2025 Oregon Workers Comp Study – Interesting Rate Rankings
Is it necessary to cover an Oregon Workers Comp study from 2025? When one sees a study in three or more recent articles, the subject should be covered, even in 2026 and almost into 2027. Please see the chart at the end of this article to see the Top 15 Most Expensive (?) states.
To obtain a copy from the State of Oregon, download it from the link. The study and report cover 45 pages. When WC rates by state are ranked, of course that comes with many caveats.
Class Code Differences Are Key
To say that Hawaii ranks as the most expensive state for Workers Comp, that is the average rate, not for all Classification Codes individually. For example, the most expensive state for Roofers is not Hawaii but Georgia. The bunching up of average rates in the middle of the pack does not move the needle that much between states. The extreme differences between rates by Class Code in one certain state can reach 6,900%.
Oregon Workers Comp Study – What They Did Right
I have seen a few critical articles on this Oregon Workers Comp Study. So, I decided to “thumbs up” one area that was covered very well. Reading the study bottom to top, as in the last study that I covered this week, one section stood out.
From the study notes –
Countrywide survey of workers’ compensation costs: Once the industry classes were determined,
departments of insurance and WC rating bureaus in each jurisdiction were asked to report or confirm information about their contemporary WC market as of Jan. 1, 2024.
Specifically, jurisdictions were surveyed for industry rates for each class, type of rate reported (e.g., loss costs, voluntary rates, and manual rates), premium-weighted average insurer rate multiplier (expense load factor), ..Study Oregon market characteristics (e.g., residual market share), as well as assessments, surcharges, or other nonstandard components that affect employer costs. Jurisdictions that do not use the NCCI industry classification system were asked to provide analogous classes to enable appropriate comparison.
