Wyoming workers' comp rates 2026: state fund base rates per $100 of payroll

One buyer, one rate book

Wyoming is a monopolistic state: an employer in a required industry can obtain workers’ comp only from the Workers’ Compensation Division of the Department of Workforce Services (DWS)⁠⁴. There is no private carrier to bid against and no quote comparison for the statutory coverage. The statute requires the program to be “neither more nor less than self-supporting” and lets DWS readjust class rates annually as it actuarially determines⁠⁵. Rates must be set with the governor’s written approval after the state’s rulemaking process⁠⁵.

Because the rate book is public, the price of the coverage for your business is arithmetic. DWS assigns the business a NAICS code and a base rate, “calculated based on a thorough analysis by our actuarial consultant,” and says the base rate combined with the employer’s experience modification rating (EMR) determines the premium⁠⁴. Rates are quoted per $100 of payroll, the unit the Wyoming Legislative Service Office uses for the state’s rate⁠⁸; the rate file itself does not print the unit⁠¹.

Unlike Washington, where classes follow job duties, Wyoming classes follow the industry of the business: a contractor’s carpenters and its estimators generally sit in the contractor’s NAICS class. The schedule has a few exceptions, labeled “special exception” codes for clerical office, outside sales, automotive inside sales and temporary help⁠¹.

Who must be covered, and who may choose to

The statute applies to “extrahazardous employment,” defined mostly by NAICS sector, and covers all workers in those sectors regardless of individual occupation⁠⁵. Required sectors and subsectors include⁠⁵:

• logging (industry group 1133), mining (21), utilities (22), construction (23) and manufacturing (31-33);
• nondurable wholesale groups, motor vehicle and parts dealers (441), gasoline stations and fuel dealers (457), and parts of building-materials and specialty-food retail;
• air, truck and urban transit, pipeline, postal, courier and warehousing;
• ambulatory care, hospitals, nursing and residential care and most social assistance;
• arts, entertainment and recreation, accommodation and food services, and repair and maintenance;
• lessors of real estate, automotive equipment rental, security and building services, and waste management.

Listed government groups, including police, corrections and fire protection, are also covered⁠⁵. Agriculture is not required except logging, and neither are legal, accounting, finance, insurance and most professional and retail businesses⁠⁵ (our reading of the list). They still appear in the rate schedule, because an employer outside the list may elect coverage: it must cover all of its employees, and it can withdraw only after two years, if current on contributions⁠⁵.

Sole proprietors, partners, corporate officers and LLC members can be covered only by written election, and officers elected into coverage are reported at the statewide average wage, not their actual pay⁠⁵⁠⁴. DWS also offers optional clerical coverage at lower rates for employees whose work is purely clerical and physically separated from other operations⁠⁴.

If you hire out work, DWS treats a person as an independent contractor only if all three tests are met: free from control, presenting as self-employed, and able to substitute someone else; failing any one makes them an employee⁠⁴.

2026 base rates for common Wyoming classes

The lookup searches all 127 classes in the 2026 schedule. The table lists 34 that cover offices, construction, retail, food service, health care, transport and energy. Rates are per $100 of payroll before the EMR and discounts⁠¹.

Complete schedule: Wyoming rates as a CSV file (127 classes) or the official file.

Source: Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division, State of Wyoming Workers' Compensation 2026 Industry Base Rates by Classification. Rates per $100 of payroll, before the employer’s experience modification. Checked 13 Oct 2026.

Class 112000 and 111000 (agriculture) and the finance, legal and real estate classes are shown because employers may elect coverage; the statute does not require it for most of them⁠⁵.

What the 2026 schedule shows

The spread is more than 140 to 1. The lowest rate is $0.05 per $100 (securities, commodity contracts, 523000) and the highest among the 127 classes is $7.13 (transit and ground passenger transportation, 485000), then fire protection $6.67, couriers and messengers $6.31 and sawmills $5.82⁠¹ (our comparison).

Office work is cheap but not free. Clerical office is $0.31 and legal services $0.12; a lawyer’s payroll of $200,000 carries a base premium of $240 (our calculation). Outside sales is $0.90, nearly three times clerical⁠¹.

One construction code is not three. Construction of buildings is $2.55, heavy and civil $1.72 and specialty trades $2.39⁠¹. Because classification is by business NAICS, which of these a contractor is assigned to matters more than any single worker’s duties; an employer can contest its classification, and DWS bears the burden of proving it is correct⁠⁵.

Care and transport are the expensive service classes. Nursing care facilities are $4.06, residential mental health and substance abuse facilities $4.65 and truck transportation $3.86, against $0.48 for ambulatory health care and $0.91 for hospitals⁠¹. Food services are $1.11 and automotive repair $1.69⁠¹.

From base rate to your premium

The statute sets the experience rating plan: three years of claims experience, or as much as exists, rewarding better-than-average employers and penalizing worse ones; the discount or penalty “shall not exceed” 85% of the base rate for 2017 and later rates⁠⁵. In our calculation that means an EMR between 0.15 and 1.85. DWS says the EMR uses a split plan of claim frequency and severity over the last three years, a new employer without a full year of premium history gets 1.0, and so does an out-of-state employer moving in with no Wyoming history⁠⁴.

DWS lists discount programs⁠⁴:

• Drug-Free Workplace: 10% for a drug-testing program, renewed annually.
• Safety Discount Program: 3.33% to 10% for a written health and safety program.
• DWS OSHA Health & Safety Consultation: 3% to 10%, lasting three years.
• Deductible program: lower premium in exchange for covering losses up to a set deductible.

The guide does not say how discounts combine with each other or with the EMR, so the example below does not apply them.

Worked example: a remodeling contractor

This is our calculation with 2026 rates⁠¹. Assume a specialty trade contractor (238000, $2.39) with $100,000 of field and estimating payroll in a quarter, and $15,000 of purely clerical payroll in clerical coverage (000010, $0.31). We assume the EMR multiplies both lines.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

At an EMR of 0.85 the quarter costs about $2,070.03, and at 1.25 about $3,045.63. The statutory limits would put the range at $365.48 (0.15) to $4,507.53 (1.85)⁠⁵. Under the proposed 2027 base rates ($2.08 and $0.34) the same payroll would give $2,131.00 at EMR 1.00, 12.5% less⁠³. Clerical premium is about 2% of the total, so the modifier on the field payroll decides the bill. The workers’ comp calculator can run other payrolls.

Reporting payroll to DWS

DWS says employers with an active policy typically file wage reports quarterly on the Wage Listing form or through their account at wyui.wyo.gov, and the reports tell DWS which employees are covered and calculate the premium⁠⁴. Premium is the class rate times payroll for each class code⁠⁴. Missed deadlines cost interest on unpaid premium, and a report more than 30 days overdue carries a $100 late filing penalty⁠⁴. DWS lists no minimum premium in the guide or the rate table (our reading).

Late payment has a bigger cost than the penalty. Under “Case Cost Liability,” DWS may charge the business for injury costs if its account was delinquent when the injury occurred, the worker was not on the Wage Listing, or no active policy existed on the injury date; this applies only to required policies⁠⁴. By statute, an employee can also sue an employer that has not qualified for coverage or has not paid the required premium within 30 days of the due date⁠⁵.

Proposed 2027 rates

DWS posts a file titled “2027 Proposed Industry Base Rates by Classification” next to the 2026 and 2025 schedules⁠²⁠³. A DWS notice schedules the rate hearing for October 14, 2026, and says the proposal would lower the overall industry base rates 2.0% against the rates effective January 1, 2026⁠⁷. The file states no effective date and I found no adoption notice as of October 13, 2026, so treat the rates as proposed. Its “Actual 2026” column matches the 2026 schedule for all 127 classes⁠³. By our count the proposal lowers 79 classes, raises 44 and leaves 4 unchanged.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Sources:⁠¹, ⁠³. Your own rate also depends on your modifier.

What the state fund does not cover

State-fund benefits are the exclusive remedy against an employer that pays its premiums, except where an employee intentionally acts to cause physical harm; they do not displace claims against other persons⁠⁵. The Hartford says Wyoming employers who want employer’s liability protection must buy it as stop-gap coverage added to a general liability policy from a private insurer⁠⁶. That is the insurer’s description of its own product; the premium is separate from the DWS premium and not in the table above. See the workers’ compensation page for how other states compare.

Sources

1. 1
   Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division, State of Wyoming Workers' Compensation 2026 Industry Base Rates by Classification Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
2. 2
   Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation: Employers Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
3. 3
   Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division, State of Wyoming Workers' Compensation 2027 Proposed Industry Base Rates by Classification Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
4. 4
   Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division, Wyoming Workers' Compensation Employer Guide (rev. 04.2025) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
5. 5
   Wyoming Legislature, Wyoming Statutes Title 27 (W.S. 27-14-104, 27-14-108, 27-14-201) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
6. 6
   The Hartford, Wyoming Workers' Compensation Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
7. 7
   Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, Proposed 2027 Workers' Compensation Employer Industry Base Rates (notice of hearing) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑
8. 8
   Wyoming Legislative Service Office, Workers' Compensation (Joint Appropriations Committee briefing) Checked 13 Oct 2026 · Back to text ↑

Spotted an outdated figure? Report an error