Indiana Work Comp Loss Costs Are Dropping 5.6% for 2027
Indiana has approved a 5.6% statewide decrease in advisory loss costs effective January 1, 2027. Of the 551 classifications we compared, 463 came down. But the relief is uneven: office employers get more than twice what manufacturers get, and several of the state's biggest construction classes barely move.
NCCI filed the annual Indiana workers' compensation advisory filing on behalf of the Indiana Compensation Rating Bureau (ICRB) on September 16, 2026, and the Indiana Department of Insurance approved it on September 24, 2026: a 5.6% decrease to voluntary-market advisory loss costs effective January 1, 2027, for new and renewal policies.
This is a broad decrease. Across the 551 Indiana classifications carrying a published loss cost in both years, 463 went down, 84 went up, and four held flat. The average class fell about 5.2% and the median class 5.7%.
First: loss costs, rates, and why there are two numbers
An advisory loss cost is only the portion of the price meant to pay claims and claim handling. It carries no provision for your carrier's expenses, commissions, taxes, or profit. Your carrier applies its own filed loss cost multiplier (LCM) to arrive at a rate, so two carriers working from the identical loss cost can quote you meaningfully different numbers.
Indiana is one of the states where the bureau also publishes full advisory rates, and those fall by a smaller 4.7%. The gap is expenses: the filing raises the provision for production and general expenses, which takes back about a point of the loss cost decrease. Assigned risk rates equal the advisory rates in Indiana, so the residual market also moves −4.7%, with the 30% surcharge on premium above $2,750 unchanged.
Why loss costs are falling
The filing is built on Indiana experience for policy years 2023 and 2024, valued at year-end 2025, and the filing names improved experience as the primary driver. Both policy years came in favorably, and the latest data improved on the prior evaluation.
Frequency keeps falling. Indiana's lost-time claim frequency, adjusted to a common wage level, continues a long-term decline.
Claim costs are easing too. Average indemnity and medical cost per case show moderate long-term declines, with some year-to-year volatility.
One small push the other way. Recent updates to the Indiana medical fee schedule add about 0.3%, and the filing shortened the averaging period it uses for indemnity loss development in response to recent increases in development.
The decrease is not spread evenly
Industry group | Classes | Average change |
|---|---|---|
Office & Clerical | 26 | −8.42% |
Goods & Services | 106 | −6.80% |
Federal (F) classifications | 15 | −6.39% |
Contracting | 76 | −5.97% |
Miscellaneous | 90 | −5.03% |
Manufacturing | 233 | −3.94% |
Unweighted average of the class-level changes in each group, computed by Mod Advisor from NCCI classification assignments. The filing does not publish a group breakdown.
Every group is down, but office and clerical classes get more than twice the relief manufacturers do. For a state with Indiana's manufacturing base, that matters: manufacturing is the largest group by class count, and it gets the smallest cut.
Where everyday Indiana employers land
Code | Classification | 1-1-2026 | 1-1-2027 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
5551 | Roofing: all kinds | 3.058 | 2.621 | −14.29% |
5190 | Electrical wiring: within buildings | 0.662 | 0.598 | −9.67% |
8810 | Clerical office employees NOC | 0.054 | 0.049 | −9.26% |
8006 | Store: convenience, retail | 0.678 | 0.624 | −7.96% |
9082 | Restaurant NOC | 0.398 | 0.372 | −6.53% |
8380 | Automobile service or repair center | 0.795 | 0.746 | −6.16% |
3632 | Machine shop NOC | 0.681 | 0.644 | −5.43% |
8017 | Store: retail NOC | 0.527 | 0.505 | −4.17% |
7219 | Trucking NOC | 1.990 | 1.931 | −2.96% |
9014 | Janitorial services by contractors | 0.884 | 0.858 | −2.94% |
5403 | Carpentry NOC | 1.591 | 1.559 | −2.01% |
5645 | Carpentry: residential dwellings | 2.177 | 2.156 | −0.96% |
5183 | Plumbing NOC | 0.679 | 0.681 | +0.29% |
Contracting averages a 6% decrease, but the average hides a split. Roofers and electricians see real relief, while residential carpentry, carpentry NOC and plumbing are close to flat. A contractor should look at its own codes, not at the group.
The extremes at either end are mostly small or specialized classes: a clay flower pot manufacturing code (4062) falls 26.4%, while two federal waterfront classes (8709F and 6826F) rise about 24%. The filing applies swing limits of plus or minus 25% by industry group, which is why the tails stop where they do. None of those swings say much about the Indiana economy.
The changes that are not in the loss cost table
Several Indiana advisory values move on January 1, and one of them runs against the decrease:
Owner payroll goes up. The maximum weekly payroll for executive officers, partners, sole proprietors and LLC members, and for athletic sports under Codes 9178 and 9179, rises from $4,900 to $5,100, about 4.1%. The weekly minimum rises from $1,050 to $1,100.
If you have owners or officers on the policy at the maximum, the loss cost went down but the payroll it applies to went up. That can quietly cancel a good share of the 5.6%.
A few others worth knowing:
Deductible credits mostly get smaller. The advisory loss elimination ratios tick down at every deductible in hazard groups A through D and at most amounts in G, hold steady in E, and edge up slightly in F. A $2,500 deductible without coinsurance in hazard group A moves from 19.7% to 19.3%.
The taxicab basis of premium (Code 7370) rises from $95,000 to $98,700 for employee-operated vehicles and from $63,300 to $65,800 for leased or rented vehicles.
The USL&HW coverage percentage moves from 107% to 108%, with the non-F adjustment factor going from 2.07 to 2.08.
Coal mine disease elements rise: Code 1005 from $0.464 to $0.495, and Code 1016 from $1.389 to $1.487.
Advisory terrorism (0.005) and catastrophe (0.010) loss costs are unchanged.
What this means for you
A 5.6% statewide decrease is a tailwind, not a guarantee. Three things the filing does not touch will decide your January renewal:
Your carrier's loss cost multiplier. Carriers file their own LCMs and can revise them. A carrier raising its multiplier can absorb the entire decrease before you see it.
Your experience modification factor. A mod moving from 0.95 to 1.10 swamps a 5% loss cost cut.
Your class mix. Office and clerical exposure is getting roughly twice the relief manufacturing exposure gets, and some core construction codes are barely moving at all.
Before your January renewal, it is worth confirming your class codes are correct, checking how the new loss costs land on your specific classes rather than on the state as a whole, comparing your carrier's LCM against the market, and understanding what is driving your mod.
Contains NCCI copyrighted information. Advisory loss costs cover losses and loss adjustment expense only and exclude all other carrier expense provisions; they do not by themselves determine final premium. Filing details from ICRB Circulars 2026-07 and 2026-08. Class-level and industry-group averages computed by Mod Advisor. Prepared by Mod Advisor.