Experience Modification Rates (EMRs): How They Actually Work — and How to Lower Yours

Your experience modification rate (EMR) directly multiplies your workers' comp premium. Here's how it's calculated, why it shifts, and how to lower it.

Risk Management | 9 min read | 2026-04-22

Your EMR is the single largest multiplier on your workers' comp premium — and it follows you for three full policy years. Here's exactly how it's calculated, why small claims hurt more than big ones, and what actually moves it down.

Your experience modification rate — often called your mod, xmod, or EMR — is a single number that compares your claim experience over the past three policy years to other businesses in the same classification codes. A mod of 1.00 is average: your business looks like the norm. A mod of 1.25 means your losses are 25% above the norm, and your workers' comp premium is multiplied by 1.25. A mod of…

Experience Modification Rates (EMRs): How They Actually Work — and How to Lower Yours

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