Workers' Compensation Rates in Tennessee (2026)

State Overview

Tennessee requires workers' comp for non-construction employers with five or more employees, but construction-industry and coal-mining employers must carry coverage with one or more employees (TN Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development, Bureau of Workers' Compensation). Recent reforms have helped keep rates competitive, though an off-cycle 4.8% loss-cost increase took effect October 1, 2026 (TDCI Order No. 26-54), seven months after a 2.0% decrease on March 1, 2026.

Understanding Tennessee Workers' Comp Rates

Tennessee is an NCCI state with a competitive market and rates held relatively low by reforms over the past decade. NCCI is the designated rate service organization for Tennessee: it files voluntary-market advisory loss costs and assigned-risk rates with the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI), which issues orders approving them. The order in force is No. 26-54, entered by TDCI Commissioner Carter Lawrence on August 25, 2026: it approved NCCI's off-cycle filing raising voluntary loss costs and assigned-risk rates 4.8% above their March 1, 2026 levels, effective October 1, 2026. Those March 1 levels came from orders signed December 23, 2025 — a 2.0% overall voluntary-market loss-cost decrease and a 1.1% assigned-risk rate-level decrease, the 13th consecutive year of decreases for most Tennessee businesses — so the October change is the first increase since that run began. Tennessee's regular loss-cost year starts March 1, not the January 1 date used by most NCCI states. The Bureau of Workers' Compensation, within the Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development, administers the system itself: it handles coverage compliance, mediation, and the Court of Workers' Compensation Claims.

Because Tennessee is a competitive advisory-loss-cost state, NCCI's filed number is only a starting point. Each carrier files its own loss-cost multiplier (LCM) with the Department of Commerce & Insurance, so two Tennessee insurers can quote the same class code at different prices. Your premium is the class-code loss cost × LCM × experience modification factor × payroll/100, plus or minus schedule rating credits or debits. Comparing carriers' LCMs — not just the headline statewide change — is what moves a Tennessee small-business premium.

How to find a Tennessee workers' comp class code from a job description

There is no Tennessee workers' comp class code for a job title. NCCI files the classifications used in Tennessee, and the NCCI rules are what an auditor applies, and what gets classified is the employer's business — not the separate employments, occupations or operations inside it. "Machinist", "CNC operator", "general construction labor" and "data entry" are therefore work that sits inside whichever classification describes the business, not values you can look up on their own.

NCCI publishes Tennessee's classifications in the Basic Manual for Workers Compensation and Employers Liability Insurance for Tennessee (the Tennessee edition, filed by NCCI as the state's designated rate service organization — Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-402(b) requires the Commissioner to consult the Advisory Council on Workers' Compensation before approving, disapproving or modifying any of its filings, and the current voluntary loss costs and assigned-risk rates took effect October 1, 2026 under Order No. 26-54, which raised the March 1, 2026 levels set under Order No. 25-64 by 4.8%). To confirm the classification for a specific business, use the TDCI Workers Compensation page, which posts the department's NCCI Contracting Group Classification Codes list and its Workers' Compensation Loss Cost Multipliers, published by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance rather than by NCCI — that is the filed authority for Tennessee, and a code quoted from another state's manual is not. Tennessee runs a classification dispute through two doors in a fixed order. TDCI's published Procedures for Resolution of Workers' Compensation Premium Disputes send a policyholder to NCCI's Dispute Resolution Services first where the matter involves manual rules, classifications or rating plans, and only then to a commissioner appeal under Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0780-1-82, which gives insureds a written request to review how a rating system was applied and an appeal to the Commissioner of Commerce and Insurance. The appeal has hard time limits, must state which part of the decision is challenged, and must be copied to the Administrative Procedures Division of the Secretary of State as well as to the department.

Tennessee puts a statutory body between NCCI and the rate. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 50-6-402(b) the Commissioner cannot act on a filing by the designated rate service organization without first consulting the Advisory Council on Workers' Compensation, and the council genuinely disagrees: for the cycle effective March 1, 2026 NCCI filed for an overall 2.0% decrease, the council recommended a deeper 2.7% decrease, and the Commissioner approved NCCI's 2.0% in Order No. 25-64. For NCCI's off-cycle filing of June 8, 2026 the council recommended approval on August 3, and the Commissioner approved the 4.8% increase in Order No. 26-54, entered August 25, 2026 and effective October 1, 2026. So a Tennessee number carries an approval date and an order number, and the classification it attaches to is argued from the Tennessee manual rather than from a national one.

the TDCI Workers Compensation page, which posts the department's NCCI Contracting Group Classification Codes list and its Workers' Compensation Loss Cost Multipliers (official Tennessee lookup)

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Related Guides for Tennessee Employers

• The Complete Guide to Workers' Comp Costs in 2026

  National benchmarks, the 2026 state rate-change table, and how to budget your premium.

• Compare Workers' Comp Rates by State

  Rank the states by cost index and see the filed figures for a class code, side by side with up to two other states.

• Workers' Comp Premium Calculator

  Work out annual premium from your Tennessee class-code rate, payroll, and experience modification factor.

• Workers' Comp Class Codes Explained

  How NCCI assigns a code to each job and why it creates a 10–25× swing in your rate.

• NCCI Class Code Lookup & Directory

  Search workers' comp class codes by keyword to find the four-digit NCCI (or Tennessee bureau) code for your business — then see how it is rated above.

• Experience Modification Rate (EMR) Explained

  How your claims history becomes a multiplier that raises or lowers your Tennessee premium.

• 5 Proven Ways to Lower Your Workers' Comp Premium

  Tactics any small business can use to reduce cost at next renewal — from classification audits to return-to-work programs.

• How Rates Are Calculated: NCCI vs Independent States

  Whether Tennessee uses NCCI or an independent bureau — and why the difference changes how your premium is set.