Workers' Comp Rating Bureaus by State
Last verified: 2026-08-06 · Reviewed against each bureau's official filings and state rating law — how we verify
A workers' compensation rating bureau collects insurers' loss and payroll data, publishes the classifications that assign each business a class code, and files the base rates or loss costs those codes are priced from. In most of the country that bureau is NCCI, the National Council on Compensation Insurance, which serves 36 of the 51 US workers' comp jurisdictions.
But 11 states run their own independent rating bureau instead — the WCIRB in California, the PCRB in Pennsylvania, the NYCIRB in New York, and eight more. In those states the class codes, rating values, and rate-making rules are the bureau's own and do not always map one-to-one onto NCCI. A further 4 monopolistic states sell workers' comp only through a state-run fund. This page explains each independent bureau, how it sets rates, and which state it governs.
The 11 independent rating bureaus
CAOM
Compensation Advisory Organization of Michigan
Michigan · Advisory pure premiums · carrier rating
DCRB
Delaware Compensation Rating Bureau
Delaware · Advisory loss costs · carrier LCM
ICRB
Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau
Indiana · Advisory / loss costs · adopts NCCI classifications
MWCIA
Minnesota Workers' Compensation Insurers Association
Minnesota · Pure premium base rates · data service organization
NCRB
North Carolina Rate Bureau
North Carolina · Advisory loss costs · carrier deviations
NJCRIB
New Jersey Compensation Rating & Inspection Bureau
New Jersey · Administered pricing · uniform manual rates
NYCIRB
New York Compensation Insurance Rating Board
New York · Advisory loss costs · carrier deviations
PCRB
Pennsylvania Compensation Rating Bureau
Pennsylvania · Advisory loss costs · carrier LCM
WCIRB
Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California
California · Advisory pure premium · open rating
WCRB
Wisconsin Compensation Rating Bureau
Wisconsin · Administered pricing · uniform rates
WCRIBMA
Workers' Compensation Rating and Inspection Bureau of Massachusetts
Massachusetts · Administered pricing · Commissioner-set rates
Two ways an independent bureau sets your rate
Advisory loss costs / pure premium (open competition). Most independent bureaus — including the WCIRB, PCRB, DCRB, NYCIRB, ICRB, CAOM, MWCIA, and NCRB — file an advisory figure (a loss cost or pure premium per $100 of payroll) that each carrier marks up with its own loss-cost multiplier or converts into its own rate. The bureau figure is a shared benchmark, so two insurers can quote very different premiums for the same class code.
Administered pricing (uniform or approved rates). NJCRIB, WCRB, WCRIBMA instead file the actual rates carriers use. In New Jersey and Wisconsin the base manual rate for a class code is uniform across every insurer; in Massachusetts the bureau's filed rates must clear the Commissioner's “range of reasonableness” standard before they take effect. Where pricing is administered, shopping carriers turns on the experience modifier, credits, and service rather than the base rate.
4 monopolistic state funds
In these states you cannot buy workers' comp from a private insurer at all — coverage comes from the state fund, which publishes its own base rates and classification schedule:
North Dakota (WSI) · Ohio (BWC) · Washington (L&I) · Wyoming (DWS)
Related guides
- NCCI: what the National Council on Compensation Insurance does
The bureau for 36 jurisdictions — what it files, and how an advisory loss cost becomes the rate a carrier charges.
- NCCI, WCIRB & PCRB Class Code Lookup
Search a class code and see how it is rated in each state, whether the state uses NCCI or an independent bureau.
- How Rates Are Calculated: NCCI vs Independent States
Why an independent-bureau state can price the same class code differently, and what that means for your premium.
- Workers' Comp Rates by State
Rate hubs for all 51 US jurisdictions, including each independent-bureau state.