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Roof Replacement Cost Calculator

A range for replacing a roof in the United States, built from published cost guides. Nothing is sent anywhere; the sum runs in your browser.

What do you know?

The ground area the house covers, not the total floor space of all stories.

A 6 means the roof rises 6 inches for every 12 inches across. Not sure? 6 is common. Steeper roofs cost more to work on.

Add if they apply

HomeGuide lists tear-off labor at $1–$5 per sq ft, heavier materials costing more. NerdWallet lists $1,000–$5,000 as an additional cost. It is not always clear whether per-sq-ft prices already include it, so we add it separately.

NerdWallet gives $250–$500 for permits. Many places require one; some roof jobs do not.

NerdWallet gives $150–$1,000 for these repairs when they are needed.

Enter your numbers and the estimate appears here.

How to get your numbers

  • Footprint. The ground area the house covers. For a simple rectangle, measure the outside length and width and multiply. For a two-story house, the ground-floor area is a reasonable starting point; garages and porches under the same roof count too.
  • Pitch. Put a level flat against a rafter in the attic, mark 12 inches along it, and measure straight up to the rafter. That height in inches is the rise. A 6 is common. If you cannot check, leave 6 and treat the result as rougher.
  • Roof area, if you already have it. A roofer's measurement or an earlier quote is better than our estimate from the footprint. Switch the first question to “Roof area” and enter it.

How much it matters. By our arithmetic, a 4:12 roof has about 5% more surface than its footprint and a 9:12 roof 25% more, so guessing the pitch wrong between those two moves the area, and the cost, by about 19%. Footprint errors matter more: every 10% error in size is a 10% error in the estimate.

What can make the estimate higher?

  • Where you live. HomeGuide reports total roof replacement costs ranging from $5,400 to $17,400 depending on state. We do not apply a local adjustment because we have no transparent, sourced one. Treat local quotes as the real answer.
  • Roof shape. Steep pitches, several levels, dormers, skylights and chimneys all add labor and flashing work.
  • Material. The price range inside a single material is wide. Metal runs $5–$16 per sq ft in one source; the quality tier matters.
  • Condition underneath. Rotted decking found after the old roof comes off is not in this estimate.
  • Number of layers, access and disposal, which vary by job.
  • Extras not ticked above, such as permits, flashing, chimney or vent work.
  • Which source you believe. Published guides disagree for asphalt: one gives $3–$6 per sq ft, another $4.25–$12.25. We show both rather than pick a winner.

What can make the estimate lower?

  • A simple roof. Few planes, valleys, dormers or penetrations, and a low or moderate pitch.
  • Asphalt shingles, the lowest-cost mainstream material in the sources we use.
  • Easy access and a roof in a state where the sources report lower totals.
  • Choosing your timing and comparing several written quotes, instead of an emergency repair after a leak.
  • A repair instead of a replacement, if the roof is otherwise sound. See repair or replace?

What the tool does not model

These change real quotes but are not in the sums, because we have no sourced, transparent adjustment for them. They are listed so you can discuss them with a roofer.

  • Local labor rates and state or city price differences.
  • Roof complexity: valleys, dormers, skylights, several levels.
  • Rotted decking or structural repairs found after the old roof is removed.
  • Number of existing layers, difficult access and disposal costs.
  • Contractor demand, warranty terms and material brand or grade.

Assumptions

  • Prices are installed prices per square foot of roof surface, taken from published cost guides, not from quotes.
  • A simple roof with one layer to remove, sound decking underneath and ordinary access.
  • Whether a guide's per-square-foot figure already includes tear-off is not always stated. Tear-off is added as a separate line, so the two may overlap a little.
  • Roof area from a footprint uses the standard slope factor. It ignores overhangs, waste and complex shapes.

Where this applies. United States, national figures. Published roof costs vary a lot by state and city, but we have no transparent, sourced local adjustment, so none is applied.

Is it worth doing?

For resale value, see which home improvements add the most value. For when to replace instead of repair, see repair or replace?. For the full cost breakdown, read the roof cost guide.

Sources and method

Each line in the result is labelled Sourced (a published figure) or Calculated (worked out here from those figures and your inputs).

  • Roof Replacement Cost, HomeGuide. Cost guide (crowd/contractor data) Scope: US national. Published or updated: Nov 2025. Accessed October 4, 2026.
  • Cost to Replace Roof Shingles, NerdWallet. Cost guide (crowd/contractor data) Scope: US national. Published or updated: Jul 2025. Accessed October 4, 2026.

Roof area from a footprint is footprint × √(pitch² + 144) ÷ 12, the standard slope factor. Cost per square foot is multiplied by roof area, then optional extras are added. Rounding avoids implying precision the inputs do not have. The result is an estimate from cost guides, not a contractor quote. This tool is information only. See how we work out costs.