Home / Roof replacement cost / Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth · Rockingham County · labor +19.7%
Roof replacement cost in Portsmouth, NH
A 2,000 sq ft roof in architectural asphalt shingles comes to about $8,600 to $13,200 in Portsmouth once the national installed price is adjusted for what roofers earn locally. The city's fee schedule names this work puts the permit at $90 for a job at the midpoint.
Figures checked October 20, 2026 · sources
- 1Architectural, 2,000 sq ft $8,600–$13,200
- 2Labor index +19.7% vs US
- 3Portsmouth permit $90
Change size or material All Portsmouth projects
Roof replacement prices in Portsmouth by material
Each row starts from the installed price per square foot of roof published in a national cost guide, then moves only the labor part of that price by Portsmouth's labor index. For 2,000 sq ft:
| Material | National | Portsmouth | Midpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asphalt 3-tab shingles | $6,000–$10,000 | $6,600–$11,200 | $8,900 |
| Architectural asphalt shingles | $8,000–$12,000 | $8,600–$13,200 | $10,900 |
| Metal roofing | $10,000–$32,000 | $10,600–$33,200 | $21,900 |
By size
| Roof area (sq ft) | Portsmouth estimate | Permit at midpoint |
|---|---|---|
| 1,200 sq ft | $5,150–$7,900 | $75 |
| 1,500 sq ft | $6,450–$9,900 | $75 |
| 2,000 sq ft | $8,600–$13,200 | $90 |
| 2,500 sq ft | $10,750–$16,500 | $110 |
| 3,000 sq ft | $12,900–$19,750 | $135 |
Architectural asphalt shingles.
Permit fee in Portsmouth
Named in the schedule The fee schedule names this kind of work.
“Examples are: Siding, replacement windows, roofing, pools, sheds”
“1 & 2 Family Detached - $8/$1000 cost per construction, minimum $75.00”
“$8.00 per $1,000 of renovation cost”
“All fees shall be rounded up to the nearest $5.00.”
Applied to a 2,000 sq ft roof estimated at $8,600 to $13,200, that gives $75 to $110, about 0.83% of the midpoint price. Among the 11 towns on this site whose schedules cover this work, Portsmouth ranks 2 from the cheapest; Bow is lowest at $40 and Lebanon highest at $148.05 for its own midpoint job.
Schedule: City of Portsmouth, Building Permits Fee Schedule (no effective date shown). The building department decides whether a permit is required and what valuation it accepts; the national guide puts roof permits at $100–$500.
Why Portsmouth differs from the national price
Portsmouth is in Rockingham County, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area (mostly Massachusetts). The median wage there for roofers is $31.90 an hour against $26.65 nationally, so the labor part of a national price is scaled by 1.197 (+19.7%). That area is mostly Massachusetts; the New Hampshire statewide median for the same trade is $28.76, so a Portsmouth quote may land nearer the low end of the range shown.
On this job the labor portion is $3,000 to $6,000 at national rates and $3,600 to $7,200 at Portsmouth rates, so the midpoint rises $890 above the national figure. Against the New Hampshire statewide wage it is $530 higher. Materials are priced at the national figure: shingle, lumber and equipment prices are set by distributors, not by a town.
A second published benchmark points the same way for the region: Remodeling's 2025 Cost vs Value report prices its “Roofing Replacement, Asphalt Shingles” job at $31,850 nationally and $35,700 in New England, and its “Roofing Replacement, Metal” job at $51,850 nationally and $56,300 in New England. Those are fixed specification jobs, not per-square-foot prices, so they are shown for comparison only.
Portsmouth at a glance
Portsmouth had 23,536 residents in the state's 2025 estimate, up 10.8% from 21,233 in 2010, faster than the state's 7.5% over the same years. At 1,487 people per square mile it is one of the most built-up places on this site (2 of 19 by density), so crews often work on tight lots with neighbours close by.
51.9% of Portsmouth's occupied homes are lived in by their owners, fewer than the 72.8% statewide, and the median owner-occupied home is valued at $688,500 (New Hampshire: $402,500). The midpoint estimate for this roof works out to 1.6% of that median value, a small share of what a typical house there is worth.
Taking off the old roof
Tear off the old roof adds $1 to $5 per sq ft nationally (“The cost to tear off a roof is $1 to $5 per square foot for labor to remove the old material”). That work is all labor, so at Portsmouth's index it is $2,400 to $11,950 for 2,000 sq ft, on top of the estimate above.
Before asking for quotes
- The Portsmouth building department can say for free whether this job needs a permit and what it will cost; the schedule linked above is its own published document.
- Written quotes that list the same scope (area, material line, removal, disposal, permit) can be compared line by line; the quote comparison guide walks through it with these numbers.
- A quote far below $8,600 or above $13,200 is not wrong in itself, but it is worth asking what it includes or leaves out.
Other projects in Portsmouth
Siding replacement cost in Portsmouth · Deck building cost in Portsmouth · Heat pump installation cost in Portsmouth
Roof replacement in nearby towns
| Town | Labor area | Estimate | Permit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durham | Boston-Cambridge-Newton | $8,600–$13,200 | $126.21 |
| Exeter | Boston-Cambridge-Newton | $8,600–$13,200 | $104.43 |
| Londonderry | Boston-Cambridge-Newton | $8,600–$13,200 | $112.09 |
| Rochester | Boston-Cambridge-Newton | $8,600–$13,200 | $109 |
| Salem | Boston-Cambridge-Newton | $8,600–$13,200 | $100 |
More: all roof replacement town pages · permit fees by town · labor costs in New Hampshire
Sources
- Installed price: HomeGuide: Roof replacement cost (Nov 7, 2025) — “architectural $4 – $6 (cost to reshingle, per sq ft)”.
- Labor portion: HomeGuide: Roof replacement cost (Nov 7, 2025) — “Roofing labor costs $1.50 to $3.00 per square foot or $150 to $300 per square on average”.
- Labor index: O*NET OnLine, Roofers (47-2181.00), New Hampshire local wages; area definitions: BLS, May 2025 Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Area Definitions.
- Permit: City of Portsmouth, Building Permits Fee Schedule.
- Population: NH Office of Planning and Development, 2025 Population Estimates of New Hampshire Cities and Towns (published July 17, 2026); housing: Census QuickFacts, Portsmouth.
All figures checked October 20, 2026. Estimates are ranges built from published averages, not quotes; a contractor's price depends on the house, access, the season and the scope written into the quote. Cost by Town does not perform or arrange work.