How much does a roofer make?

The national numbers

Federal occupational wage data puts 135,490 roofers in the United States at a mean of $27.95 an hour, or $58,140 a year. The median — the middle roofer, which is the more useful figure — is $26.65 an hour, $55,440 a year.

The spread from the tenth to the ninetieth percentile is more than double — $37,460 to $81,720. Very little of that is skill in the abstract; most of it is geography, union coverage and whether the work is year-round.

Where the state gap comes from

The top of that table is roughly $30,450 above the bottom. Two forces do most of it. Cold-climate states have a short season, so the day rate has to carry more of the year — and they are also where union residential and commercial work is concentrated. Warm states have year-round work, a larger labour pool and a lower hourly figure that can still add up to comparable annual earnings.

How crews are actually paid

Very few residential roofers are paid a straight hourly wage. The common structures are piece rate — so much per square laid, which rewards speed and is why supervision matters; day rate for tear-off and clean-up, where the work does not divide neatly by square; and a foreman on salary with a crew on piece. Commercial and union work is more often hourly with a schedule.

From a wage to a bid rate

The wage is not the cost. Add payroll taxes, workers’ compensation at roofing’s rate — among the highest of any trade — general liability, vehicles, fuel, tools and the days weather takes away, and a loaded crew hour is roughly two to two and a half times the base wage before any overhead or margin. That is why labour is 40–60% of an installed price rather than the smaller share a bare wage would suggest. The production rates behind it are on the labour-per-square guide, and the effect on a whole job is on the cost calculator.