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Missouri Workers' Comp Rate Calculator

Estimate a Missouri workers' comp premium from payroll, a rate per $100 and your experience mod. Defaults are explained under the rate field.

Regulator
Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Division of Workers' Compensation
Market Type
Competitive private market
Rating Organization
NCCI
Class System
NCCI class codes
Step 1 — Your Business
About Your Missouri Business
Step 2 — Experience & Claims
Your Claims History
Total Incurred ($)
# of Claims
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Step 3 — Compare Options
Coverage Options
Your Results
Premium Estimate
Estimated Annual Premium
$0
Payroll/100 × Rate × EMR
YearEstimate
Illustrative Mod Path (3 Years)
Current Path
PEO Path

An estimate, not a quote. How this calculator works.

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Workers' comp in Missouri: what's different

Missouri is a competitive, use-and-file market. Insurers build their own rates from NCCI's advisory loss costs and file them with the Department of Commerce and Insurance (DCI). On the labor side, the Division of Workers' Compensation (within Missouri's labor department) handles coverage rules, injury reports, and self-insurance. Missouri no longer has a state fund. Missouri Employers Mutual (MEM), which the legislature created in 1993, says it became a private mutual company in 2025.

Who must carry coverage

Under RSMo 287.030, most businesses become covered employers at five employees. A construction employer, meaning one that erects, demolishes, alters, or repairs improvements, is covered with just one. Part-time, casual, and family workers all count.

How owners are treated depends on the business form:

  • Officers of a corporation, and LLC members, are included in the headcount, the Division says.
  • LLC members are covered by the LLC's policy, but each can reject coverage on a DCI form sent to the LLC and its insurer.
  • S corporation shareholders holding 40% or more can opt themselves out in writing, with notice to the company and its insurer.
  • Small corporations. When a corporation has no more than two owners and they are its only employees, it can withdraw from the law by filing a notice with the Division.
  • Sole proprietors and partners stay outside the law unless they buy coverage for themselves. They can withdraw close relatives they employ by listing them on the policy, but those relatives still count toward the threshold.

Chapter 287 excludes farm labor, domestic servants in a private home, qualified real estate agents and direct sellers, and unpaid volunteers of 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(19) groups. Exempt employers may still elect coverage.

Construction contractors face two more rules. A general contractor is liable for injuries to the employees of an uninsured subcontractor (RSMo 287.040). A city or county that licenses construction contractors must require a certificate of insurance or a signed affidavit of exemption before issuing the license (RSMo 287.061).

Where coverage comes from

RSMo 287.280 allows insurance with a carrier licensed in Missouri, or self-insurance once the Division is satisfied you can carry the risk. Self-insurance can be individual or through a group trust.

MEM started in 1993 as an independent public corporation created by statute, which also said it was not a state agency. A 2023 law, Senate Bill 101, let it convert to a private mutual insurer and repealed the MEM Act (RSMo 287.900 to 287.920) effective January 1, 2025.

Who sets rates

DCI does not set voluntary rates. Each insurer files the final rates it uses within 30 days of their effective date, and DCI may later disapprove a rate that is inadequate or unfairly discriminatory. NCCI is the advisory organization licensed to file classifications, loss costs, and rating plans in Missouri.

DCI's site shows the most recent filing as the one effective at the start of 2026. NCCI filed it on August 21, 2025, asking for an average loss cost increase of 1.3%, and SERFF records it as approved on October 30, 2025. Within that, the contracting industry group was proposed at +0.3%. The prior two filings cut loss costs 5.3% (2025) and 7.5% (2024).

For 2027, NCCI's own summary says it submitted a filing to DCI on August 25, 2026 that proposes no overall change (0.0%) to voluntary loss costs effective January 1, 2027. It is still a proposal and was not on DCI's NCCI filings page as of October 17, 2026.

Underwriter schedule rating is capped at plus or minus 25%.

Experience rating

All Missouri carriers follow the same classification system and the same mod plan, both filed by the advisory organization. To get a mod on or after July 1, 2026, a risk needs $10,000 of subject premium over the most recent two years of the experience period, or an annual average of $5,000 if a longer stretch is used.

A small-claim rule protects your mod: an injury does not count if you pay all medical costs yourself, they stay at or below 20% of the plan's split point, there is no lost time beyond three days, and no claim is filed. You must still report it.

If no insurer will write you

Missouri's residual market is the Alternative Residual Market (ARM) Plan, also called the Missouri Workers' Compensation Insurance Plan or the assigned risk pool. Every authorized insurer must take part. Travelers Property Casualty Company of America has been the plan's contract carrier since it began on July 1, 1995, and DCI chose it again under a contract that started January 1, 2026.

Unlike voluntary rates, ARM rates need the director's approval after a public hearing. On November 17, 2025, DCI approved a 5.5% average premium decrease for ARM policies effective January 1, 2026. The Division says the pool usually consists of employers who struggle to find voluntary coverage and those with premiums under $10,000.

Penalties for going uninsured

  • Criminal. Knowingly failing to insure is a class A misdemeanor. Anyone previously found guilty under that statute who violates it again faces a class E felony.
  • Money penalty. On top of that, the state may collect up to triple the yearly premium the coverage would have cost, or up to $50,000, whichever is greater.
  • Lawsuits. An injured worker of a noncompliant employer may sue for damages, and the employer cannot defend by blaming a co-worker, the worker's own negligence, or an assumed risk. The worker may instead claim benefits with all payments due at once.

The Division's Fraud and Noncompliance Unit investigates complaints and can refer cases to the Attorney General.

Your ongoing obligations

  • Carrier notice. Every injury goes to your insurer or TPA no later than 5 days after it happens or after the worker tells you, whichever comes later.
  • First Report of Injury. The Division must receive a report within 30 days after the employer learns of an injury, unless it needed only immediate first aid with no further treatment or lost time. Where you have reported to your carrier, the carrier files it electronically.
  • Workplace notice. Hang the Division's notice in enough spots that every employee will see it. A willful violation is a class A misdemeanor.

Worked example: how the calculator estimates premium

Premium = (payroll / 100) x rate per $100 x experience mod

Missouri roofers are classed under NCCI code 5551 (roofing, all kinds, and drivers). For 2026 (the latest loss costs in effect; the January 1, 2027 filing is still proposed) that class carries an advisory loss cost of $10.136 per $100 of payroll. Loss costs leave out every expense except loss adjustment, so an insurer adds its own load. DCI's filing instructions show an insurer with 20% selected expenses arriving at a 1.25 loss cost multiplier, and we use that 1.25 purely as an illustration. The payroll and mod below are made up.

  • Made-up annual payroll for the roofing crew: $250,000
  • 2026 loss cost for 5551: $10.136
  • Illustrative multiplier of 1.25 gives $10.136 x 1.25 = $12.67 per $100
  • Made-up experience mod: 0.95

Step by step

  1. Divide payroll by 100: $250,000 / 100 = 2,500 units
  2. Multiply by the rate: 2,500 x $12.67 = $31,675.00
  3. Multiply by the mod: $31,675.00 x 0.95 = $30,091.25

In the assigned risk pool, DCI's approved 2026 rate for 5551 is $23.47 per $100, and the minimum premium is $1,000. Carrier quotes will differ.

Frequently asked questions

I run a roofing crew with two employees. Do I need coverage?

Yes. Roofing is construction work, and construction employers in Missouri must carry coverage with one or more employees. The five-employee threshold applies only outside construction.

Is there still a Missouri state fund?

No. Missouri Employers Mutual was created by the legislature in 1993, but the MEM Act was repealed effective January 1, 2025, and MEM says it now operates as a private mutual insurer. Coverage comes from authorized insurers, approved self-insurance, or the assigned risk pool.

Do owners have to cover themselves?

Not as sole proprietors or partners, who are outside the law unless they buy coverage. LLC members and S corporation shareholders owning at least 40% can each reject coverage in writing to the business and its insurer.

Official sources

Sources accessed 2026-10-17.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm details with the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Division of Workers' Compensation.

Reviewer: Sam Newland, CFP, Founder of Benefitra. Last updated October 17, 2026. How the calculator works. Editorial policy.