Asphalt roofing prices hit a record in August 2026, up 7.6% since April

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 15:51:10 -0400

The Bureau of Labor Statistics producer price index for prepared asphalt and tar roofing and siding products rose to 374.1 in August 2026, the highest reading in a series that starts in 1926. The index, which tracks what manufacturers receive for asphalt roofing products, was up 0.5% from July, 3.9% from August 2025 and 7.6% from April. The August figure was released on September 10 and is preliminary.

Asphalt roofing prices reached a record in August 2026

Producer Price Index, prepared asphalt and tar roofing and siding products, index 1982=100, not seasonally adjusted, monthly since January 2004

May through August 2026 can be revised. BLS revises producer price data for up to four months after first publication. Source: fred.stlouisfed.org

The index measures prices at the factory, before the distributor and the roofer. The Census Bureau’s definition of the industry behind these products, asphalt shingle and coating materials manufacturing, lists asphalt shingles, roofing felts, roofing cements and tar paper among what it makes.

Producer Price Index, prepared asphalt and tar roofing and siding products, the last 13 months. August 2026 is preliminary.
Month	Index (1982=100)	Change on month (%)	Change on year (%)
2025-08	360.038	0.2%	3.9%
2025-09	356.618	-0.9%	2.0%
2025-10	357.814	0.3%	-0.2%
2025-11	357.916	0.0%	1.4%
2025-12	354.925	-0.8%	0.7%
2026-01	347.005	-2.2%	-1.3%
2026-02	352.546	1.6%	1.2%
2026-03	346.394	-1.7%	-0.4%
2026-04	347.632	0.4%	0.8%
2026-05	354.678	2.0%	-0.9%
2026-06	367.585	3.6%	2.2%
2026-07	372.301	1.3%	3.6%
2026-08	374.098	0.5%	3.9%

Source: fred.stlouisfed.org

What moved

The rise started in May. The index climbed 2.0% that month, 3.6% in June, 1.3% in July and 0.5% in August. Before May it had drifted down, falling 2.2% in January and 1.7% in March, and in May it still stood 0.9% below its level a year earlier. By August the change on the year was 3.9%, the largest since August 2025.

Asphalt itself moved first. The industry definition describes these manufacturers as saturating mats and felts with asphalt from purchased asphaltic materials, and the BLS index for asphalt in its fuels and related products group jumped 32.9% from March to April 2026. It reached 326.5 in July, then fell 9.6% in August to 295.3, still 16.4% above August 2025. From March to August, the asphalt index rose 39.0% and the roofing index 8.0%.

Asphalt prices jumped in April 2026 and eased in August

Producer Price Index, asphalt, fuels and related products and power, index June 1985=100, not seasonally adjusted

Source: fred.stlouisfed.org

Read side by side, the two series show the roofing index rising a month after the asphalt jump. August’s 9.6% drop in asphalt did not show up in roofing prices, which rose 0.5% that month. If asphalt stays near its August level, the next few months of the roofing index will show whether the decline passes through. That is this site’s reading of the two series.

April to August across the years

The roofing index is not seasonally adjusted, so some of the April-to-August rise is the season. Prices for these products have risen from April to August in every year since 2015. Over the ten years from 2016 through 2025, the median April-to-August gain was 2.0%. Measured against each year’s April level, the index in June and July 2026 stood higher than in any year from 2015 through 2025.

The 7.6% gain in 2026 is the largest since 2021, when the index rose 8.7% over the same months. In the 22 years from 2005 through 2026, only 2008, 2011 and 2021 had larger April-to-August increases.

The April-to-August rise in 2026 was the largest since 2021

Percent change in the roofing index from April to August of each year, computed from BLS data

Source: fred.stlouisfed.org

What this means for a roof replacement

A roof replacement quote covers labor and scope as well as materials: the number of squares, the layers torn off, the sheathing, flashing and ventilation, as the guide to what moves the price of a roof replacement lays out. The materials line is the part that follows this index.

Ask how long a quote’s price holds, and for the materials line as a separate figure. A quote written in the spring and signed in late summer covers months when this index has risen every year since 2015.
Under Pennsylvania’s Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, a contractor cannot depart from the agreed plans or specifications in any material way without a written change order, signed by both of you, that states the price change. See what a roofing contract has to include.
If a contract adjusts the price with a published index, the BLS guide to price adjustment clauses advises naming the index, the base and comparison months, and the date the calculation will be made, using the latest data published as of that date.

Caveats

These are national producer prices. They do not measure what a roofer pays a distributor or what an installed roof costs, and the index has no regional breakdown for southeastern Pennsylvania.

The index is not seasonally adjusted. That is why this article compares April to August across years instead of reading the 2026 rise on its own.

Producer price data are revised. The BLS guide says data are subject to monthly revisions for up to four months after first publication, so the values for May through August 2026 can still change. The next release, with September data, is scheduled for October 15, 2026.

The comparison between the asphalt index and the roofing index in this article is a comparison of their timing. It does not measure how much of the roofing index’s rise came from asphalt.

Asphalt | Conshy Roofers

Asphalt roofing prices hit a record in August 2026, up 7.6% since April

What moved

April to August across the years

What this means for a roof replacement

Caveats