North Dakota Workers' Comp Rate Calculator

Workers' comp in North Dakota: what's different

North Dakota runs a monopolistic system. Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI), a state agency, calls itself the sole provider and administrator of workers' comp in the state, and North Dakota law does not let private insurers underwrite it. WSI also sets the rates and writes its own classification manual. NCCI codes and rates from other states do not apply here.

Who must carry coverage

With limited exceptions, North Dakota requires employers to insure every worker before the work starts. That includes full-time, part-time, seasonal and occasional workers. The statute ties the duty to "hazardous employment," which means any business that regularly employs one or more people. Agricultural work, domestic service, railroad common carriers, and clergy and religious staff who run a place of worship are carved out.

Anyone who does paid work for you is presumed to be your employee. To treat them as an independent contractor, the person claiming that status must prove it under the common-law test.

Some people fall outside the definition of employee:

• Owners and officers. WSI lists owners, partners and corporate officers as exempt. The statute counts a corporation's president, vice presidents, secretary and treasurer, and an LLC's managers, as employers rather than employees.
• Family. Your spouse and your children under age 22 are excluded. Children 22 and older must be covered like other workers.
• Others. Licensed real estate agents paid on sales under a written contractor agreement, and newspaper carriers who meet a similar test.

Coverage for any of these people is optional. Under Century Code 65-07-01, an employer can buy a special contract covering the employer, a spouse or children, and self-employed people can contract for their own coverage. WSI bills an owner, partner, officer or spouse on the yearly wage cap, not on actual pay.

Out-of-state employers must buy WSI coverage when they have "significant contacts" with North Dakota. That happens when any employee earns 25% or more of yearly pay from work in the state, when 25% of the employer's payroll is for North Dakota work, or when the employer hires someone in North Dakota to work there.

Where coverage comes from

There is one source: the WSI fund. WSI does not issue a written policy. Its terms are set by statute and administrative rule, and coverage continues past the renewal date until the account closes.

Watch for liability gaps. WSI's All States Coverage, provided through The Accident Fund of America, "does not provide employer liability coverage," and WSI does not include general liability either. State law lets WSI set up a stock company that could sell employer's liability insurance to its policyholders. Ask your agent how to cover that gap.

How WSI sets rates

WSI groups jobs into classes by hazard and sets a rate for each class. By law, rates are set every year on an actuarial basis, and the statewide average may not stray more than five percentage points from the actuarially indicated level. WSI must hold a public hearing before any rate change, including a change to the minimum premium. The 2026 manual lists 141 classes, effective July 1, 2026.

Premium is charged only on each worker's pay up to a wage cap equal to 70% of the statewide average annual wage. The cap for policy periods from July 1, 2026, is $46,600 per employee. It was $45,100 a year earlier.

Experience rating

WSI rates its own accounts. An account becomes eligible starting with its fifth active policy period if it has at least $15,000 of premium across its three most recently completed policy periods. The rule measures losses from the first three of the four years before the year being rated, so the most recent year is skipped.

WSI's formula counts the first $10,000 of each claim in full, because WSI treats frequent claims as the bigger risk. Claim amounts above $10,000 count partly, and no claim counts for more than $112,500. A mod of 1.00 is average. Discounts stop at 75%, but surcharges have no limit. By law, the lowest rate an experience-rated employer can get in a class is 25% of that class's required average rate.

Accounts with fewer than five active policy periods are rated at 1.00. From the fifth period, accounts below the $15,000 mark go into the Small Account Credit/Debit Program instead. Over a three-year look-back, no claims above $250 earns a 10% credit, one claim is neutral, two claims add 5%, and each further claim adds another 5%, up to 25%.

Minimum premium and payment

The minimum charge is $250 per period, even with no employees. You can pay in full or monthly. Installments carry interest of at least 6% a year. Employers also pay the first $250 of medical costs on a claim ($350 if it reaches WSI more than 14 days after you learn of the injury), and WSI may waive that fee when the claim or an incident report is filed by midnight central time of the next WSI business day after the injury.

Penalties for going uninsured

An uninsured employer owes the missed premium plus a 25% penalty for the latest year, rising 5% for each earlier year up to 50% for the sixth. WSI may add up to $5,000 per premium period and bill the full cost and reserves of claims from the uninsured period. Willful failure to insure brings a $5,000 civil penalty plus three times the missing premium, and it is a class A misdemeanor, or a class C felony when the premium due is over $1,000.

Uninsured employers also lose their immunity from lawsuits. An injured worker can file with WSI and sue, and the employer cannot use the fellow servant, assumption of risk or contributory negligence defenses. WSI can issue a cease and desist order, and hiring in violation of it costs $10,000 plus $100 a day.

General contractors are liable for unpaid premium and penalties of uninsured subcontractors on their jobs. North Dakota can also hold corporate officers, LLC managers and some 20% owners personally liable for unpaid premium.

Your ongoing obligations

• Payroll reports. WSI uses quarterly reporting for employers required to have coverage, due 30 days after the period ends. Premium billed on estimates is trued up to actual wages.
• Posting. Display WSI's certificate showing compliance, with the toll-free fraud and safety number. Not posting carries a $250 civil penalty.
• Injury reports. File a First Report of Injury within seven days of the worker's notice. WSI's notice to workers asks them to file within 24 hours.
• Work outside the state. WSI's limited coverage reaches North Dakota-based workers out of state for no more than 30 consecutive days. A permanent worksite or other significant contacts in another state means buying coverage there.

Worked example: how the calculator estimates premium

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

North Dakota splits roofing in two. Hot tar roofing is class 5545, with a published base rate of $7.41 per $100 for policy periods starting July 1, 2026, down from $7.88 a year earlier. Shingling and other cold-process roofing fall under class 5410, Building Construction, at $3.39. This example uses 5545.

Hypothetical crew: five roofers paid $40,000 each and a foreman paid $70,000. Hypothetical mod: 0.90.

Step 1. Apply the wage cap. The foreman's pay counts only to $46,600. Taxable payroll = (5 x $40,000) + $46,600 = $246,600. Step 2. Payroll in $100 units: $246,600 / 100 = 2,466. Step 3. Manual premium: 2,466 x $7.41 = $18,273.06. Step 4. Apply the mod: $18,273.06 x 0.90 = $16,445.75.

If the same crew did only shingling under 5410, the result would be 2,466 x $3.39 x 0.90 = $7,523.77. Because of the cap, the most premium one worker can generate in class 5545 before the mod is $3,453.06. Enter capped payroll, not total payroll, in the calculator.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• WSI, Coverage Requirements
• WSI, Coverage Types
• WSI, Coverage Limits & Rights of Subrogation
• WSI, Failure to Secure Coverage
• WSI, Premium Information
• WSI, Payroll Information
• WSI, Assessment Information
• WSI, Understanding Experience Rating
• WSI, All States Coverage
• WSI, North Dakota Based Business, Employees Working Out-of-State
• WSI, Out-of-State Employers Working in North Dakota
• WSI, Manual Rates 2026/2027
• WSI, 2026 Classification Manual
• WSI, Important Notice to Workers
• N.D. Century Code ch. 65-01 (definitions)
• N.D. Century Code ch. 65-04 (premiums, penalties)
• N.D. Century Code ch. 65-05 (injury reports)
• N.D. Century Code ch. 65-07 (elective coverage)
• N.D. Century Code ch. 65-08 (extraterritorial coverage)
• N.D. Century Code ch. 65-08.1 (WSI company)
• N.D. Century Code ch. 65-09 (uninsured employers)
• N.D. Admin. Code ch. 92-01-02 (experience rating, classifications, out-of-state injuries)

Sources accessed 2026-10-17.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm details with North Dakota Workforce Safety & Insurance.

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