Our Data & Methodology
Where our numbers come from — and what we will not do. PickARoofer publishes estimates, not invented reviews.
How we estimate roofing costs
PickARoofer shows roof-replacement cost ranges for more than 200 U.S. cities. Each city's range is built the same way: we take a set of national base rates for common roofing materials and multiply them by a local cost index for that city. The local index reflects regional differences in labor, material logistics, and permit requirements.
| Material (2,000 sq ft home) | National base range |
|---|---|
| 3-Tab Asphalt Shingles | $7,000 – $11,500 |
| Architectural Asphalt Shingles | $9,000 – $15,500 |
| Metal (Steel/Aluminum) | $17,000 – $30,000 |
| Standing Seam Metal | $24,000 – $40,000 |
| Concrete Tile | $15,000 – $27,000 |
A city's published range is the base range above multiplied by its local cost index. For example, a market with an index of 0.82 shows costs about 18% below the national base; a market at 1.20 shows costs about 20% above it. Base ranges are drawn from published U.S. roofing-industry cost data and reflect typical full-replacement projects (tear-off, underlayment, installation, and basic flashing). They are starting ranges, not quotes — your actual price depends on roof size, pitch, accessibility, material choice, and the contractor. The only accurate number is a quote on your specific roof.
Reading a city cost page
The full sum, the inputs and a worked example are on the cost method page.
The "typical" figure is the midpoint of each range, rounded to $50. Pitched roofs are priced at 2,000 sq ft with tear-off and underlayment; flat roofs at 1,000 sq ft, because flat sections are usually smaller. A range is the national base multiplied by the city's index, and the same index can cover several nearby cities, so supply and storms are what separate them. Local figures come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (home values and age, 2019 to 2023), County Business Patterns (roofing firms, 2023; sole proprietors are not counted), the Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS (roofer pay, May 2025) and NOAA Storm Events (hail and wind, 2014 to June 2026; the current year is partial).
Home age, pitch and storm damage move a price from street to street, and a quote after an inspection is the only exact number. Ask any roofer whether a quote covers removing old layers and replacing rotted decking. Permits come from the city or county building department, and the rules differ by jurisdiction. Insurance pays differently under an actual-cash-value policy (depreciated value) and a replacement-cost policy (full replacement); see the insurance guide.
Illustrative image — AI-generated for visual reference.
Contractor listings
- Listings are compiled from public business records and publicly available company information.
- We do not generate reviews, ratings, or review counts. Where we lack independently verified review data, we show none rather than invent it.
- A listing being present is not an endorsement. Always confirm a contractor's license and insurance before hiring.
What the “Verified” badge means
A Verified badge appears on a contractor's profile only after we have independently confirmed that their roofing license is active, checked against the official registry of the relevant state or local licensing authority.
The badge does not confirm insurance. Where a contractor has separately provided a current Certificate of Insurance (COI), we note it on their profile as “Insurance on file” — but always ask any roofer for a current certificate of insurance yourself before signing.
Verification is rolling out gradually. Most listed contractors are not yet verified, and the absence of a badge is not a mark against a contractor — only that we have not completed confirmation. In Texas, which has no state roofing license, the badge means we confirmed the contractor's RCAT license against the official registry of the Roofing Contractors Association of Texas — the industry licensing program (exam, experience and annual education); it does not by itself confirm insurance.
Illustrative image — AI-generated for visual reference.
How request routing works
PickARoofer offers each homeowner request to one contractor at a time. If that contractor does not accept during the claim window, the request may move to the next eligible contractor, up to three routing attempts. Only the contractor currently offered the request can view its contact details.
Storm and hail figures
The storm-risk level and yearly hail-day count shown on each city page are editorial estimates based on regional severe-weather climatology. They are directional context to help homeowners plan inspections — not official forecasts or guarantees. The NOAA hail counts and storm reports described below are records, not estimates.
Storm and hail data: where it comes from and how we count it
Two federal weather datasets feed the hail figures on PickARoofer. They are kept in separate tables and are never mixed in one number.
Source 1: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county-year counts)
The Storm Events Database is maintained by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. We download its yearly details files for calendar years 2014 through 2026: twelve full years plus 2026 up to June, where NOAA's latest file ends. The county-by-year hail tallies in our database were loaded on 2026-10-06; they are a snapshot, not a live feed, and 2026 is marked as a partial year wherever it appears.
How we count:
- We keep records whose event type is hail and whose location is recorded as a county. Records tied to a forecast zone instead of a county are skipped.
- Each county is identified by its state and county FIPS code (see the Census FIPS/ANSI code lists).
- For every county and year we store the number of hail records, the largest recorded hail size in inches, and the date of the latest record.
- City pages use the county the city sits in. Multi-year figures add up the yearly county counts.
Source 2: NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports (individual reports)
The SPC storm reports archive lists daily reports of hail, wind and tornadoes. We store the hail reports of 1.0 inch or larger, one row per report, with date, county, size and coordinates. Where a report falls near a city we attach it to that city.
Source 3: NOAA Storm Events, event by event (city storm records and county hail pages)
The storm record on each city page and our county hail data are built from the same NCEI details files, read event by event for calendar years 2014 through 2025 and for 2026 up to the latest file NOAA had published when we loaded it (hail reports run to June 2026; NOAA adds months with a lag of several weeks). They cover hail, thunderstorm wind and tornado records filed under a county. Snapshot loaded 2026-10-06 (2025 file dated 2026-08-19, 2026 file dated 2026-09-18). The 2026 year is partial and is marked as such wherever it appears. Dots on county maps are the reported location of each hail report of 1 inch or larger, not the track of a storm. County outlines are Census TIGER boundaries, simplified for display.
What the numbers mean
- A count is records, not storms. A single storm can produce more than one record in the same county, so "777 hail records in a county over 11 years" is not 777 separate hailstorms.
- Size threshold. Per NWS Instruction 10-1605, hail of 3/4 inch and larger is entered in Storm Data. The National Weather Service treats 1 inch as the severe-hail threshold, so county counts include some events below it. The SPC table is limited to 1.0 inch and larger.
Limits you should know about
- Both datasets are built from reports (spotters, public, emergency managers, media). Sparsely populated counties tend to log fewer records because fewer people are there to see and report hail. A low count does not prove a quiet hail history.
- Reporting practices change over time, so year-to-year comparisons inside one county are rougher than the numbers suggest.
- Hail sizes are reported estimates, often compared with coins or balls, not instrument measurements.
- County totals say nothing about a specific roof. Hail damage varies street by street. Only an inspection of your roof shows whether it was hit.
- The county-year table has no per-event dates, so we never present it as "a storm hit yesterday". Recent storms come only from the SPC reports.
- The ranges are fixed until we reload the data. The load date is stated next to each source; city storm records and county pages are refreshed from new NOAA files as they appear.
Photo credits (hail history pages)
- Large hail on a street: NOAA Photo Library, NOAA Central Library; OAR/ERL/National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
- Baseball-size hail: OAR/ERL/Wave Propagation Laboratory (NOAA Photo Library), public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
- Golf-ball-size hail, cut open: NOAA Photo Library (NSSL), public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
- Windshield broken by hail, Moore, Oklahoma: Win Henderson, FEMA, public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
The photos are examples of hail of that size. None of them is shown as taken in the place named on the page.
Data: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (hail, 2014–June 2026) and NOAA Storm Prediction Center hail reports (1.0 inch or larger), processed by PickARoofer; Storm Events snapshot loaded 2026-10-06; source links checked 2026-09-24.
How to cite our data
The hail data feed is free to use under CC BY 4.0; NOAA's underlying data is public domain. Credit PickARoofer with a link to pickaroofer.com/data/hail and keep NOAA's caveat: reports are preliminary and unverified, not proof of damage to a specific roof. See the suggested citation wording.
More ready-to-paste link and citation code: Link to PickARoofer.
Keeping this current
Cost base rates, local indices, and listings were last compiled in June 2026. Found something that looks wrong? Tell us via the About page and we will review it.