NCCI: the National Council on Compensation Insurance
Last verified: 2026-08-04 · Reviewed against NCCI's own published material and two state insurance regulators — how we verify
The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) is the licensed rating, advisory and statistical organization for workers' compensation insurance in 36 of the 51 US workers' compensation jurisdictions — the 50 states plus the District of Columbia — as of 2026-08-04. It is a private organization that state insurance departments designate for the role, not a government agency and not an insurance company. It collects every insurer's payroll and loss data, maintains the four-digit class codes businesses are rated on, and files the advisory loss costs that each state's regulator approves before carriers can price from them.
The distinction that matters to an employer: NCCI does not set the rate you pay. In most NCCI states it files a loss cost, and each carrier converts that into its own rate. The arithmetic is below.
What NCCI actually does
NCCI describes its own work as six functions. Only one of them is ratemaking, and even that one ends at a recommendation.
- Data management
- Maintains the broadest and deepest workers compensation database available — payroll, premium and claim data reported by the insurers writing the line.
- Ratemaking
- Recommends objective and actuarially appropriate rates or loss costs, which are filed with each NCCI state for approval. The regulator approves, modifies or rejects; NCCI does not set a price by itself.
- Classification infrastructure
- Maintains the workers compensation infrastructure of classifications, rules, plans and forms — the four-digit class codes, the Basic Manual rules that assign them, and the Experience Rating Plan.
- Residual market administration
- Administers the assigned-risk Plan in 23 states and the Pool in 27 states, so employers no carrier will voluntarily write still have a route to coverage.
- Research
- Publishes research on the trends that move the line — medical severity, wage growth, claim frequency — which is what state advisory forums and rate hearings argue over.
- Solutions delivery
- Builds the tools carriers and regulators use to file, report and look up all of the above (Atlas, Class Look-Up, Riskworkstation).
Loss cost vs rate: what NCCI files and what you are charged
In the great majority of NCCI states the filing is an advisory loss cost per $100 of payroll for each class code. The Texas Department of Insurance, which calls NCCI “an advisory organization to the Texas Department of Insurance,” states the loss costs are intended to cover the indemnity and medical benefits provided under the workers' compensation system, plus the expenses of delivering those benefits. What the loss cost does not contain is the carrier's own cost of doing business.
Each insurer files a loss cost multiplier (LCM) covering agents' commissions, profit and taxes. The manual rate for a class code is the loss cost times that carrier's LCM — which is precisely why two insurers quote different premiums for the same code in the same state.
| Step | Who files it | Texas example, code 5551 (roofing) |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory loss cost | NCCI | 1.946 per $100 payroll (eff. July 1, 2026) |
| Loss cost multiplier | Each insurer, separately | 1.50 (illustrative) |
| Manual rate charged | Result | 1.946 × 1.50 = 2.919 per $100 payroll |
Figures are TDI's own published example, not a quote. Your experience modifier, schedule credits or debits, and any optional rating plan then apply on top.
The exception — administered pricing. NCCI files voluntary rates, not loss costs, in a small number of its states, and there the regulator's approval sets the price for everyone. Florida is the clearest case: on November 17, 2025 the Florida Insurance Commissioner issued a Final Order approving a statewide overall rate decrease of 6.9% proposed by NCCI, effective January 1, 2026 for new and renewal policies — the ninth consecutive annual decrease. In an administered-pricing state, shopping carriers turns on the experience modifier and credits rather than the base rate.
Where NCCI is the bureau — and where it is not
Counts are derived from this site's per-jurisdiction dataset, and the split matches the four categories on NCCI's own state map: NCCI state, NCCI state with plan-administered residual market, independent bureau state, and monopolistic state.
36
NCCI states
NCCI is the licensed rating and statistical organization
11
Independent bureau states
Own classification system and rating values
4
Monopolistic state funds
Coverage bought from the state, not a carrier
The 11 states that do not use NCCI's bureau
CAOM (Michigan) · DCRB (Delaware) · ICRB (Indiana) · MWCIA (Minnesota) · NCRB (North Carolina) · NJCRIB (New Jersey) · NYCIRB (New York) · PCRB (Pennsylvania) · WCIRB (California) · WCRB (Wisconsin) · WCRIBMA (Massachusetts)
The 4 monopolistic state funds
North Dakota (WSI) · Ohio (BWC) · Washington (L&I) · Wyoming (DWS)
One nuance the three-way split hides: an NCCI state can still conform its manual classifications to NCCI while setting its own base rates. Ohio, a monopolistic fund, does exactly that — see the Ohio state hub for how a state fund uses NCCI classifications without an LCM.
How to read an NCCI class code
An NCCI class code is four digits identifying a type of work, so employers with similar injury exposure are priced together. Most businesses carry one governing classification — the operation with the highest payroll, excluding standard exceptions — plus whichever standard exception codes apply. The three you will meet most often are 8810 clerical office employees, 8742 outside sales personnel and 7380 drivers.
The official wording lives in NCCI's Scopes manual, delivered through the Class Look-Up tool in NCCI Atlas. The non-obvious part is that the wording is state-specific: NCCI added a Scopes State Applicability view in 2025 precisely because a Scopes Description can apply in one NCCI state and not in another. So the number alone does not settle what is covered — the state does.
Two examples of codes whose scope surprises people: 5645 carpentry, detached one- or two-family dwellings turns on the building type rather than the trade, and 5551 roofing is the code TDI uses in the worked example above.
To look up any code and compare what it costs across all 51 jurisdictions, use the class code lookup. Confirm the final assignment with your carrier or state rating bureau before a policy binds — a misassigned governing code is the most expensive paperwork mistake in this line.
Sources
Each document below was read in full on 2026-08-04.
- NCCI — About NCCI fact sheet (PDF, updated 5/29/25): mission, the six functions, and the NCCI State Map (retrieved 2026-08-04)
- NCCI — About Us (retrieved 2026-08-04)
- NCCI — Loss Cost/Rate Filing Information (posted May 7, 2026): the voluntary-rate vs loss-cost distinction (retrieved 2026-08-04)
- Texas Department of Insurance — Texas workers' compensation rate guide: loss cost, loss cost multiplier, and the worked example (retrieved 2026-08-04)
- Florida Office of Insurance Regulation — Commissioner approves 6.9% workers' compensation rate decrease (Nov 17, 2025) (retrieved 2026-08-04)
- NCCI — Class Look-Up adds Scopes State Applicability: a Scopes Description can apply in one NCCI state and not another (retrieved 2026-08-04)
Frequently Asked Questions
Related
- NCCI, WCIRB & PCRB class code lookup
Search a four-digit code and compare its rate benchmark across every jurisdiction.
- Workers' comp rating bureaus by state
The 11 independent bureaus that do this job for a single state, and how each one prices.
- California workers' comp rates (WCIRB)
The largest non-NCCI market — advisory pure premium under open rating, on California's own classification system.
- Florida workers' comp rates
The administered-pricing NCCI state described above, now nine consecutive years of approved rate decreases.
- Rate methodology & data sources
How this site derives its per-$100 benchmarks, and what those figures can and cannot be used for.