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workers-comp-coverage-thresholds-by-state

derived_fields list	employee_threshold string	id string	industry_exceptions string	issuing_authority string	notes string	source string	source_quote string	state string	url string	verified_fields list	who_counts string	owner_officer_status string	penalty_for_noncompliance string	disagreements list
[ "state" ]	five (5) employees	alabama	Employers of domestic employees, farm laborers, or casual employees and municipalities having a population of less than 2,000 (according to the most recent federal census) are not required to provide coverage but can elect to be covered by the provisions of the Alabama Workers' Compensation Law.	Alabama Department of Labor, Workers' Compensation Division	Employers in the business of constructing or assisting on-site in the construction of new single-family, detached residential dwellings are subject to coverage requirements regardless of the general threshold.	https://adol.alabama.gov/insurance-requirement-information/	If you regularly employ less than five (5) employees, full-time or part-time and including officers of a corporation in any one business, other than the business of constructing or assisting on-site in the construction of new single-family, detached residential dwellings, the Alabama Workers’	Alabama	https://referencesource.org/workers-comp-coverage-thresholds-by-state/alabama/	[ "employee_threshold", "who_counts" ]	full-time or part-time and including officers of a corporation	null	null	null
[ "state" ]	one employee	california	null	California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Workers' Compensation	Out-of-state employers may need workers' compensation coverage if they have any employees regularly working in California, or if they enter into a contract of employment in California.	https://www.dir.ca.gov/dwc/employer.htm	California employers are required by law to have workers' compensation insurance, even if they have only one employee. And, if your employees get hurt or sick because of work, you are required to pay for workers' compensation benefits.	California	https://referencesource.org/workers-comp-coverage-thresholds-by-state/california/	[ "employee_threshold" ]	all employees	Roofers without employees are still required to carry workers' compensation insurance.	null	null
[ "state" ]	one or more employees	colorado	Construction: contractors must carry a policy for employees, and must make sure that subcontractors also meet workers' compensation requirements. If a contractor has no employees, the contractor must be covered by workers' compensation insurance unless they choose to reject coverage.	Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Workers' Compensation	null	https://cdle.colorado.gov/dwc/employers/insurance-coverage	If you have one or more employees working for you in Colorado, you must have workers' compensation insurance and maintain it at all times. This applies to all employers, regardless of whether the employees are part-time, full-time, or family members. Colorado has additional insurance requirements for businesses in the ...	Colorado	https://referencesource.org/workers-comp-coverage-thresholds-by-state/colorado/	[ "employee_threshold", "who_counts" ]	part-time, full-time, or family members	If a contractor has no employees, the contractor must be covered by workers' compensation insurance unless they choose to reject coverage.	up to $500 for every day you are uninsured. Your business may also be shut down. If one of your employees is hurt while you are uninsured, you will have to pay for the claim yourself and an additional penalty totaling 25% of the injured worker's benefits.	null
[ "state" ]	mandatory for most employers; four or more employees for non-construction; one or more for construction; six regular or twelve seasonal for agriculture	florida	Construction Industry: one or more employees. Agricultural Industry: six regular employees or twelve seasonal workers.	Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Workers' Compensation	null	https://www.myfloridacfo.com/division/wc/employer/default.htm	Workers' Compensation insurance is mandatory for most employers in Florida. Employers should have knowledge of the workers' compensation coverage requirements to ensure that they are complying with the law. Failure to have workers' compensation insurance puts employees at risk and subjects employers to penalties.	Florida	https://referencesource.org/workers-comp-coverage-thresholds-by-state/florida/	null	including business owners who are corporate officers or Limited Liability Company (LLC) members	null	null	null
[ "state" ]	three or more persons	georgia	A contractor who is subject to the Workers' Compensation Law, who sublets any part of his or her contract work to a subcontractor, may be liable for coverage for the employees of the subcontractor if the subcontractor has not obtained workers' compensation insurance coverage.	Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation	Exempted officers of corporations or exempted members of limited liability companies shall not reduce the number of employees for purposes of determining coverage requirements. Georgia does not have a state fund.	https://sbwc.georgia.gov/employer-information	<https://sbwc.georgia.gov/> Home Employer Information Employer Information HOW THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION LAW APPLIES TO EMPLOYERS PURPOSE The Workers’ Compensation Act defines the responsibility of the employer to provide prompt medical and disability benefits for injuries sustained on the job by workers, resulting in ...	Georgia	https://referencesource.org/workers-comp-coverage-thresholds-by-state/georgia/	[ "employee_threshold" ]	part-time or full time, including every person, including minors, working full-time or part-time under a contract of hire, written or implied	Corporate officers and limited liability company members are considered employees of the company. Any officer or member of a limited liability company (maximum of 5) may exempt themselves from coverage by filing a Form WC-10 with their insurance company. The exemptions shall not decrease the number of employees for pur...	The Board may assess attorney's fees, civil penalties, and a 10% increase in compensation to the employee, if the employer refuses or willfully neglects to secure insurance. Civil penalty of not less than $500.00 or more than $5,000.00 per occurrence for violation of an employer's duty to provide coverage. Criminal: fi...	[ { "field": "who_counts", "versions": [ { "as_of": "2026-08-12T00:00:00", "source": "https://sbwc.georgia.gov/employer-information", "source_quote": "<https://sbwc.georgia.gov/> Home Employer Information Employer Information HOW THE WORKERS' COMPENSATION LAW APPLIES TO EMPLOYERS...
[ "state" ]	virtually all employers must provide coverage	new-york	null	New York State Workers' Compensation Board	null	https://www.wcb.ny.gov/content/main/coverage-requirements-wc/	Virtually all employers in New York State must provide workers’ compensation coverage for their employees (WCL §2 and 3).	New York	https://referencesource.org/workers-comp-coverage-thresholds-by-state/new-york/	[ "issuing_authority" ]	null	null	null	null
[ "state" ]	workers' compensation insurance coverage is not required in most cases for private employers; employers can choose to carry coverage	texas	null	Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers' Compensation	null	https://www.tdi.texas.gov/wc/employer/index.html	In Texas, private employers can choose to carry workers' compensation insurance coverage, but it is not required in most cases. A workers' compensation insurance policy provides lost wages and medical benefits to employees injured on the job.	Texas	https://referencesource.org/workers-comp-coverage-thresholds-by-state/texas/	[ "employee_threshold" ]	null	null	Employers without workers' compensation insurance coverage must report to the state that they do not have coverage. Must also report to DWC any work-related injuries resulting in more than one day of lost time, as well as all work-related illnesses, and deaths.	null

Workers' compensation insurance requirements by US state: employee thresholds, who counts, and industry exceptions

Canonical, always-current version: https://referencesource.org/workers-comp-coverage-thresholds-by-state/ Machine-readable: https://referencesource.org/workers-comp-coverage-thresholds-by-state/data.json — this mirror is a point-in-time copy.

Last verified: 2026-08-12
Stale after: 2027-02-08 (past this date, prefer the canonical copy — it re-verifies on a cadence this snapshot does not)
Records: 7

For each US state and DC, the minimum number of employees that triggers mandatory workers' compensation insurance, which workers count toward that total (part-time, seasonal, family members, corporate officers, LLC members), which industries face stricter rules (construction and other high-risk trades often require coverage from the first worker regardless of general threshold), and whether owners/officers are included by default or must opt in or out — sourced from that state's own workers' compensation board, labor department, or statute. Answers 'how many employees before I need workers' comp in [state]', 'does [state] require workers' comp for 1 employee', 'do part-time employees count toward the workers' comp threshold in [state]', 'is workers' comp required for construction companies in [state]', 'which states don't require workers' compensation insurance' (Texas is voluntary for private employers; South Dakota effectively voluntary), and 'workers' comp employee minimum by state 2026'. No single authority publishes this for all 50 states — it is 50 state workers' comp boards, each covering only its own jurisdiction, which is why every page-one result is an insurance broker or lead-generation site with no citations. The thresholds range from 1 (most states) through 2 (Virginia), 3 (Arkansas, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina), 4 (Florida general, South Carolina), to 5 (Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Tennessee). Industry-specific overrides, especially for construction, are the most common source of compliance mistakes and the hardest to find in a single place.

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Every record carries source (the URL the value was read from) and source_quote (a verbatim quote from that page stating it). A value you cannot check against its page is indistinguishable from an invented one; these can all be checked. Each record is also individually addressable on the canonical site at its url.

Licence position

Facts and short attributed quotes taken from each state's workers' compensation board, labor department, or statute page, linking back to the source. Facts are not copyrightable (Feist, 1991); no source page's compiled table is reproduced wholesale.

Facts are not copyrightable; what this dataset takes from each source is a fact plus a short attributed quote linking back to the page that states it.

Sources

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