Office and clerical staff are among the least expensive employees to cover, with rates often well under a dollar per $100 of payroll.
Even so, California requires coverage as soon as you have one employee, so it is worth knowing the number. Use the estimator above to see an estimated monthly cost for your payroll and claims history.
Rate basis: California class code 8810. Across 50 insurers in the CDI March 2026 rate comparison, the median manual base rate is $0.37 per $100 of payroll, and the middle half range from $0.33 to $0.42.
*Illustrative estimate only — not an insurance quote. Estimated costs are based on publicly available California workers' compensation rate information and simplified assumptions, including an illustrative adjustment for claims history. The claims-history adjustment is not an official experience modification or insurer rating factor. Actual premiums may vary substantially based on insurer, classification, payroll, actual loss amounts, experience modification, rating plans, underwriting, eligibility, location and other factors.
Monthly payroll is divided by 100 and multiplied by the median manual base rate for your industry, from the California Department of Insurance Workers' Compensation Rate Comparison (March 2026 Edition), then by an illustrative claims-history factor. Read the full method and rate table.
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*Illustrative estimate only — not an insurance quote. Estimated costs are based on publicly available California workers' compensation rate information and simplified assumptions, including an illustrative adjustment for claims history. The claims-history adjustment is not an official experience modification or insurer rating factor. Actual premiums may vary substantially based on insurer, classification, payroll, actual loss amounts, experience modification, rating plans, underwriting, eligibility, location and other factors.
Rates come from the California Department of Insurance (CDI) Workers' Compensation Rate Comparison, March 2026 Edition. These are insurers' manual base rates per $100 of payroll. We use the median across the insurers listed for your industry's classification.
Some industries map to two classification codes, often a lower- and higher-wage version of the same work. For those we average the two codes equally for each insurer, then take the median. That blend is our own simplification, not a CDI or rating-bureau method.
Claims history adjustment. Because this calculator does not collect the detailed payroll and loss information required to calculate an official California experience modification, 10 Second Quotes uses a simplified claims-history assumption solely to illustrate how prior claims may affect workers' compensation cost. Selecting “1–2 claims,” “3+ claims,” or “Not sure” applies an illustrative adjustment to the base estimate. It does not calculate or predict the experience modification or rating factor that an insurer or WCIRB may apply.
These factors are 10 Second Quotes product assumptions for illustrative estimation only.
CDI notes that manual base rates are not quotes and are modified by insurers' rating plans and experience modification. California only. CDI does not endorse this estimator.