How much does a new roof cost per square foot?
Installed asphalt shingle roofing runs roughly $3 to $16 per square foot of roof surface depending on the grade of shingle, with the architectural shingles most people actually buy sitting at about $4 to $8. Roofers usually quote per 'square' instead, which is 100 square feet of roof - so those figures are $300 to $1,600 per square.
What an average can't tell you
A national average compresses very different roofs into one number, and most of what sets your price is invisible to it. It cannot tell you how many square feet of roof you actually have — which is not your floor area, and is the single biggest driver of the total — or what covering is going back on, and those two choices alone move the figure more than anything else on the page.
It also cannot see how many layers have to come off before anything new goes on, how steep the roof is, how many storeys the crew is working above, or whether the decking underneath has rotted — which nobody knows, including the contractor, until the old roofing is off. Even within one metro, labor pricing and disposal fees shift in ways a single average flattens out.
Those are answerable questions, and they are exactly the estimator’s inputs. It starts from sourced national cost data and recomputes the range for your area, covering, pitch, height, and tear-off — the factually correct next step after any national average.
The sourced rates, by shingle grade
Fixr's asphalt-shingle guide breaks installed cost down by grade rather than giving one blended number, which is the more useful way to read it: 3-tab shingles at $3 - $5 per square foot, architectural at $4 - $8, and luxury or designer products at $6.50 - $16. Architectural is the default on most replacements, so that middle band is the one most homeowners are actually choosing between.
Homewyse arrives at a narrower figure by a different route, stating that in May 2026 the estimated national average cost to install an asphalt shingle roof starts at $5.09 - $6.66 per square foot. That sits inside the architectural band, which is what you would expect from an all-asphalt average weighted toward the most common product.
Fixr states installed asphalt shingle cost by grade: 3-tab $3 - $5 per square foot, architectural $4 - $8, luxury $6.50 - $16.
SOURCEDHomewyse states that in May 2026 the estimated national average cost to Install a Asphalt Shingle Roof starts at $5.09 - $6.66 per square foot.
SOURCEDWhat a per-square-foot number does and does not include
A per-square-foot rate covers the covering going on: material and the labour to install it. It does not automatically include tearing the old roof off, which is charged separately and averages around $50 per square with heavier materials reaching considerably more. It does not include replacing decking that turns out to be rotten, and it does not include the permit.
This is why two bids quoting the same dollars per square foot can differ by thousands on the bottom line. When you compare bids, compare what is inside the rate - and ask specifically what happens to the price if decking needs replacing, because that is the line item most likely to move after work starts.
Related questions
- How much is a roof per square?
- A roofing square is 100 square feet of roof surface, so the sourced per-square-foot rates translate directly: roughly $300 to $500 per square for 3-tab shingles, $400 to $800 for architectural, and $650 to $1,600 for luxury grades. Tear-off is charged on top, at around $50 per square for a straightforward single layer.
- How many squares is a typical roof?
- A 2,000 square foot roof is 20 squares. Because roof area runs ten to thirty per cent above a home's floor area, a 1,700 square foot house commonly carries about 20 squares of roof rather than 17 - one of the reasons estimates built from house size come in low.
Get a local answer
National ranges only go so far — labor rates, tear-off rules, weather, and insurance practice move the numbers in every metro. See the local guides, each with a cost estimator:
- Roof Replacement Cost in Akron, OH
- Roof Replacement Cost in Albuquerque, NM
- Roof Replacement Cost in Allentown, PA
- Roof Replacement Cost in Hartford, CT
- Roof Replacement Cost in Knoxville, TN
- Roof Replacement Cost in Milwaukee, WI
- Roof Replacement Cost in Providence, RI
- Roof Replacement Cost in Raleigh, NC
- Roof Replacement Cost in Richmond, VA
- Roof Replacement Cost in Winston-Salem, NC