Manufacturing workers' comp varies more than almost any other industry, because "manufacturing" covers everything from quiet electronics assembly to heavy metal stamping. As a general range, Georgia manufacturers often pay $1.50 to $6.00 per $100 of payroll on the production class code, before the experience mod and credits. A plant with about $1,000,000 in production payroll could land anywhere from roughly $15,000 to $60,000 a year — the spread depends entirely on what you make, how automated the line is, your claims history, and your experience mod. These are general ranges to set expectations, not a quote.
With a restaurant or an office, the class code is fairly predictable. Manufacturing isn't. NCCI — the national body Georgia follows — assigns each type of manufacturing its own class code with its own filed rate, because the injury risk of a food-packaging line is nothing like the injury risk of a machine shop or a sawmill. The result is that two businesses that both describe themselves as "manufacturers" can have rates that differ by three or four times. Matching your actual operation to the right code is the single biggest factor in what you pay.
Workers' comp premium is built from your payroll and the rate for each class of work. For each code, the carrier divides your payroll by 100 and multiplies by the rate. Then your experience modification factor (the "mod") adjusts the total up or down based on prior claims, and the carrier layers on its own credits or debits. In manufacturing the mod matters a great deal, because lost-time injuries — amputations, crush injuries, back strains — tend to be severe and drive the mod above 1.0, which multiplies every dollar of premium.
Because there's no one manufacturing code, here are examples of how different Georgia operations get rated. The production code carries most of the premium; support functions should be split out separately.
| Example class code | Type of manufacturing | Relative rate level* |
|---|---|---|
| 2041 / 2065 | Food products / packaging | Lower |
| 4239 | Paper goods manufacturing | Lower–moderate |
| 3632 | Machine shop NOC | Moderate–high |
| 3400 / 3076 | Metal goods / metal stamping | High |
| 2802 | Woodworking / furniture manufacture | High |
| 8232 / 8018 | Warehouse & yard, shipping | Split out separately |
| 8810 | Clerical / office staff | Lowest — split out |
*Directional only. Exact NCCI codes and filed rates depend on your specific operation, carrier, and current filings, and change over time. Confirm your codes with a licensed agent. Not a quote.
The takeaway: don't let all your payroll fall into the production code. A shipping crew, a delivery driver, and a front-office bookkeeper each belong in their own lower-rated code. When support payroll gets lumped into the plant's manufacturing code, you pay the manufacturing rate on wages that shouldn't carry it.
Say a Georgia metal-fabrication shop runs $1,200,000 in total annual payroll: $900,000 on the shop floor (a high-rated fabrication code), $200,000 in warehouse and shipping (a moderate code), and $100,000 in clerical office staff (the lowest code, around 8810). If all $1.2M were rated at the fabrication rate, the premium would balloon. Splitting the warehouse and clerical payroll into their proper, much lower-rated codes can shave a meaningful chunk off the bill — entirely legitimately, because those workers genuinely don't face the shop-floor exposure. This is where an agent who actually audits your class codes earns their keep.
Georgia law requires most employers with three or more employees — including part-time workers — to carry workers' compensation. Any real manufacturing operation clears that bar easily. Certain corporate officers can elect to be excluded within statutory limits, but once you have three or more employees the coverage requirement applies. In a plant environment, going bare is a serious exposure — a single amputation or serious crush injury can dwarf years of premium.
Bettr Coverage is an independent commercial insurance agency serving Georgia and the Southeast. We write manufacturing and plant workers' comp alongside the rest of the program — general liability, property and equipment, product liability, and commercial auto — and we shop each account across multiple carriers to match your production code and claims history to the market that wants them. We work owner-to-owner, we actually audit the class-code splits most agents skip, and we review your whole plant program together instead of one line at a time.
Bettr Coverage shops your workers' comp, general liability, property, product liability, and commercial auto across multiple carriers — one agency, one relationship, the class codes audited and the whole program reviewed together.
Get a free coverage reviewVery roughly $1.50–$6.00 per $100 of payroll on the production code before the mod, depending heavily on what you make. A plant with $1M production payroll might land $15,000–$60,000/yr. Light assembly rates low; metal and woodworking rate high.
There isn't one — NCCI assigns a code by product. Examples: 3632 machine shop, 3400/3076 metal goods, 2802 woodworking, 2041/2065 food. Warehouse, drivers, and clerical split out into their own codes.
Injury risk differs enormously by product. NCCI gives each manufacturing type its own filed rate, so two "manufacturers" can pay rates that differ three or four times.
Yes — Georgia requires most employers with three or more employees, including part-time, to carry it. Any real plant clears that threshold.
The production code, payroll splits, and the experience mod. Severe lost-time injuries push the mod above 1.0 and multiply the premium; guarding, LOTO, ergonomics, and return-to-work pull it down.
Yes — manufacturing and plant workers' comp alongside GL, property, product liability, and commercial auto, shopped across multiple carriers.
For general information only. Not a quote or contract of insurance. Premium ranges and class-code rates shown are illustrative estimates for setting expectations, not filed rates, and vary by carrier, payroll, class code, experience mod, and underwriting; rates change over time. Workers' compensation requirements are set by Georgia law and the State Board of Workers' Compensation — confirm current requirements with a licensed agent or the Board. Coverage subject to policy terms and carrier appetite.