Methodology

How wcclasscode sources, normalizes, and verifies workers comp rate data.

Primary sources

Every rate cell on the site traces to one of three primary source types:

  1. State insurance department filings. Most states publish carrier rate filings or rating-bureau loss-cost publications on their department of insurance website. Examples: California's WCIRB filings, Florida's OIR filings, Texas's TDI rate orders.
  2. Independent rating bureau publications. NCCI publishes the national loss-cost manual; WCIRB (CA), NYCIRB (NY), and several other independent bureaus publish their own jurisdiction-specific manuals.
  3. State fund rate sheets. Monopolistic states (ND, OH, WA, WY) publish state-fund rate sheets directly.

Normalization

Rates are filed by states in different units (loss cost vs. manual rate vs. premium rate) and at different effective dates. We normalize to:

  • Rate per $100 of payroll (the universal unit)
  • Most-recent published rate as of the page's last_reviewed date
  • Loss cost where rate type isn't specified by the source

Confidence labels

Every cell is tagged with a confidence label:

  • HIGH, rate is quoted directly from the source filing with a verbatim evidence string.
  • MED, rate is derived from secondary processing (e.g., applying a state-wide loss-cost multiplier).
  • LOW, rate is interpolated or estimated; cell is shown but flagged for re-verification.

Cross-state percentile

For each class code that's filed in multiple states, we compute the percentile rank of every cell against its peer states. A 90th-percentile cell means the rate is higher than 90% of the same code's filings in other states. This lets you see at a glance whether your state is cheap or expensive for that occupation.

Update cadence

Rates are re-verified on a tiered schedule:

  • Daily, Tier 1 hash check on every state's filing source page (free).
  • On drift, Tier 2 LLM re-extraction when the source page hash changes.
  • Quarterly, Tier 3 grounded fact-check across all primary sources.

Most states update annually (Jan 1 effective). Some update mid-year for catastrophic loss-cost adjustments.

What we don't do

  • We don't sell leads. The "Get a quote" buttons go directly to carrier websites; we earn nothing from clicks.
  • We don't tier rates by company-specific factors (experience modifier, schedule credits, dividends). Those depend on your loss history and underwriting; the filed rate is the base.
  • We don't substitute for a binding insurance quote. Always verify the current rate with your state's rating bureau or the carrier before pricing.