Do roofers make more in Columbus or Chicago?

Chicago pays more: the median is $59,400 in Columbus and $82,090 in Chicago, a 28% difference.

Roofer salary in Columbus, IN

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Roofers in the Columbus, IN area earn a median of $59,400 a year, or $28.56 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. One in ten earns more than $83,680. Across all of Indiana, the median is $57,980, so Columbus pays 2% more than the state as a whole.

Median yearly pay$59,400

Bottom 10% under$39,330Top 10% over$83,680

Entry-level starting pay (estimate): $18.91/hr
Jobs in this area: 50
After cost of living: $63,870
Median hourly pay: $28.56/hr
vs U.S. median: +7%
vs Indiana median: +2%
Mean (average) pay: $57,010 a year · $27.41 an hour

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 18020, Columbus, IN). Excludes self-employed roofers. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What roofers in Columbus, IN earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.

Percentile	Hourly	Yearly
10th percentile	$18.91	$39,330
25th percentile	$22.42	$46,630
Median (50th)	$28.56	$59,400
75th percentile	$33.99	$70,700
90th percentile	$40.23	$83,680

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Columbus, IN compares

Columbus ranks 4th of 12 Indiana metro areas for roofer pay.
Roofers are more concentrated in the Columbus area than nationally: 1.0 of every 1,000 jobs, 1.1 times the U.S. share.

Other Indiana metro areas

Other trades in Columbus, IN

Electrician HVAC technician Welder Plumber Diesel mechanic Carpenter Heavy equipment operator Auto mechanic

Questions

Do roofers make more in Columbus or Chicago?: Chicago pays more: the median is $59,400 in Columbus and $82,090 in Chicago, a 28% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2181 (Roofers), area code 18020 (Columbus, IN). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed roofers and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (93.0, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures