Roofing market method
Every number on the roofing market pages comes from a public dataset. This page lists them, the formula behind the readings and what the numbers cannot tell you.
Sources
- Companies, employees, payroll: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, industry code NAICS 238160 (Roofing Contractors), survey years 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. An establishment is one business location with at least one paid employee.
- Homes: Census American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2019-2023, total housing units in the county.
- Hail days: NOAA Storm Events Database, days on which at least one hail report of 1 inch or larger was filed in the county, January 2014 to June 2026 (see hail history).
- Roofer wage: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, roofers (SOC 47-2181), state median, May 2025.
The formula
Homes per company = housing units ÷ roofing establishments (2023). We compare it with the median of the 593 counties that have at least 3 roofing establishments and a housing count. The ratio to that median (5,189 homes per company today) gives the reading:
- Thin supply: ratio of 1.5 or more. Each company has 1.5 times the median number of homes to serve.
- Crowded field: ratio of 0.67 or less.
- Typical: everything in between.
The hail flag marks a county whose count of 1-inch-plus hail days is in the top quarter of the same 593 counties (at least 30 days today).
What the numbers cannot tell you
- Roofers who work alone, with no employees, are not counted. In some counties they are a large part of the trade, so the true supply is higher than shown.
- Crews often drive in from other counties after a storm. Supply near a county line is wider than the county count.
- Counts say nothing about quality, licensing or prices. We do not rank or name companies here. To check a license, see verify a roofer.
- Employee and payroll figures carry small noise added by the Census Bureau for confidentiality, and some are withheld. Payroll per employee includes owners and office staff, so it is not a roofer's wage.
- A thin reading is not a prediction that you will wait a set number of weeks. It shows where crew supply is stretched, and that matters most right after hail.
The quote calculator
The calculator divides your quote by your roof size and splits it using a labor share you choose. Hours are labor dollars divided by (pay per hour × employer cost multiplier). The labor share, multiplier and crew size are your assumptions, because no public dataset gives them for a specific job. The pay rate is prefilled with the state median roofer wage divided by 2,080 hours when we have it.