Workers' Compensation Rates in Virginia (2026)

State Overview

Virginia requires workers' comp for employers that regularly employ more than two workers — in practice, three or more part-time or full-time employees (Va. Code §65.2-101; VWC Commission). Subcontractors in the same trade count toward the threshold. The state has below-average rates.

Understanding Virginia Workers' Comp Rates

Virginia is an NCCI state with below-average workers' compensation costs. NCCI is the licensed rate service organization for Virginia: it files recommended voluntary-market loss costs and assigned-risk rates with the State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance, which reviews and approves them. Virginia's loss-cost year runs from April 1, not the January 1 date used by most NCCI states, and the filing year now in force began April 1, 2026: NCCI's filing for that date carried a 7.7% reduction to voluntary-market loss costs and a 7.7% reduction to assigned-risk rates, continuing a multi-year run of declines tied to falling claim frequency. The Bureau of Insurance publishes the resulting assigned-risk rate pages effective April 1, 2026. The Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission (VWC) is a separate body that administers the system: it adjudicates disputed claims, approves settlements, and enforces the coverage mandate under the Virginia Workers' Compensation Act (Va. Code Title 65.2).

Because Virginia is a competitive advisory-loss-cost state, NCCI's filed number is a starting point. Each carrier files its own loss-cost multiplier (LCM) with the Bureau of Insurance, so two Virginia 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. The 7.7% statewide change is an average across all class codes; your own code may have moved more or less.

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

There is no Virginia workers' comp class code for a job title. NCCI files the classifications used in Virginia, 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 Virginia's classifications in the Basic Manual for writing Workers' Compensation Insurance in Virginia (NCCI's manual as approved for use in Virginia and amended order by order by the State Corporation Commission — Administrative Order No. 12199, entered August 1, 2025, approved Item B-1451 on clerical telecommuter employees for new and renewal policies effective on or after July 1, 2026). To confirm the classification for a specific business, use the Bureau of Insurance's Virginia Assigned Risk Workers' Compensation Rates, published by the Virginia State Corporation Commission's Bureau of Insurance rather than by NCCI — that is the filed authority for Virginia, and a code quoted from another state's manual is not. Virginia codifies the appeal rather than leaving it to the auditor. Under Va. Code § 38.2-1923 every rate service organization and every insurer must give a person aggrieved by the application of its rating system a hearing on written request, and that person is entitled to review how the rating system was applied to their insurance; if the request is neither granted nor rejected within thirty days the applicant may proceed as though it had been rejected, and the action can then be appealed to the State Corporation Commission within thirty days, which affirms or reverses after a hearing.

Virginia publishes the per-classification rates but not as a document you get to keep. The Bureau of Insurance posts the Virginia Assigned Risk Workers' Compensation Rates as a convenience and cautions that they are copyrighted NCCI publications supplied in a protected format that will not print, that unprotected data has to be requested from NCCI directly, and that the rates "must be used in coordination with the approved NCCI Basic Manual Rules" — so the Virginia listing is a rate table meant to be read next to the manual, never a substitute for it.

the Bureau of Insurance's Virginia Assigned Risk Workers' Compensation Rates (official Virginia lookup)

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Related Guides for Virginia Employers

• The Complete Guide to Workers' Comp Costs in 2026

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• Compare Workers' Comp Rates by State

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• Workers' Comp Premium Calculator

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• Workers' Comp Class Codes Explained

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• NCCI Class Code Lookup & Directory

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• Experience Modification Rate (EMR) Explained

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• 5 Proven Ways to Lower Your Workers' Comp Premium

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• How Rates Are Calculated: NCCI vs Independent States

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