Roofing Cost Index
Roofing prices move for reasons that have nothing to do with the contractor quoting you. This page tracks them against federal data, refreshed every month.
The headline right now: roofing labor is rising 1.6× faster than roofing materials. Contractor services are up +5.7% year over year while asphalt roofing products are up +3.6%.
If you are trying to time a roof replacement, watching shingle prices means watching the smaller half of your bill.
Current Index Values
Producer Price Index, July 2026. These are index values, not dollar prices — they track change against a base period. The direction and the rate are what matter.
| What it tracks | Index | Year over year |
|---|---|---|
| Roofing contractor services Labor |
231.617 | +5.7% |
| Prepared asphalt roofing products Closest available shingle proxy |
380.338 | +3.6% |
| Asphalt roofing and siding products | 372.301 | +3.6% |
| Shingle and coating manufacturing | 374.327 | +4% |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Producer Price Index. Retrieved 2026-08-18. BLS data is public domain.
Twelve-Month Trend
Materials against labor over the last year. Over this window materials moved +3.6% and labor moved +5.7%.
| Month | Materials index | Labor index |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 25 | 367.122 | 219.162 |
| Aug 25 | 367.81 | 219.685 |
| Sep 25 | 364.316 | 220.389 |
| Oct 25 | 365.538 | 223.026 |
| Nov 25 | 365.642 | 224.578 |
| Dec 25 | 362.587 | 224.653 |
| Jan 26 | 354.495 | 223.556 |
| Feb 26 | 360.155 | 223.924 |
| Mar 26 | 353.872 | 224.376 |
| Apr 26 | 355.136 | 227.539 |
| May 26 | 362.334 | 228.052 |
| Jun 26 | 375.52 | 228.541 |
| Jul 26 | 380.338 | 231.617 |
Shingle Prices by Brand
Two different numbers get called "price per square" and confusing them is the single most common mistake in roofing quotes. A square is 100 square feet.
- Material per square is the shingles alone — roughly three bundles. This is what your contractor pays at the supply house, before anything else.
- Installed per square is materials plus labor, tear-off, disposal, and overhead. It runs three to five times the material figure.
| Product | Material per square | Installed per sq ft | Wind rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| GAF Timberline HDZ | $95–$135 | $4.50–$7.00 | 130 mph |
| CertainTeed Landmark | $90–$125 | $4.25–$6.75 | 110 mph |
| Owens Corning TruDefinition Duration | $100–$145 | $4.75–$7.25 | 130 mph |
On sourcing: the wind ratings above come from published manufacturer literature and are verifiable. The prices are editorial estimates, last reviewed March 2026, and are not drawn from a named external source. We label them as estimates rather than dress them up with a citation that does not support them. See our methodology.
If wind is your concern, note that base CertainTeed Landmark is rated 110 mph against 130 mph for Timberline HDZ and Duration. Landmark PRO reaches 130 mph. On the Charleston coast or anywhere under a coastal wind code, that difference decides the product for you.
What This Means for Your Quote
Index movement does not translate one-for-one into your price. Three things sit in between.
Distributor inventory lags. When manufacturer prices rise, distributors sell existing stock at old pricing first. An increase typically reaches homeowners one to two quarters after it appears in the index. When a contractor says prices "just went up," you can check whether the index agrees.
Labor is the half nobody watches. Labor is roughly 35–45% of a residential roofing bill and is currently the faster-moving component. A contractor whose crew costs rose +5.7% has a real reason to quote higher, and it is not the shingles.
Your roof is not the national average. Pitch, complexity, access, and the number of existing layers move your price far more than a year of index movement does.
What Actually Moves Roofing Prices
Tariffs
Roofing carries tariff exposure across the board — steel and aluminium on metal roofing and fasteners, imported inputs on the asphalt side. Pass-through lags a quarter or two for the same inventory reason above. When you hear that prices rose "because of tariffs," the index will tell you whether that has actually landed yet.
The distribution chain
Three manufacturers dominate asphalt shingle production and three distributors dominate wholesale. Your contractor buys at an account-negotiated price you will never see. The spread between that price and the material line on your quote is where material margin lives — which is why "I get a contractor discount" is both true and not evidence your quote is a good deal.
Storm demand
The sharpest price moves are local, not national. After a regional hail or wind event, demand spikes and out-of-area crews arrive. None of that shows up in a national index, and in the weeks after a storm it can outweigh a full year of index movement. If your roof is functional, waiting six to eight weeks after a major event often saves real money.
About This Index
The series here are pulled directly from the BLS public API and refreshed monthly. BLS publishes around mid-month for the prior month, and values stay preliminary for four months, so recent figures revise slightly.
One limitation stated plainly: the contractor services index covers nonresidential roofing. BLS publishes no residential roofing labor series. It is the best available signal for labor direction, not an exact match for residential work.
Full sourcing, update cadence, and known limitations are on our methodology page.