2026 Q3 · metro rank 53 of 263
Roof replacement cost in Santa Cruz-Watsonville
An architectural shingle roof in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA metro costs $529 per square installed on the 2026 Q3 Roof Cost Index: -4.1% against the California figure of $552 and +5.8% against the US typical of $500. Roofers here earn a mean $30.45/hour (median $29.64, about 140 employed), BLS May 2025. For a whole roof: an architectural shingle roof on a 2,000 sq ft single-story home (6/12 pitch, one layer torn off, permit and dumpster included) costs $13,338 to $24,106 here, typical $18,682.
All materials in Santa Cruz-Watsonville
| Material | Low | Typical | High | US typical | vs US |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architectural shingles | $427 | $529 | $631 | $500 | +5.8% |
| 3-tab shingles | $298 | $377 | $457 | $355 | +6.3% |
| Standing seam metal | $945 | $1,308 | $1,672 | $1,250 | +4.6% |
| Metal panel | $536 | $954 | $1,372 | $900 | +6.0% |
| Tile | $745 | $1,898 | $3,052 | $1,800 | +5.5% |
| Slate | $1,036 | $2,080 | $3,125 | $2,000 | +4.0% |
| Flat membrane | $268 | $504 | $740 | $475 | +6.1% |
This page is generated from the 2026 Q3 Index for the BLS metropolitan statistical area "Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA" (area code 42100). State rank for California: 10 of 51. Methodology.
Roofing conditions in Santa Cruz-Watsonville
Housing age. The median home in the Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA metro was built in 1974, older than the median metro in the Index (1982). 63.4% of homes were built before 1980 and 12.7% in 2000 or later; 60% of occupied homes are owner-occupied. Roof age, not house age, sets the replacement date.
Hail. NOAA's Storm Events database logged 3 county hail reports across the metro's 1 county from 2021 to 2025 (2 in 2021, 0 in 2022, 1 in 2023, 0 in 2024, 0 in 2025), rank 216 of 263 metros. From January 2021 to June 2026, 0 reports were stones of 1 inch or larger, and the largest was 0.25 inches. Most reports came from Santa Cruz, California (3). After a hail storm, read the roof insurance claim guide and how hail damages a roof.
Sources: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database (county hail reports 2021 to June 30, 2026); U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-year estimates 2020-2024, tables B25035, B25034 and B25003; counties per OMB July 2023 metro definitions.
Other California metros
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara $605/sq
- San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont $590/sq
- Santa Rosa-Petaluma $566/sq
- Vallejo $551/sq
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim $549/sq
- Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom $547/sq
- Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura $541/sq
- San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad $540/sq
- Modesto $535/sq
- Stockton-Lodi $534/sq
- Salinas $533/sq
- San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles $530/sq
- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario $529/sq
- Santa Maria-Santa Barbara $526/sq
- Fresno $525/sq
- Visalia $524/sq
- Redding $518/sq
- Bakersfield-Delano $516/sq
- Chico $516/sq
- Yuba City $512/sq
- Merced $499/sq
Metros with a similar cost
- Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA $530/sq · rank 50
- South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI $530/sq · rank 51
- Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY $530/sq · rank 52
- Jefferson City, MO $527/sq · rank 55
- Janesville-Beloit, WI $527/sq · rank 56
More: how much a new roof costs, every state, the full Index.
Estimate a roof in Santa Cruz-Watsonville
Low / typical / high ranges from cited national cost tables, adjusted by local roofer wages (BLS). No email required.