Best Workers' Comp Insurance in Vermont

These rates are estimates based on MoneyGeek's analysis of small businesses with two employees across 79 major industries. Actual rates vary based on your business location, industry risk factors, claims history, coverage limits and individual insurer underwriting criteria. Contact insurers directly for personalized quotes.

These rates represent small businesses with two employees across 79 major industries and focus solely on workers' comp policies. Your actual premium depends on your business location, industry, employee count, claims history, coverage limits and other factors insurers consider.

Vermont's Department of Financial Regulation approved a 7.4% decrease in workers' comp voluntary loss costs effective April 1, 2025, with industry-specific reductions ranging from 3.5% for manufacturing to 9.1% for goods and services. Loss costs represent expected claim costs per $100 of payroll. When actual claims come in lower than projected, NCCI reduces loss costs, which insurers use as the foundation for premium calculations by multiplying them by their Loss Cost Multipliers.

Vermont's assigned risk rates decreased 11.3% in 2025, with the assigned risk loss cost multiplier dropping from 1.421 to 1.362. Vermont's assigned risk market share of 7.8% remains significantly higher than the 4.4% NCCI average. The assigned risk pool provides coverage for businesses that can't obtain voluntary market coverage due to poor claims history, high-risk operations or being new to the state. Assigned risk rates are substantially higher than those in the voluntary market because this pool covers businesses with a higher likelihood of claims.

Vermont employers pay a mandatory 1.5% assessment on workers' comp premiums to fund the state's Workers' Compensation Administration, decreased from 1.75% in 2012. This surcharge applies to every workers' comp policy regardless of claims history, industry classification or insurer choice. A $10,000 base premium includes an additional $150 assessment. Self-insured employers pay 1% of losses instead, but most small businesses purchase traditional insurance and pay the 1.5% assessment on their total premium.

Vermont insurers can apply policy credits and debits up to 25% to adjust filed rates based on your business's safety practices, management experience and operational characteristics. After calculating your premium using loss costs, experience mod and payroll, underwriters can adjust your final rate by up to 25% in either direction based on documented safety programs, return-to-work procedures, OSHA inspection history, equipment maintenance and site visit observations. Two Vermont businesses with identical classification codes and experience modifications could see premiums differ by up to 50% based solely on the underwriter's assessment.

Vermont requires fixed payroll amounts for owners: sole proprietors and partners electing coverage must use $30,600 annually for rating purposes, while corporate officers and LLC members use minimum weekly payroll of $600 ($31,200 annually) or maximum $4,700 ($244,400 annually), increased from 2024 levels. These fixed amounts directly impact premium calculations since premiums calculate per $100 of payroll, meaning you'll pay premium on these amounts regardless of actual compensation drawn. These thresholds increase annually, so your owner-related premium increases even if actual compensation stays flat.

Vermont's Senate Bill 117 introduced changes, including new medical case management requirements, mandatory translation services for non-English speaking injured workers, and stricter late payment penalties with quarterly reporting requirements starting October 1, 2025, and $500 penalties for noncompliance. These expanded legislative mandates increase both claim costs and administrative expenses; medical case management adds professional fees, translation services require interpreters for appointments and communications, and penalty provisions create additional financial risk. Insurers build these increased costs into future premium calculations, with the impact taking one to two years to fully reflect in rates.

Vermont applies annual cost-of-living increases to workers' comp benefits every July 1st for claimants receiving benefits for at least 26 weeks, with the 2024-25 increase at 1.037%. Vermont's COLA means that long-term claims become more expensive each year. A $600 weekly benefit increases to $622.22 after applying the COLA, and catastrophic injuries with lifetime benefits can grow from $500,000 to over $650,000 over a decade due to compounding increases. Actuaries factor these escalating costs into loss projections that ultimately determine Vermont business premiums.

Vermont's terrorism loss cost factor decreased from 0.005 to 0.001, and the catastrophe loss cost factor decreased from 0.01 to 0.001 in 2025. These factors represent the probability and potential severity of mass-casualty events affecting multiple workers simultaneously, with small percentages applied to all premiums to build reserves for rare but costly events. Combined, these reductions save Vermont businesses approximately $130 per $10,000 in premium, or about 1.3%, indicating Vermont is seen as a lower-risk environment for catastrophic workplace events.