Total workers’ compensation costs per claim in Pennsylvania are high relative to other states included in a recent study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI).
The study found that after declining from 2020 to 2022, total costs per claim in Pennsylvania resumed growth after 2021 and increased faster in 2025 than 15 of the other 17 states studied including Texas, Michigan, Massachusetts, California, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina and Virginia. Only Iowa and Louisiana reported faster growth.
“Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation costs reflect changes across several components, but higher indemnity benefits per claim stand out as a key factor behind Pennsylvania’s relative position in our study,” said Sebastian Negrusa, vice president of research at WCRI. “Medical payments and benefit delivery expenses also contributed to recent cost growth.”
According to the study, changes in wage-related benefits, temporary disability patterns, medical payments, and benefit delivery expenses all played a role in Pennsylvania’s recent cost trends, though their relative importance differed compared with other study states.
A key driver in total costs was a 9% increase in the state’s indemnity benefits per claim in 2025, a continuation of a trend seen since 2022. WCRI found that the highest average weekly temporary disability benefit rate, longer duration of temporary disability, and larger settlements contributed to this increase.
Medical payments grew 11% in 2025, placing the state about in the middle compared to others. The study notes that the state’s benefit delivery expenses are higher than they are in other states, driven by higher litigation costs.
CompScope™ Benchmarks for Pennsylvania, 2026 Edition examines how costs and system performance in Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation system have changed over time, primarily from 2020 to 2025, using multistate comparisons across a broad range of claims and benefit measures.
WCRI, based in Waltham, Mass., is an independent, not‑for‑profit organization that offering research studies and data collection that involve peer review. Its membership includes employers, insurers, government agencies, managed care companies, health care providers, regulators, labor organizations, and state agencies across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Topics
Workers’ Compensation
Talent
Pennsylvania
Interested in Talent?
Get automatic alerts for this topic.
