Workers' Comp Rates for Electrical Wiring - Within Buildings (Class Code 5190)
Last verified: 2026-10-05 · Reviewed against NCCI and state rating-bureau filings — how we verify
Description
Covers electricians performing wiring, installation, and repair work within building structures.
Common Businesses
Hazard Group
E
Filed Figures Published
2
states · class percentile 55
Filed Figures for Class Code 5190 in the States That Publish Them
Copied from each state's own regulator or rating bureau filing, per $100 of payroll. A loss cost is what the filing calls it — your insurer multiplies it by its own loss cost multiplier; a rate is a manual rate. States not listed publish no per-class figure this site has transcribed.
Judged only from filed tables, code 5190 has a class percentile of 55 (0 = the cheapest class, 100 = the most expensive) across the 2 filings that list it.
How States Rank for Class Code 5190
Cost index 1.00 = the median of the 47 rated states. It is a relative position from this site’s model, not a price, and it does not vary by class code; a state’s filed figure, where it publishes one, is shown beside it. North Dakota, Ohio, Washington and Wyoming are not included. Each is a monopolistic state fund that sets premium on its own basis rather than on an NCCI class-code rate per $100 of payroll, so there is no comparable figure to average or rank.
| State | Cost index | Filed figure | Filing effective |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana | 0.73 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Texas | 0.74 | — | 2026-07-01 |
| Virginia | 0.78 | — | 2026-04-01 |
| Utah | 0.79 | — | 2026-02-01 |
| Arkansas | 0.82 | — | 2026-07-01 |
| Colorado | 0.83 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| South Dakota | 0.83 | — | 2026-07-01 |
| Arizona | 0.86 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Nebraska | 0.88 | — | 2026-02-01 |
| North Carolina | 0.88 | — | 2026-04-01 |
| Idaho | 0.89 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Tennessee | 0.89 | — | 2026-10-01 |
| Kansas | 0.90 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Mississippi | 0.91 | — | 2026-03-01 |
| New Mexico | 0.92 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Kentucky | 0.93 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| South Carolina | 0.93 | — | 2026-04-01 |
| Iowa | 0.95 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Missouri | 0.96 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Nevada | 0.97 | — | 2026-03-01 |
| Georgia | 0.98 | — | 2026-03-01 |
| Maryland | 0.98 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Oregon | 0.99 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| West Virginia | 1.00 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Alabama | 1.01 | — | 2026-03-01 |
| Minnesota | 1.01 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| New Hampshire | 1.01 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Wisconsin | 1.01 | $2.028 rate | 2026-10-01 |
| Delaware | 1.03 | — | 2025-12-01 |
| Maine | 1.03 | — | 2025-04-01 |
| Rhode Island | 1.04 | — | 2026-08-01 |
| Michigan | 1.05 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Vermont | 1.05 | — | 2026-04-01 |
| New York | 1.06 | $2.847 loss cost | 2026-10-01 |
| Florida | 1.07 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Montana | 1.07 | — | 2026-07-01 |
| District of Columbia | 1.10 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Massachusetts | 1.10 | — | 2024-07-01 |
| Oklahoma | 1.10 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Illinois | 1.12 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Connecticut | 1.14 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Louisiana | 1.17 | — | 2026-05-01 |
| Hawaii | 1.20 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Pennsylvania | 1.20 | — | 2026-04-01 |
| New Jersey | 1.21 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Alaska | 1.33 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| California | 1.34 | — | 2026-09-01 |
A filed rate — or a loss cost times your insurer's multiplier — is step 1 of the eight-step rating-bureau premium algorithm. See what your carrier applies after that, or work out premium for code 5190 with your own rate, payroll and experience mod.
Related Class Codes
About Class Code 5190: Scope, Inclusions, and Common Misclassifications
NCCI Class Code 5190 - officially phrased "Electrical Wiring - Within Buildings" - is the workers' compensation classification for electrical contractors installing, repairing, or completing wiring systems inside building structures. It is the code buyers usually mean when they search for "5190 workers comp code," "class code 5190," or electrician workers' comp rates. The exposure is construction electrical work: running power and lighting circuits, conduit, armored cable, branch wiring, switches, plugs, panels, fixtures, and related within-building wiring work, with drivers included in the phraseology.
The important boundary is that 5190 is not a general technology, equipment-service, utility-line, or low-risk clerical code. It is a construction classification for electricians working in buildings. This page shows a filed 5190 figure only for the states that publish one and ranks every other state with a relative cost index; neither is a binding quote, and actual premium changes with payroll, carrier multiplier, experience modification, schedule credits, minimum premium, and state-specific manual rules.
What's Included Under Class Code 5190
Public NCCI-scope summaries describe 5190 as the installation of electrical wiring systems within buildings, with no restriction on the wiring system's electrical capacity. The code applies to power circuitry as well as lighting wiring, and the wiring can be hung on insulators or installed in rigid conduit, flexible conduit, armored cable, or similar raceway/cable methods. In plain English: this is the interior electrical contractor class.
Typical 5190 payroll includes electricians and helpers running branch circuits, interior power and lighting wiring, panels, switches, outlets, fuses, plugs, fixtures, and similar building-wiring work for residential, commercial, and light industrial structures. New York's public Classification Digest carries the parallel phraseology "Electrical Wiring - Within Buildings - All Operations to Completion & Drivers," which is a useful reminder that the code follows the electrical wiring operation through completion rather than only the first rough-in phase.
When Electrical Work Is NOT 5190
Do not use 5190 just because a job involves electricity. Office-machine and computer-hardware service belongs in 5191 office machine installation, inspection, adjustment or repair when the work is servicing the machine rather than wiring the building. HVAC installation or service can fall under an HVAC class such as 5537 in states that adopted that classification. Plumbing, sprinkler, elevator, utility-line, communications-line, alarm, appliance, sign, and equipment-installation operations may also have separate state-specific codes.
The practical test is what the employee is wiring and where. Wiring the building's power or lighting system points toward 5190. Installing or servicing a machine that plugs into the building, pulling outside utility lines, setting communication infrastructure, or doing a specialty trade that happens to include some wiring should be checked against that specialty classification before payroll is assigned to 5190.
Audit Records for Electrical Contractors
The audit file that supports 5190 should separate interior electrical payroll from any other trade or service work. Keep job-cost reports, crew assignments, work orders, subcontract records, service tickets, and payroll splits that show which hours were building-wiring work and which hours belonged to HVAC, alarm, low-voltage, appliance service, utility-line, shop, clerical, sales, or driver-only duties. A single "electrician" job title is weaker than records showing the actual operation performed.
Independent-bureau states matter. California, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Michigan, North Carolina, and other independent systems may use different phraseology, split rules, wage thresholds, loss costs, or class numbers for related electrical work. For example, New York's filed 5190 loss cost is 2.847 per $100 of payroll for policies effective on or after October 1, 2026 — down 15.7% from the 3.379 that the October 1, 2025 filing carried, against a 21.9% statewide average cut, so 5190 moved markedly less than the state as a whole (hazard group F). This page shows a filed 5190 figure only for the states that publish one; other states are ranked with a relative cost index, not a filed rate. Multi-state contractors should verify the governing state bureau before treating the national 5190 label as the final rating answer.
Sources
- NYCIRB Bulletin R.C. 2659 (July 15, 2026), Exhibit A — New York filed loss cost for class 5190 is 2.847 per $100 of payroll effective October 1, 2026, against 3.379 under the October 1, 2025 filing (−15.7%); DFS approved a 21.9% decrease in the overall loss cost level (retrieved 2026-10-05)
- NYCIRB Classification Digest - Class 5190 Phraseology and Description (retrieved 2026-07-04)
- NYCIRB Classification Digest - Class 5190 Dashboard and Current Rating Values (retrieved 2026-07-04)
- New York Workers' Compensation Board - Manual Classification Code table DN0059 (retrieved 2026-07-04)
- Work Comp Associates - Class Code 5190 (NCCI scope summary: building wiring, power circuitry, lighting wiring, conduit and armored cable) (retrieved 2026-07-04)
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is workers' comp class code 5190?
- Workers' comp class code 5190 is the electrical wiring within buildings classification. It applies to electricians and electrical contractors installing or repairing building wiring systems, including power circuitry, lighting wiring, conduit, armored cable, switches, plugs, panels, fixtures, and related within-building electrical work.
- How much is workers' comp insurance for class code 5190?
- It depends on the state, and only some states publish a per-class figure. For class code 5190, the filed figures per $100 of payroll are: Wisconsin $2.028 (rate, WCRB, effective 2026-10-01); New York $2.847 (loss cost, NYCIRB, effective 2026-10-01). A loss cost is not a rate — your insurer multiplies it by its own loss cost multiplier — and every figure is before your experience modification. For other states this site shows a relative cost index, not a dollar figure. North Dakota, Ohio, Washington and Wyoming are not included. Each is a monopolistic state fund that sets premium on its own basis rather than on an NCCI class-code rate per $100 of payroll, so there is no comparable figure to average or rank.
- What businesses use workers' comp class code 5190?
- Class code 5190 typically applies to Electrical contractors, Wiring specialists, Commercial electricians, Residential electricians, Electrical repair firms.
- Does class code 5190 cover both residential and commercial electricians?
- Usually yes when the work is electrical wiring within buildings. The classification turns on the operation - building wiring - rather than whether the building is residential or commercial. State bureaus can add local wording or separate specialty classes, so contractors should verify the state manual before relying on one national description.
- Is 5190 the same as office machine repair code 5191?
- No. Code 5190 is construction electrical wiring inside buildings. Code 5191 is office machine installation, inspection, adjustment, or repair - computers, copiers, printers, point-of-sale hardware, and similar equipment service. A technician servicing a machine that plugs into the building is not automatically a 5190 electrician.
- What is the workers' comp rate for class code 5190?
- The workers' comp rate for class code 5190 varies by state and carrier. This page shows a filed 5190 figure only for the states that publish one and ranks every other state with a relative cost index, which is not a price. Actual premium also depends on payroll, carrier multiplier, experience modification, minimum premium, and any audit split to another electrical, HVAC, utility-line, equipment-service, clerical, sales, or driver code.
- What records help defend a 5190 classification at audit?
- Keep payroll split by crew and operation, job-cost reports, work orders, service tickets, subcontract records, and descriptions showing that the work was building electrical wiring. Separate any HVAC, alarm, low-voltage, appliance service, utility-line, equipment-installation, clerical, sales, or driver-only payroll before the audit; reconstructing those boundaries after the policy year is where reclassification surprises usually happen.
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