Charting health insurance benefit costs by region
Among the four regions of the United States, the average cost to employers in private industry for health insurance benefits ranged from $1.59 per hour in the South to $2.04 per hour in the Northeast in March 2007. This is according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Health care costs were $1.96 in the Midwest and $1.87 in the West.
The proportion of total compensation represented by health benefits was 6.7 percent in the West, 6.9 percent in the South and Northeast, and 7.8 percent in the Midwest.
Nationwide, the average cost for health insurance benefits in private industry was $1.83 per hour worked (7.1 percent of total compensation).
The data in this report is from the Compensation Cost Trends program. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation-March 2007," news release USDL 07-0877.