Roof Replacement Cost

What the surveys actually say

Three published cost surveys sit behind the figures on this page. They measure different projects, so we list them separately rather than averaging them into one number. Where a survey states its roof size, we convert to a per-square figure. Per-square figures are rounded to the nearest $5 and totals to the nearest $100.

The first two agree exactly on $7,500 to $14,000, from independent research published fifteen months apart. That is the range to plan around for a standard asphalt job.

The third looks wildly out of line until you read its specification. Cost vs. Value prices a 30-square hip roof, stripped to bare wood, with custom flashing at two skylights and a custom vented ridge cap, quoted by professional remodelling contractors carrying full overhead. It is a large, complex, high-specification job. It is a useful ceiling, not a typical price, and it is a reminder that the size and complexity of the roof matters more than any national average.

Cost per square, broken down

HomeGuide splits the per-square price into three components. This is the most useful table on the page, because a contractor’s line-item quote should map onto it.

Two things to notice. The materials line is shingles only, so the true material cost is higher once accessories are added. And labor is the largest single component at the low end and roughly a third of the job at the high end, which is why anything that slows a crew down moves the price more than the shingle grade does.

For context on that labor line, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics put 2025 median pay for roofers at $55,440 a year, or $26.65 an hour. A contractor’s charge per square is several times the bare wage because it carries crew size, workers’ compensation, equipment, disposal, warranty and profit. Wage data is a sanity check on survey figures, not a way to build a price from scratch.

Roof replacement cost by house size

These are HomeGuide’s figures for an asphalt shingle replacement. The roof size column is worth reading carefully: it is about 1.12 times the house footprint, which is the surface area multiplier for a 6:12 pitch, the most common slope on American homes. If your roof is steeper, your true area is larger than the row suggests.

Every row works out to the same $300 to $600 per square, which is a good sign that the table is internally consistent. Rather than picking the row nearest your house, measure your own roof with the roof area calculator, which accounts for pitch, overhang and roof type, and multiply your square count by a per-square figure from the table above.

Roof replacement cost by material

Asphalt is the cheapest common roof and the reason the national averages sit where they do. These installed figures are from HomeGuide, converted from cost per square foot to cost per square.

The lifespan column is the argument for the expensive materials. A slate roof at five times the price of asphalt lasts five to ten times as long, so the cost per year of service can be lower. Whether that is worth it depends on how long you plan to own the house, and on whether the existing structure can carry the weight of tile or slate, which is a question for a contractor rather than a calculator.

Within asphalt, the grade matters too. Three-tab shingles cost $80 to $130 per square in materials and last 15 to 20 years. Architectural or dimensional shingles cost $100 to $250 per square and last 20 to 30 years. The upgrade is usually a small fraction of the total job because labor barely changes, which is why most replacements now use architectural shingles.

New roof cost

People search for “new roof cost” and “roof replacement cost” meaning the same thing, and the numbers above answer both. There is one real difference worth naming. A new roof on new construction skips the tear-off, which removes $100 to $300 per square, but adds the cost of decking and structure that a replacement already has in place. A replacement on an existing house is what almost everyone is pricing, and that is what this page covers.

An overlay, where new shingles go straight over the old ones, also skips tear-off. Most building codes allow at most two layers total. An overlay is cheaper now and more expensive later, because the next replacement has two layers to strip and the hidden decking never gets inspected. Whether your roof is a candidate is a judgement call for someone who has been on it.

What moves the price

Pitch and walkability

A steeper roof has more surface area for the same footprint, so it needs more material before anything else happens. Going from a 4:12 to a 10:12 pitch raises the surface area multiplier from 1.054 to 1.302, about 24 percent more roof on the same house. Steep roofs are also slower and riskier to work on, and contractors price that in. Measure yours with the roof pitch calculator before you compare quotes, because two bids on the same house can differ simply because one estimator assumed the wrong slope.

Tear-off and existing layers

Removing the old roof costs $100 to $300 per square, and that is for the tear-off itself plus disposal. A roof carrying two layers has twice as much material to strip and haul away. Ask any contractor quoting a low number whether the price includes full tear-off to bare sheathing or an overlay, because the two are not comparable.

Decking repair

This is the most common source of a mid-job price increase. Roof decking, the plywood or board sheathing under the underlayment, is only visible once the old roof is off. Replacing it runs $2 to $5 per square foot installed, which is $200 to $500 per square of affected area. A quote that does not mention decking is a quote with an open end on it. Ask for the per-sheet or per-square-foot rate in writing before work starts, and ask how the contractor will notify you before replacing any.

Complexity

Hips, valleys, dormers, chimneys, skylights and multiple roof planes all mean more cutting, more flashing and more waste. This is where the Cost vs. Value figure of $1,060 per square becomes instructive: its specification includes a hip roof, custom flashing at two skylights and a custom vented ridge cap, and it lands well above a simple gable. A cut-up roof also needs a bigger waste allowance, typically 15 percent instead of 10, which the roofing square calculator lets you set directly.

Region

Labor rates and disposal fees vary widely by state, and so do code requirements: high-wind zones and hail-prone areas need different products and more fasteners. Across the 22 states HomeGuide publishes figures for, the state ranges span roughly $5,400 at the low end to $17,900 at the high end. We have not scaled the figures on this page by state, because the source gives one average range per state rather than a ratio we could apply. For Florida, Texas and California, the state range and the local rules that affect a re-roof are on their own pages. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes state and metropolitan wage tables for roofers if you want to see how your area compares on the labor side.

How to turn this into your own number

1. Find your pitch with the roof pitch calculator.
2. Turn your footprint, pitch and overhang into true roof surface area with the roof area calculator.
3. Convert that area into squares, with a waste allowance, using the roofing square calculator.
4. Multiply your squares by $400 to $900 for an all-in asphalt replacement including tear-off, or by a per-square figure from the material table for something else.
5. Add a contingency for decking. On an older roof, budgeting for 10 to 20 percent of the deck needing replacement at $200 to $500 per square is a reasonable planning assumption, though the actual figure is unknown until the old roof is off.

That gives you a number to check quotes against. It does not replace the quotes.

Sources used on this page

• HomeGuide roof replacement cost guide, dated November 7, 2025. Per-square breakdown, cost by house size, cost by material, material lifespans, decking cost and state ranges.
• Fixr roof replacement cost guide, last updated February 4, 2026. National range and national average.
• Cost vs. Value Report 2025, Roofing Replacement: Asphalt Shingles (Journal of Light Construction), updated June 20, 2025. National job cost for a defined 30-square specification.
• BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Roofers. 2025 median pay for roofers.
• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tables. State and metropolitan wage data, occupation code 47-2181.

The methodology page explains how these sources are combined, the rounding rules applied here, and how often the figures are reviewed.