Roof replacement cost: what owners paid
When owners hired someone for roofing work, the middle half paid $6,000 to $15,000 and the typical job cost $10,000. Counting do-it-yourself jobs, the typical U.S. job was the same, and across 15 big metros it ran $8,000 to $15,000.
What owners paid
$10,000
The typical job when owners hired it out. The middle half paid $6,000 to $15,000.
Every job, do-it-yourself included: $10,000 typical.
Hired out, by home size: the typical job and the middle half
- Under 1,500 sq ft$7,500$4,500 to $12,000
- 1,500 to 2,499 sq ft$11,000$7,500 to $15,000
- 2,500 sq ft or more$13,000$8,600 to $20,000
Every job by big metro, do-it-yourself included: lowest $8,000 in Philadelphia, Washington DC and Riverside, highest $15,000 in Miami and Seattle.
Prices now: Asphalt roofing products cost 2.7% more in September 2026 than a year earlier (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Housing Survey 2023, the latest release: work owners did in about 2021–2023. Checked . Hired-out figures: our percentiles from the survey’s public use file.
A new roof at today’s prices
The figures above are what owners paid for work done in 2021 to 2023. Here is our estimate of a re-roof today, for the roof you enter: shingles and underlayment at one store’s posted price, the dumpster for the old roof and the permit, the crew’s time at what a roofer costs an employer, and the share of the price roofing contractors spend on overhead and keep as profit. Each figure says where it comes from, and the crew time and the overhead share are yours to change.
Filled in as an example: a 2,000 sq ft roof with one layer to tear off. Type over any of it with your own roof and your roofer’s figures.
Our estimate for this roof: $9,839, itemized below.
| Part | Cost | Where the figure comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Shingles: 66 bundles | $3,431 | GAF Timberline HDZ, Charcoal at $51.99 a bundle, Ward Lumber in Jay, NY, ; 10% extra for cuts |
| Underlayment: 3 rolls | $270 | GAF FeltBuster synthetic roofing felt at $90 a roll, A+ Roofing Supply in Sugar Hill, GA, |
| Tear-off: about 2 tons | Not added | Dumpster prices vary by city: Dumpsters.com gives U.S. averages of $586 for 10 yards, $679 for 20 and $809 for 30 (). Choose your metro for a local posted price. |
| Permit | Not added | Set by your city or county. Choose your metro to see its published fee. |
| Labor: 60 worker-hours | $2,301 | 3 a square for 20 squares, at about $38 an hour, the employer’s cost of a roofer earning the median wage in the U.S. |
| Overhead and profit | $3,837 | 39% of the price, roofing contractors’ average in 2022, homes and commercial work together: what was left of their receipts after materials, work they subcontracted and their crews’ pay and benefits, for office staff, rent, insurance, vehicles, fuel, taxes and profit (Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census) |
| Our estimate from these inputs | $9,839 | Not a roofer’s price: what these parts, this crew time and this overhead share add up to. A fair quote can be higher, since it also pays for what is not counted here. Before sales tax and delivery. Not counted: starter strip, ridge cap, drip edge, nails, flashing and vents (the roofing calculator counts them from your roof’s edges), an ice barrier along the eaves where your code asks for one, new sheathing, and the dumpster and the permit until you choose your metro. |
What an hour costs: no public source prices a roofing crew by the job, so the estimate counts its time. Roofers in the U.S. earn a median $26.65 an hour (BLS, May 2025). Benefits make up 30.5% of what construction employers spend an hour on pay and benefits (all trades, BLS, June 2026), so an hour of a roofer at that wage costs an employer about $38.
Type a quote’s total above to set it against this estimate.
What city roof permits declared
Some cities publish the cost of the work each applicant declares on a building permit. For permits issued from October 2025 to September 2026, the median declared:
- Chicago: $17,000 for asphalt-shingle roof replacements (484 permits)
- San Francisco: $15,000 for re-roofs of one- and two-family houses (2,010 permits)
- Boston: $14,200 for roof work on one- and two-family houses (929 permits)
- Detroit: $11,600 for roof replacements on one- and two-family houses (461 permits)
These are declared values, not invoices, and each city counts a slightly different set of jobs: its page says which. Read .
Elsewhere, your own city’s building department may publish its permits too, often with the value of the work declared on each. Read what the city says that figure counts before you set a quote beside it.
When owners hired the work out
86% of these jobs were hired out. Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile of what those owners paid, so half of the jobs sit inside it; the tick is the median.
- United States$10,000$6,000–$15,000
- Miami$16,000$12,000–$30,000
- Seattle$15,100$10,000–$25,000
- San Francisco$15,000$10,000–$26,000
- Los Angeles$14,300$7,500–$17,000
- Chicago$13,000$10,000–$20,000
- Dallas$12,000$7,000–$22,000
- New York City$12,000$8,000–$15,000
- Boston$11,000$6,300–$15,000
- Houston$10,800$7,100–$15,000
- Atlanta$10,000$6,000–$16,000
- Phoenix$10,000$4,000–$15,000
- Riverside$10,000$6,000–$14,300
- Washington DC$10,000$5,000–$15,000
- Detroit$9,000$6,000–$15,000
- Philadelphia$8,600$4,300–$12,000
The hired-out figures as a table, with margins of error
| Homes | Sample jobs | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every home size | 2,217 | $6,000 ±$244 | $10,000 ±$0* | $15,000 ±$0* |
| Under 1,500 sq ft | 588 | $4,500 ±$758 | $7,500 ±$1,303 | $12,000 ±$1,283 |
| 1,500 to 2,499 sq ft | 939 | $7,500 ±$1,016 | $11,000 ±$512 | $15,000 ±$1,443 |
| 2,500 sq ft or more | 581 | $8,600 ±$591 | $13,000 ±$1,426 | $20,000 ±$1,337 |
| Miami | 72 | $12,000 ±$4,613 | $16,000 ±$3,650 | $30,000 ±$10,705 |
| Seattle | 93 | $10,000 ±$1,772 | $15,100 ±$3,389 | $25,000 ±$3,023 |
| San Francisco | 60 | $10,000 ±$2,708 | $15,000 ±$1,194 | $26,000 ±$7,829 |
| Los Angeles | 67 | $7,500 ±$1,827 | $14,300 ±$2,165 | $17,000 ±$4,755 |
| Chicago | 84 | $10,000 ±$1,004 | $13,000 ±$1,887 | $20,000 ±$2,873 |
| Dallas | 114 | $7,000 ±$2,811 | $12,000 ±$2,366 | $22,000 ±$4,555 |
| New York City | 62 | $8,000 ±$1,722 | $12,000 ±$1,480 | $15,000 ±$5,022 |
| Boston | 89 | $6,300 ±$2,633 | $11,000 ±$2,340 | $15,000 ±$1,964 |
| Houston | 83 | $7,100 ±$1,701 | $10,800 ±$1,966 | $15,000 ±$1,314 |
| Atlanta | 80 | $6,000 ±$2,582 | $10,000 ±$2,004 | $16,000 ±$3,431 |
| Phoenix | 86 | $4,000 ±$3,201 | $10,000 ±$1,442 | $15,000 ±$1,208 |
| Riverside | 43 | $6,000 ±$3,195 | $10,000 ±$2,762 | $14,300 ±$5,256 |
| Washington DC | 99 | $5,000 ±$1,292 | $10,000 ±$2,419 | $15,000 ±$3,724 |
| Detroit | 57 | $6,000 ±$1,979 | $9,000 ±$2,235 | $15,000 ±$3,979 |
| Philadelphia | 101 | $4,300 ±$2,861 | $8,600 ±$1,553 | $12,000 ±$2,689 |
* A margin of $0 means every replicate estimate landed on the same round figure: owners tend to report round amounts such as $10,000.
How these figures are made: from the Census Bureau's 2023 American Housing Survey public use file, each job counted with its survey weight and a 90% margin of error from the survey's replicate weights. A job is hired out when the owners said someone outside the household did most of the work. Leaving out do-it-yourself jobs is why these figures usually sit above the every-job medians in the Census table below. The public file also rounds costs, so its every-job median can differ a little from the published one.
Every job in each big metro, do-it-yourself included
The typical (median) job in each of the survey's 15 metro areas, highest first, from the Census Bureau's published table. The margin of error is the Census Bureau's 90% range around each median.
What these figures cover: Every roofing job owners reported, all roof sizes and materials together: a small roof costs less, a large or steep one more.
The figures as a table, with margins of error
Scroll the table sideways to see every column on a small screen.
| Metro area | Typical job (median) | Margin of error (90% confidence) |
|---|---|---|
| Miami | $15,000 | ±$3,514 |
| Seattle | $15,000 | ±$1,598 |
| San Francisco | $14,550 | ±$1,071 |
| Los Angeles | $14,290 | ±$4,090 |
| Chicago | $12,500 | ±$1,208 |
| New York City | $12,000 | ±$1,654 |
| Dallas | $11,430 | ±$2,500 |
| Boston | $11,000 | ±$2,304 |
| Atlanta | $10,000 | ±$1,466 |
| Houston | $10,000 | ±$471 |
| Phoenix | $10,000 | ±$2,183 |
| Detroit | $8,200 | ±$1,415 |
| Philadelphia | $8,000 | ±$1,852 |
| Riverside | $8,000 | ±$1,892 |
| Washington DC | $8,000 | ±$2,945 |
Source: Census Bureau and HUD, 2023 American Housing Survey, Table 16, category “Roofing” under “Exterior Additions and Replacements”. Checked October 13, 2026. The metro values and margins of error use the survey's metropolitan areas, not city limits. A metro with no published figure stays blank; we never fill it in from its neighbors.
Why do cost guides disagree?
They measure different things. An estimate prices one defined job at today's rates; these figures are what owners actually paid, across every size and kind of job in the category. Do-it-yourself jobs mostly pay for materials, which is why this page keeps hired-out jobs apart. A full job on a large house can sit well above the typical figure, and a small one well below it. Your own quotes, compared line by line, are the price that counts. Seven reasons cost guides disagree, each with its figures.
Measure your job with the calculator, then put your quotes side by side in the quote worksheet.
Have prices moved?
Asphalt roofing products cost 2.7% more in September 2026 than a year earlier (Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price index, preliminary).
Every building material we track, month by month, with the change in a year.
Newer monthly figures may be out: these were checked on .
Before you compare quotes
Ask every contractor to price the same scope, in writing. Are tear-off, decking repairs, flashing and disposal included?
Record the measurements in the quantity calculator. Keep the quotes themselves in the project's comparison worksheet.