Roof Replacement Cost in Ames, Iowa (2026)
An asphalt re-roof of a 2,000 sq ft home in Ames runs $6,090 to $13,485. The median Ames household earns $60,102 a year, so that is 5.3 to 11.7 weeks of its pay. Ames gets 100 freeze-thaw days, 22nd highest of 209. Starting ranges, not quotes. Prices compiled June 2026.
Short answer: Plan on about $9,800 for asphalt shingles in Ames, or 8.5 weeks of the median household's $60,102. Metal roofs in Ames cost $14,790 to $34,800; asphalt ranges from $6,090 to $13,485.
Got a quote? See where it falls in Ames
Compares your price per square foot with the Ames installed range (tear-off and underlayment included). Not a judgment of any one roofer.
What would a Ames roof cost per month?
Example rate only; your lender's offer will differ. For a Ames home the principal is the local range for your size and material, and this is not a loan offer in Ames or anywhere else.
How much life is left in my Ames roof?
Typical lifespans are published ranges for each material; for a Ames house, real life also depends on installation, attic ventilation and the weather Ames gets.
Price your own roof in Ames
Ames prices sit 13% under the national base. A typical Ames roof is 8.5 weeks of local pay, 128th heaviest of 209 cities.
- Same job at national base rates
- Difference in Ames
- Extra tear-off included
How we calculated this
One sum produces the asphalt shingle range at the top of this page. You can redo it with a calculator.
| Step | What goes in | Value |
|---|---|---|
| National base, low end | 3-Tab Asphalt Shingles, $3.50 per sq ft × 2,000 sq ft | $7,000 |
| National base, high end | Architectural Asphalt Shingles, $7.75 per sq ft × 2,000 sq ft | $15,500 |
| Ames cost index | Fixed for Ames, not recalculated from wages | 0.87× |
| Ames low | $7,000 × Ames index 0.87 | $6,090, 5.3 weeks of Ames pay |
| Ames high | $15,500 × Ames index 0.87 | $13,485, 11.7 weeks of Ames pay |
| Ames typical | Midpoint of the Ames low and high, rounded to $50 | $9,800 |
- Where Ames sits. The median index across the 209 cities we price is 0.89×. 186 of them are under 1.00× and 23 are over it.
Prices compiled June 2026. This is an estimate, not a quote. Why the range has a low and a high end and how the other materials are priced: full method, inputs and limits.
Cost by roofing material in Ames
A typical asphalt roof in Ames costs $9,800, which is 8.5 weeks of local pay and puts Ames 128th of 209 for burden.
| Material | Weeks of pay | Typical | Share of home value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-Tab Asphalt Shingles in Ames | 7.0 | $8,050 | 3.1% |
| Architectural Asphalt Shingles in Ames | 9.2 | $10,650 | 4.0% |
| Metal (Steel/Aluminum) in Ames | 17.7 | $20,450 | 7.8% |
| Standing Seam Metal in Ames | 24.1 | $27,850 | 10.6% |
| Concrete Tile in Ames | 15.8 | $18,250 | 6.9% |
| TPO / EPDM in Ames* | 4.5 | $5,200 | 2.0% |
* Flat-roof prices are per 1,000 sq ft, not for a whole 2,000 sq ft house. Rated life: 3-Tab Asphalt Shingles 15–20 years; Architectural Asphalt Shingles 25–30 years; Metal (Steel/Aluminum) 40–70 years; Standing Seam Metal 50–70 years; Concrete Tile 40–50 years; TPO / EPDM (flat roofs) 15–25 years. How we calculated these prices · Sources
What weather does to a Ames roof
- Freeze-thaw days. Water gets under shingles at night and expands as ice.
- Days at 90F or hotter. Heat bakes the oils out of asphalt and loosens sealant strips.
- Days with an inch of rain. Heavy rain tests flashing, valleys and gutters.
- Yearly precipitation. More water means more years of wet decking.
Rank 1 is the most days or inches among the cities we cover. Values are 2014–2023 averages of a 50 km grid cell around Ames. Source: NASA POWER (MERRA-2/IMERG reanalysis, daily point data), 2014–2023
Storms behind Ames roof bills
Public NOAA records for Ames's county.
- 27days with hail of 1 inch or larger
- 2.75 inlargest hailstone reported
- 41days with gusts of 58 mph or more
Hail reports by month
NOAA logged 153 hail reports for Ames's county since 2014. May is the busiest month with 52 of them, 34% of the total.
Busiest three: May 52, April 33, March 22.
No hail was reported in 4 of the 12 months (January to December, in calendar order).
The costliest storm day on record in the county was May 21, 2024, with $3,225,000 of reported property damage.
All reported hail, wind and tornado damage there adds up to at least $5,177,000. It is a floor, because many reports carry no dollar estimate.
The county saw 12 tornadoes, the strongest rated EF2.
Source: NOAA Storm Events, 2014–June 2026Reported hail locations, Story County
- 1+ in
- 1.75+ in
- 2.75+ in
Hail reports per year
| 2017 | 9 |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 30 |
| 2019 | 8 |
| 2020 | 15 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2022 | 3 |
| 2023 | 36 |
| 2024 | 9 |
| 2025 | 15 |
126 recorded hail events across 9 years represented in the data, about 14 per represented full year. 2023 had the most events among represented full years: 36.
Source: NOAA Storm Events, 2014–June 2026 Ames storm history · Hail risk lookup
If insurance covers the damage
Estimates against Ames's $6,090–$13,485 range. General information, not legal advice. How claims work →
| Your deductible | Weeks of Ames pay | Out-of-pocket |
|---|---|---|
| $500 | 0.43 weeks in Ames | $500 |
| $1,000 | 0.87 weeks in Ames | $1,000 |
| $2,500 | 2.2 weeks in Ames | $2,500 |
Ames against nearby Iowa cities
6 neighbors share 0.87×, against Ames's 0.87×. Closest is Waterloo, about 73 mi out.
Distances are to scale. Dot size is weeks of local pay for a typical asphalt roof, so a bigger dot means a heavier bill for that city's households.
| City | Weeks of pay | Price vs here | Contractors (verified) | Hail events, since 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ames (this page) | 8.5 | — | 23 (0) | 126 |
| Waterloo roofers ≈73 mi from Ames |
9.0 | same | 27 (0) | 59 |
| Cedar Rapids roofers ≈100 mi from Ames |
7.5 | same | 29 (0) | 131 |
| Iowa City roofers ≈110 mi from Ames |
8.9 | same | 23 (0) | 91 |
| Council Bluffs roofers ≈127 mi from Ames |
8.0 | same | 18 (0) | 70 |
| Sioux City roofers ≈146 mi from Ames |
7.8 | same | 25 (0) | 58 |
| Dubuque roofers ≈155 mi from Ames |
7.8 | same | 20 (0) | 48 |
On the cost index Ames sits at 0.87×, and a Ames roof takes 8.5 weeks of its pay, rank 128 of 209.
What a re-roof costs against home values in Ames
Share of median home value
In Ames a typical re-roof takes 3.7% of the $263,800 median home value. 156 cities carry a heavier ratio and 52 a lighter one.
Source: Census ACS (Ames city), 2019–2023How old the homes are
Share of homes built before 1980.
40% of Ames homes predate 1980. The median Ames home was built in 1991, so a roof never replaced there is 35 years old. Oldest-first, Ames stands #174 of 209.
Source: Census ACS (Ames city), 2019–2023Ames roof bill in weeks of pay
Weeks of median household income
The median Ames household earns $60,102 a year, or $1,156 a week. A Ames asphalt re-roof, typically $9,800, takes 8.5 weeks of that.
Waterloo ($9,800 typical, 73 miles away) takes 9.0 weeks of its own pay, 0.57 weeks more than Ames.
127 of 208 other cities ask for more, 81 for less.
Sum for Ames: $9,800 ÷ ($60,102 ÷ 52) = 8.5 weeks.
Source: Census ACS (Ames city), 2019–2023The Ames roofing market
Ames reported a 2020 census population of 66,427. Iowa State University is the city's dominant employer at 18,212 workers, followed by Mary Greeley Medical Center (1,407) and the City of Ames (1,382). The university drives a large and stable rental-housing stock where property managers must maintain roofs on a defined cycle, creating steady contractor demand. Historically low unemployment supports homeowner investment in repairs and replacements.
Roofing companies in Ames's county
- 3roofing establishments with paid employees
On PickARoofer: 23 roofing contractors listed in Ames. See them
License and permit in Iowa
Ames roofers: State contractor registration.
Permit: Ames's building office. General information, not legal advice.
Source: verification methodRepair or replace in Ames
The median Ames home was built in 1991, so an original roof would be 35 years old, past the 25–30 years architectural shingles are rated for. Here a repair mostly buys time. 40% of Ames homes predate 1980, so some roofs on the street are second or third generation.
| Job | Cost | Weeks of pay |
|---|---|---|
| Small repair in Ames | $550 | 0.48 |
| Larger repair in Ames | $2,600 | 2.2 |
| Half of a new roof (50% rule) in Ames | $4,900 | 4.2 |
| One year of roof life in Ames | $356 | 0.31 |
The last row prices one year of roof life in Ames: a typical architectural roof divided by its rated 25–30 years. A repair is worth paying for when it buys at least as many years as its cost divided by that figure. The 50% rule is a common rule of thumb, not a law.
Areas PickARoofer contractors serve in Ames
- West Ames
- Northwest Ames
- Old Town Ames
- East Village
- College Green
ZIP codes: 50010, 50011, 50014, 500106, 50012.
Roof cost in Ames: questions
In Ames, what does a roof replacement cost?
In Ames, how many weeks of pay is a new roof?
In Ames, should I repair or replace my roof?
For a Ames home, is a re-roof a big bill?
When does hail hit Ames?
Does a Ames roofer need a license?
For a Ames roof, who pulls the permit?
How many roofing firms work near Ames?
Story County fact sheet for Ames homeowners
Federal disaster declarations and your state's claim deadlines for the county, from public records.
Federal disaster declarations naming Story County
Since 2014 FEMA has named Story County 4 times, split 4 storm-type, 0 flood, 0 winter, 0 fire. Over the same stretch NOAA counts in Story County 27 hail days of 1 in or more, spread over 9 of 12 full years. The latest in Story County was 14 days ago.
Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries · data as of declarations since 2014More for Ames
Cite this page
Data version: Prices compiled June 2026. Free to quote with credit under CC BY 4.0.