Most homeowners are quoted a number with no idea whether it is fair. Start with your ZIP code and get a realistic range before anyone comes to your door.
If you want a number before answering any questions, start here. These are complete project totals at the US national average — material, labor, tear-off of one existing layer, typical decking repair, and permits included.
| House footprint | Roof surface | 3-Tab | Architectural | Standing seam metal | Concrete tile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 ft² | 1,276 ft² | $7,300 | $8,700 | $20,600 | $20,000 |
| 1,200 ft² | 1,531 ft² | $8,700 | $10,400 | $24,600 | $23,900 |
| 1,500 ft² | 1,914 ft² | $10,800 | $12,900 | $30,700 | $29,800 |
| 1,800 ft² — US median | 2,297 ft² | $12,800 | $15,400 | $36,700 | $35,700 |
| 2,000 ft² | 2,552 ft² | $14,200 | $17,100 | $40,800 | $39,600 |
| 2,500 ft² | 3,190 ft² | $17,700 | $21,300 | $50,900 | $49,400 |
| 3,000 ft² | 3,828 ft² | $21,100 | $25,500 | $61,000 | $59,200 |
Notice the second column. A 1,800 ft² house does not have an 1,800 ft² roof — it has about 2,297 ft² of it. Pitch, overhangs, and waste add roughly 28% on a typical medium-slope roof. Any quote that prices your roof at your floor area was not measured.
These are national-average figures. Your own market can move them 20% in either direction, which is what the state table further down and the calculator both adjust for.
Fill in what you know about your house. Anything you are unsure of can stay on the default — the estimate still lands in the right neighborhood.
This is a budgeting figure, not a quote. It cannot see your decking, your flashing, or what your local crews are charging this month. Two contractors looking at the same roof routinely differ by several thousand dollars.
Compare free, no-obligation quotes from licensed roofers who actually work in your ZIP code.
Roofing is priced per roofing square — 100 square feet of finished roof surface. The figures below are installed cost, meaning material and labor together, at the US national average. Multiply by the regional factor in the calculator for your own market.
Installed cost per square foot, by material
Material and labor together, US national average, 2026 rates.
| Material | Installed $/sq ft | Per square | Typical lifespan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Tab Asphalt Shingle | $3.80 | $380 | 15–25 yrs |
| Architectural Shingle | $4.90 | $490 | 25–40 yrs |
| Luxury Shingle | $6.80 | $680 | 30–50 yrs |
| TPO / EPDM Membrane | $7.00 | $700 | 20–30 yrs |
| Ribbed Metal Panel | $9.00 | $900 | 30–50 yrs |
| Cedar Shake | $11.00 | $1,100 | 25–40 yrs |
| Metal Shingle | $11.00 | $1,100 | 40–60 yrs |
| Concrete Tile | $13.50 | $1,350 | 30–50 yrs |
| Synthetic Slate | $13.50 | $1,350 | 40–50 yrs |
| Standing Seam Metal | $14.00 | $1,400 | 40–70 yrs |
| Clay Tile | $18.00 | $1,800 | 50–100 yrs |
| Natural Slate | $32.00 | $3,200 | 75–150 yrs |
Roughly three quarters of American homes end up on asphalt, and within asphalt the architectural (or "dimensional") shingle is the default for good reason. It costs about a dollar more per square foot than the old 3-tab and buys you an extra decade of life plus a much better wind rating. Going from 3-tab to architectural on a typical 1,800 sq ft house adds a little over $2,000 up front — and saves an entire tear-off cycle later.
What each material costs per year of service
Installed cost per square foot divided by the midpoint of its rated lifespan — lower is better value over time.
Standing seam metal costs roughly three times what architectural shingles cost. Over a 50-year window it is usually cheaper, because you replace asphalt twice in the same period. The catch is that the savings arrive slowly and the bill arrives all at once. Metal makes obvious sense if you plan to stay in the house for decades, live somewhere with hail, high wind, or wildfire risk, or have a low-slope roof where shingles struggle.
Clay tile weighs 850–1,100 lbs per square. Natural slate can reach 1,500. Asphalt weighs 250–350. If your house was framed for asphalt, switching to tile or slate may require structural reinforcement that costs more than the roof itself. Always get the framing assessed before you fall in love with tile.
Two houses with identical floor plans can get quotes $8,000 apart. Here is where the difference comes from, in rough order of impact.
Where the money actually goes
Typical share of a complete asphalt shingle replacement.
The single most common mistake is assuming a 1,800 sq ft house has an 1,800 sq ft roof. Pitch alone adds 8–44%: a medium 6/12 roof has about 16% more surface than its footprint, and a steep 12/12 roof has over 40% more. Add overhangs, valleys, and 10% waste for offcuts and ridge caps, and the roof on that 1,800 sq ft house is usually 2,200–2,400 sq ft of actual material.
On an asphalt job, labor and material are close to a 50/50 split. That is why the same shingle costs so differently across the country — the bundle price barely moves, but crew rates in San Francisco run nearly twice what they do in rural Alabama. It is also why steep and multi-story roofs cost more: harnesses, staging, and slower work, not pricier materials.
Tear-off runs $1.25–$3.25 per square foot depending on how many layers have to come off and what the dump fees are locally. Some homeowners are tempted by a "layover" — nailing new shingles straight over the old ones. It saves money today, voids most manufacturer warranties, traps heat that shortens shingle life, and makes the next replacement more expensive. Most codes cap you at two layers regardless.
This is the line item that turns a fair quote into an argument. Nobody knows the condition of your plywood until the old roof is off. A quote that assumes zero rot will grow the day the crew starts. A quote that assumes 100% replacement is padded. Ten to fifteen percent is a realistic planning figure for a roof at the end of its life — and any decent contractor will state a per-sheet price for the extra in writing before starting.
Getting two or three written quotes is the cheapest protection there is. It costs nothing and takes a couple of minutes.
Shingles cost roughly the same everywhere. Crews do not. Labor is about half of an asphalt roofing bill, so the same job swings thousands of dollars across state lines — and even between a metro and a rural county in the same state.
The table below prices the same reference project in each market: a 1,800 ft² single-story house, medium pitch, simple gable roof, architectural shingles, one layer torn off, 10% decking replaced, permits included.
| State | Typical total | Common range |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $13,900 | $11,400 – $17,500 |
| Arizona | $16,600 | $13,700 – $21,000 |
| California | $21,300 | $17,400 – $26,800 |
| Colorado | $18,800 | $15,400 – $23,700 |
| Florida | $16,200 | $13,300 – $20,400 |
| Georgia | $16,600 | $13,700 – $21,000 |
| Illinois | $17,300 | $14,200 – $21,800 |
| Indiana | $15,000 | $12,300 – $18,800 |
| Michigan | $16,200 | $13,300 – $20,400 |
| New York | $20,000 | $16,400 – $25,300 |
| North Carolina | $15,900 | $13,000 – $20,000 |
| Ohio | $15,000 | $12,300 – $18,800 |
| Pennsylvania | $17,000 | $13,900 – $21,400 |
| Tennessee | $16,200 | $13,300 – $20,400 |
| Texas | $17,700 | $14,500 – $22,300 |
| Washington | $18,500 | $15,200 – $23,300 |
State averages hide the sharper split, which is metro versus rural. A roof in downtown Seattle and a roof three hours east in the same state can differ by 30%. Hail belts add another layer: in Colorado and north Texas, insurance-driven demand keeps crews busy year-round and prices firm, and after a major storm event local pricing can jump for months.
Florida deserves a note of its own. Post-hurricane building codes there require heavier fastening schedules, secondary water barriers, and full inspection — real work that raises the floor price. A Florida quote that looks unusually cheap is often one that has quietly skipped a code requirement.
Most homeowners wait too long — not out of neglect, but because a failing roof looks fine from the ground until it does not. These are the signals that matter, in the order roofers actually check them.
Asphalt shingles are protected by a layer of mineral granules. When they wash off, the asphalt underneath is exposed to UV and starts to harden and crack. Finding what looks like coarse black sand in the gutters or at the bottom of downspouts means the shingles are in the last stretch of their life. Sparse loss is normal on a new roof; steady loss on a fifteen-year-old roof is the clock running out.
Shingle edges that lift or corners that curl upward mean the mat has dried out and is losing its grip. Curled shingles catch wind, and the first real storm takes them off in sheets. This is not repairable — it is happening across the whole roof at once because the whole roof is the same age.
One shingle off after a bad storm is a repair. Losing a few after every storm means the sealant strip has failed roof-wide and the remaining shingles are only nominally attached.
Go into the attic in daytime with the lights off. Pinpoints of daylight through the decking mean the sheathing has gaps, and where light gets in, water follows. While you are up there, look for dark staining on the underside of the deck and for insulation that feels damp or compacted.
A roofline should be straight. A visible dip or wave means the decking — and possibly the framing — has absorbed water and lost strength. This is the one sign on this list that is genuinely urgent, because it is structural rather than cosmetic.
A 3-tab roof past 20 years, or an architectural roof past 30, is on borrowed time regardless of how it looks. If you are also selling within a couple of years, an aged roof is one of the most common things to surface in a buyer's inspection and turn into a price negotiation — usually for more than the roof would have cost you to replace.
The economics of waiting. A worn roof that has not leaked yet costs you the price of a roof. A worn roof that has been leaking quietly for a season costs you the roof plus decking, plus insulation, plus drywall, plus whatever the moisture did to the framing. Waiting rarely saves money; it changes which line items you pay for.
Find out what a replacement would actually cost on your house before it becomes an emergency job at storm-season prices.
Most cost calculators are a black box. Ours is not, because a number you cannot check is a number you cannot argue with a contractor about. Here is the whole arithmetic.
We start with your ground-floor footprint and multiply by three factors: pitch, shape, and waste.
| Factor | Multiplier | What it accounts for |
|---|---|---|
| Flat (1–2/12) | 1.02 | A sloped surface is longer than the flat area beneath it. The steeper the roof, the bigger the gap. |
| Low (3–4/12) | 1.08 | |
| Medium (5–7/12) | 1.16 | |
| Steep (8–10/12) | 1.28 | |
| Very steep (11/12+) | 1.44 | |
| Simple gable or hip | 1.00 | Valleys and dormers create cuts, and every cut wastes material and time. |
| A few valleys | 1.08 | |
| Many valleys & dormers | 1.18 | |
| Waste allowance | 1.10 | Offcuts, starter course, ridge caps, and the extra bundle nobody plans for. |
So an 1,800 ft² footprint on a medium-pitch simple gable becomes 1,800 × 1.16 × 1.00 × 1.10 = 2,297 ft², or 23 roofing squares.
Roof area × the material rate × your regional factor. Rates are installed material cost per square foot, which is what suppliers quote contractors, not shelf price at a big-box store.
Roof area × the labor rate × regional factor × a story factor (1.00 for single-story up to 1.26 for three or more) × a pitch factor (1.00 flat, up to 1.35 very steep). Height and slope slow a crew down and add fall-protection setup; they do not change the material at all.
Tear-off is charged per square foot of roof: $1.25 for one layer, $2.10 for two, $3.25 for three or more, scaled by region because dump fees are local. Decking is priced only on the portion you expect to replace, at $2.80 per square foot.
Flat-cost items (permits, chimney flashing, ridge vents) and per-square-foot items (ice shield, underlayment) are added last. Then we publish a band around the midpoint — −18% to +26% — because that is roughly how far real bids on the same roof scatter.
For a straightforward asphalt job on a house that matches what you entered, expect the midpoint to land within about 15% of a fair local quote. That is useful for budgeting and useless as a negotiating weapon on its own.
Here is what it genuinely cannot see, and none of these are small:
Use it as a lie detector, not a price tag. The value of this number is not that it is exact. It is that a quote coming in at half of it, or double it, now tells you something — and you know which questions to ask.
Choosing the contractor matters more than choosing the shingle. Most roof failures are installation failures, and they surface years after the crew has gone. This section is written to be printed and carried.
| Ask for | What good looks like | Why it protects you |
|---|---|---|
| State or local licence number | A number you can verify on your state board's website — not a business registration | Unlicensed work can void your homeowner's insurance and block a future sale |
| General liability insurance | A current certificate, sent by the insurer, not a photo of a card | Covers damage to your house during the job |
| Workers' compensation | Current, covering every crew member on your roof | Without it, an injured worker's claim can land on the homeowner |
| Physical address and history | A local address and several years in the same name | A warranty is only as durable as the company behind it |
Getting three quotes is standard advice. Getting three comparable quotes is the part people skip, and without it the exercise is theatre.
Almost every homeowner assumes they have one warranty. They have two, and they cover opposite things.
| Manufacturer warranty | Workmanship warranty | |
|---|---|---|
| Who gives it | The shingle maker | Your contractor |
| What it covers | Defects in the product itself | Errors in how it was installed |
| Typical length | 25–50 years, usually prorated | 1–10 years; 10 is a strong signal |
| What actually fails | Rare | The large majority of leaks |
| Common trap | Voided by improper ventilation or a layover install | Worthless if the company closes |
Read that table once more, because it inverts the usual sales pitch. The 50-year number on the brochure covers the failure that almost never happens. The contractor's own warranty covers the failure that usually does — and it is the shorter, quieter one nobody advertises. When two quotes are close, the longer workmanship warranty from the older company is generally the better buy.
You now know exactly what to ask each of them. Getting the quotes is the easy part.
None of these are scams. They are simply things that are invisible from the driveway, which is exactly why they belong in your budget from day one.
| Item | Typical cost | When it hits |
|---|---|---|
| Decking / sheathing replacement | $70–$110 per sheet | Day 1, once the old roof is off |
| Chimney flashing rebuild | $300–$1,000 | Almost always on older chimneys |
| Skylight reset or replacement | $400–$1,800 each | Reusing old skylights is false economy |
| Ventilation correction to code | $400–$900 | When the old roof was under-vented |
| Ice & water shield | $0.30–$0.45 per sq ft | Required by code in cold climates |
| Permit & final inspection | $250–$500 | Skipping it can block a future sale |
| Second-story or steep-pitch access | +10–35% labor | Quoted upfront by good contractors |
The one clause worth asking for. Ask every contractor to put their per-sheet decking price in writing before work starts. It is the single most common source of mid-job disputes, and reputable roofers will give you the number without hesitating.
You now know what a proper quote looks like. Get a few and compare them side by side.
We would rather tell you where these numbers come from than ask you to take them on faith.
Review cycle. The rate tables are reviewed at least twice a year. The date at the top of this page is the last review, not the date the page was created — we do not re-stamp a page as "updated" without changing the numbers.
Corrections. If you price this work for a living and one of our figures is wrong for your market, tell us which number and which market at hello@roofpricebook.com. Substantiated corrections get published.
What we do not do. We are not paid by any manufacturer or contractor to publish a particular figure, and no partner reviews these numbers before they go live. See our affiliate disclosure for how the site is funded.
A typical asphalt roof on an average house is one to three days once the crew starts — often a single day for tear-off and dry-in, with detail work following. Metal, tile, and slate run considerably longer. The waiting is rarely the work itself; it is getting on the schedule, which after a regional storm can mean months.
Not dollar for dollar, and expecting it to is the wrong frame. A new roof rarely returns its full cost as added value, but an old roof reliably subtracts more than the roof would have cost — buyers and inspectors both find it, and the negotiation that follows is usually worse than the invoice. Treat it as removing a discount rather than adding a premium.
One hundred square feet of finished roof surface. It is the unit the entire trade prices in, and a quote that never mentions squares is a quote where nobody measured. A 2,297 ft² roof is 23 squares.
In most US jurisdictions, yes — a full replacement is permitted work and typically runs $250–$500 including final inspection. It is tempting to let a contractor skip it. Do not: unpermitted roofing routinely surfaces during a home sale, and unwinding it later costs far more than the permit.
Usually yes, through the contractor, a home equity product, or an unsecured loan. Compare the total cost of borrowing rather than the monthly payment — contractor-arranged financing is convenient and frequently the most expensive of the three. If the roof is not leaking, waiting for the off-season often saves more than any financing offer does.
It depends far more on ventilation and installation quality than on the shingle brand. A well-vented architectural shingle roof reaches 30 years routinely; the same shingle on a poorly vented attic can fail in 15. Heat trapped under the deck cooks shingles from below, which is why ventilation is worth arguing about.
Repair makes sense when damage is localized and the roof still has years left — a few blown-off shingles after a storm, one bad flashing detail. Replacement makes sense when shingles are curling or losing granules across the whole roof, when you are finding grit in the gutters, when there are multiple leaks, or when the roof is simply at the end of its rated life. If a repair costs more than about 30% of a replacement, replacing is usually the better spend.
Insurance covers sudden damage — hail, wind, a fallen tree. It does not cover a roof that wore out, and most policies now pay actual cash value on older roofs, meaning depreciation is deducted. Document damage with dated photos and file promptly; many policies have tight windows for storm claims.
Late winter and early spring, in most markets. Crews are least busy, and some will discount to keep people working. Late summer and the weeks after a major storm are the worst time to buy — demand spikes and prices follow. If your roof is not actively leaking, timing the season can save 5–15%.
Three is the useful number. One gives you no reference point; two tells you only which is cheaper. Three shows you the shape of the market and makes an outlier obvious in either direction. Be as wary of the quote that is far below the others as the one far above — very low bids usually mean something was left out.
Sometimes, but check what is missing first. Compare the number of squares, the shingle line, whether tear-off and disposal are included, and whether both warranties are stated. A bid that is $3,000 lower for the same scope is worth taking seriously. A bid that is $3,000 lower because it quietly assumes a layover is not.
RoofPriceBook does not sell roofs and does not install them. What the calculator above cannot do is look at your decking, your flashing, or your local crew rates — and those are exactly the things that decide your final number.
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