, or $5,323 on $200,000 of payroll before any mod or surcharge.⁠5 Domestic workers are rated per head rather than on payroll: the Commissioner's own example is 3 workers × $143.00 = $429 in loss cost for full-time residential domestic class 0913.⁠5

The latest direction is down. In August 2025 the Governor's office announced that NCCI had filed a 13.5% decrease in voluntary-market loss costs effective January 1, 2026, with a matching 13.5% decrease for the assigned risk market, and described it as the 21st consecutive annual decrease.⁠7 The Commissioner's loss-cost schedule effective January 1, 2026 is posted, but it does not state an average change, so we could not confirm the final approved percentage and report the filed figure as filed.⁠5⁠6⁠7 The official cost data show the decline too. NASI estimates employers spent $1.05 per $100 of covered wages on comp in 2023, down from $1.44 in 2019, a 27% fall by our calculation, against 16% nationally ($0.98 in 2023).⁠8 That leaves West Virginia about 7% above the national figure by our calculation. Oregon's 2024 ranking, built on manual rates in effect January 1, 2024, puts West Virginia 49th of 51 jurisdictions (rank 1 is the most expensive) at an index of $0.54 per $100 of payroll, 49% of the median.⁠9 The two sources measure different things, actual employer spending against filed rates for a standard set of classes, so they can point different ways. For health benefits, AHRQ's 2025 survey found that 23.7% of West Virginia private-sector establishments in firms with fewer than 50 employees offered coverage, against 32.1% nationally. Where they did, the average single premium was $8,763 against $9,034 nationally, about 3% lower by our calculation.⁠10

For an employer, the practical points are these. Coverage starts at one employee, and an employer that is found without it is posted as defaulted by the Insurance Commissioner and is liable to injured workers both for comp benefits and for damages at common law or by statute.⁠1⁠2 That exposure is far larger than any premium. Private carriers may cancel a policy on 30 days' written notice and refuse to renew on 60 days' notice, so a lapse can come with little warning.⁠3 Auto liability is 25/50/25 for vehicles registered in the state, in force since January 1, 2016.⁠4 Because the schedule is loss costs and not final rates, two quotes for the same class can differ by carrier multiplier alone. Compare the LCM, your mod and any surcharges, not just the quoted rate.

Workers’ compensation in West Virginia

Every person, firm, association or corporation regularly employing another person in a business, service or industry in West Virginia is an employer under the workers' compensation chapter, so coverage is required from the first employee.⁠1 A casual employer is outside the requirement, but only with three or fewer employees, temporary, intermittent and sporadic work, and no more than 10 calendar days in a calendar quarter.⁠1

Who is exempt

  • Employers of domestic-service employees (coverage optional)
  • Employers of five or fewer full-time employees in agricultural service
  • Employers of employees working outside the state, except in cases of temporary employment outside it
  • Casual employers: three or fewer employees, temporary, intermittent and sporadic, 10 calendar days or fewer in a calendar quarter
  • Churches
  • Employers engaged in organized professional sports, including trainers and jockeys in thoroughbred racing
  • Certain volunteer rescue squads and volunteer police auxiliary units organized under government auspices (paid staff must be covered)
  • Taxicab drivers working under a written or electronic independent-contractor agreement as set out in the statute
  • Partnership members, sole proprietors, and corporate officers or directors may be left out as employees by election; an LLC may exclude no more than four managers, officers or members

Buying coverage and who sets the rates

Employers buy from a private carrier licensed to write workers' compensation in West Virginia, through licensed agents, or self-insure if they satisfy the code's requirements.⁠3 Carriers charge NCCI's advisory class loss costs multiplied by their own loss cost multiplier.⁠5 NCCI also files rates for the assigned risk market.⁠7

Latest rate decision (1 Jan 2026): NCCI filed a 13.5% decrease in voluntary-market loss costs, and a matching 13.5% decrease for the assigned risk market, effective January 1, 2026 (announced Aug. 11, 2025). The Insurance Commissioner's class loss-cost schedule is effective January 1, 2026; the approved average change is not stated on it. Official notice.

Allowed for an employer that satisfies all requirements of the code and is permitted to self-insure.⁠3

Penalties for going without

On discovering that an employer is not maintaining West Virginia coverage, the Insurance Commissioner issues a written notice to employees, posted at the employer, that the employer is defaulted. A defaulted employer is liable to its employees for injury or death both in comp benefits and in damages at common law or by statute.⁠2

What West Virginia employers pay

Employer workers’ compensation costs per $100 of covered wages, 2019–2023
YearWest VirginiaUnited States
2019$1.44$1.17
2020$1.22$1.08
2021$1.10$1.01
2022$1.08$1.00
2023$1.05$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 West Virginia’s index for rates in effect on 1 January 2024 at $0.54 per $100 of payroll, 51% below the national median of $1.09 (rank 49 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 West Virginia

Average annual premium per enrolled employee at private-sector employers, 2025
MeasureWest VirginiaFirms under 50United States
Single coverage, total premium$8,878$8,763$9,025
Family coverage, total premium$26,094$24,948$26,281
Employee share, single$2,012–$1,817
Employers offering coverage47.9%23.7%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 West Virginia

Every vehicle registered in West Virginia, 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.

Proof of financial responsibility since January 1, 2016: $25,000 for bodily injury or death of one person, $50,000 per accident for two or more people, and $25,000 for property damage.⁠4

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 West Virginia rules that affect insurance costs

Loss costs are not final rates

The Commissioner's schedule lists NCCI advisory loss costs per $100 of payroll, and it states that they exclude the carrier's loss cost multiplier, experience mods, credit and debit programs, endorsements and surcharges.⁠5 Quotes for the same class therefore differ by carrier.

Per-head classes for domestic workers

Classes 0908 (part-time) and 0913 (full-time) domestic workers in residences are priced per employee, not per $100 of payroll: the 2026 loss costs are $37.00 and $143.00 per employee.⁠5

Cancellation and non-renewal notice

Private carriers may cancel a comp policy on 30 days' written notice and refuse to renew on 60 days' written notice.⁠3

West Virginia compared with its neighbors

Workers’ comp and health insurance costs, West Virginia and neighboring states
West Virginia$1.05$0.54$8,878
Kentucky$0.73$0.76$8,936
Ohio$0.58$0.68$8,804
Pennsylvania$1.08$1.14$9,421
Maryland$0.74$0.89$8,760
Virginia$0.48$0.73$8,970

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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