Does Roof Type Affect Homeowners Insurance Premiums?

Roof type affects homeowners insurance in two separate ways: what you're charged upfront, and what the policy actually pays if the roof is damaged. Underwriters price premiums using the roof's material, age, and impact rating, since those factors predict how likely — and how expensive — a future claim will be.

Claims settlement runs on a second, related track. Depending on your policy and your roof's age at the time of loss, a covered claim may be paid at full replacement cost, at depreciated actual cash value, or on a fixed percentage schedule tied to the roof's age. Material and age both determine which of those three outcomes applies to you.

Insurers group roofing materials into risk tiers based on documented durability, fire resistance, and impact resistance, then apply different underwriting rules and discounts to each tier. Standard asphalt composition shingles are the baseline most policies are priced against, since they're the most common material and depreciate fastest under age-based settlement rules.

Impact-resistant Class 4 shingles sit in a different tier. According to the Texas Department of Insurance (Feb. 24, 2023), a Class 4 roof covering — rated to pass laboratory impact testing such as UL Standard 2218 — qualifies for the highest premium credit among roof coverings, though each insurer sets its own discount amount and documentation requirements. Metal, tile, and slate roofs are often treated favorably too, since their longer documented service life can keep a roof on replacement-cost coverage for more years before an insurer converts it to actual cash value.

For a full breakdown of how each material performs on cost, lifespan, and durability, see our guide to types of roofing materials. If you're comparing two specific options, metal roof vs. shingles lays out the tradeoffs directly, and our asphalt shingles guide covers what standard shingle roofs cost to insure and replace.

Roof age is rated separately from roof material, and it can override an otherwise favorable material choice. Actual cash value (ACV) is the depreciated value of the roof at the time of loss — replacement cost minus wear tied to age and condition — rather than the full cost to install a new roof.

According to Openly (Feb. 26, 2026), insurance providers might offer only actual cash value coverage, rather than full replacement-cost coverage, for roofs over 20 years old. Separately, Openly notes that roofs over roughly 15 to 20 years old may need a professional inspection before a carrier will insure them at all, even if the 20-year ACV threshold hasn't been reached yet.

That age threshold is now shaping national mortgage rules, not just individual policies. On March 18, 2026, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will accept actual-cash-value-only roof coverage on mortgaged single-family homes and condos, while still requiring full replacement-cost coverage on the rest of the structure. For a deeper comparison of how each payout method works, read our guide on ACV vs. RCV roof insurance and check whether insurance will cover a 15-year-old roof.

A roof surface payment schedule is a policy endorsement that replaces an adjuster's case-by-case depreciation estimate with a fixed table: a set percentage of replacement cost is paid based on the roof's age at the time of loss, and nothing more. Once the endorsement is on a policy, the printed percentage controls the claim regardless of how well the roof was maintained.

According to LegalClarity (May 18, 2026), these schedules typically depreciate materials at different rates. Asphalt shingles commonly lose value faster, around 4 percentage points per year, while metal and tile roofs are often scheduled to depreciate more slowly, around 2 percentage points per year, reflecting their longer service life.

These figures illustrate a typical schedule; exact percentages vary by insurer and state, and payment-schedule endorsements usually apply only to wind and hail claims rather than fire or other perils.

Class 4 impact-resistant shingles are the upgrade with the clearest, most documented effect on premium, and some states now require insurers to build the discount into filed rates rather than leaving it purely optional. In Louisiana, Regulation 136 requires every admitted insurer to apply a mandatory discount to homes with an IBHS FORTIFIED Roof designation. According to FORTIFIED, the IBHS program that administers the standard, the base FORTIFIED Roof tier covers the roof assembly itself — a taped or sealed roof deck, a reinforced roof edge with enhanced nailing, and a wind- and impact-tested roof covering — while additional reinforcements such as impact-rated openings and gable-end bracing are only required at the higher FORTIFIED Silver and Gold levels. According to Insurance Journal (March 10, 2026), the Louisiana mandatory discount ranges from 16% to 49% of the hurricane portion of the premium depending on region and FORTIFIED tier, with insurers required to implement it by January 1, 2027.

Full roof replacement with a newer, higher-rated material also moves the needle, since it resets both the age-based depreciation clock and the material classification an underwriter prices against. What typically does not move the needle: shingle color, brand name, algae-resistant granule warranties, or cosmetic upgrades that don't change a product's impact or wind rating. Insurers rate the classification and test results on file, not the marketing around a specific shingle line.

Before assuming a discount applies, ask your carrier directly which upgrades qualify, since documentation requirements and credit amounts are set company by company. Our guides on Class 4 shingle insurance discounts and whether Class 4 shingles are worth it cover the cost-versus-savings math in more detail, and impact-resistant shingles explains how the testing and labeling process works.