2026 US Home Improvement Cost Index

This page compiles national typical costs for common US home improvement projects from the published price-guide figures already used on CalcTheJob calculators, and places them next to official EIA electricity prices and BLS consumer prices. The typicals are compiled medians, not bids or quotes. Official series are quoted as published. Last updated November 12, 2026. A machine-readable table is in the downloadable CSV. Methods are in the methodology section below.

How to read the numbers

Typical means the median of each source’s central value, using the same crossSource() method the calculators already use. A source’s central value is its published average when it gives one; if it publishes a median instead of an average (for example Houzz’s bathroom-project median), that median is used; otherwise the midpoint of its published range. Spread is the lowest to highest of those source centrals, not the lowest low and highest high of the raw ranges. These are national published figures. Labor, permits, access, existing conditions and local codes can move a real quote well outside the spread. Treat every total as a planning figure, not a contractor bid.

National typical project costs

¹ The kitchen and entry-door typicals each include a Cost vs Value 2025 defined-scope figure as one of the inputs. Those defined-scope costs are also listed separately under Cost vs Value 2025.

Scope notes

• Roof replacement, per square foot: two of the four sources (HomeGuide and Modernize) are architectural-shingle ranges; Fixr and Angi cover all roofing materials. The $6.25 typical is therefore a mixed-scope median, not a pure architectural-shingle index. The whole-job $10,000 row is a national project-total median (HomeGuide mid-range, Fixr average, Angi average $9,610).
• Entry-door typical $1,285 includes Cost vs Value 2025’s steel entry door replacement at $2,435, which the source table labels a “defined upscale scope,” and which sits well above the three general installed-door centrals ($1,200, $1,353, $1,217). The spread is left visible.
• Kitchen typical $27,729 is the median of HomeGuide’s $15,000–$50,000 midpoint ($32,500), Angi $26,990, Fixr $27,000, and Cost vs Value 2025 minor kitchen remodel $28,458, which the source table labels a “defined scope.” It is not an open-ended “average kitchen.”
• Bathroom typical $12,300 is the median of Angi $12,154, Houzz 2026 study median $15,000 (2025 spend, n=1,619), and NerdWallet’s $6,600–$18,000 midpoint ($12,300).
• Angi also publishes a $32,000 national average for a finished basement, and separately $7–$23 per sq ft for shell or half-finished work, which the source table already flags as conflicting. The table above shows the per-sq-ft typical ($37.50) from the multi-source basement table. Angi’s $32,000 is quoted only as Angi’s own project average, with that conflict stated.
• Driveway typical $9.25 matches the figure already used on the driveway calculator and the cost hub (“median of six guides”). A 24 × 24 ft two-car example is 576 sq ft × $9.25 = $5,328 (the hub rounds this to “about $5,330”).
• Vinyl-window typical $612.50 is the median of four frame-specific centrals. The hub currently says “about $615”; this page uses the exact median.
• Gutter typical: the median is $14.045 and displays as $14.05; the hub’s “about $14” is the same median rounded to the dollar.
• The siding row uses published installed-cost figures. The linked page is a siding-quantity calculator; there is no separate siding-cost calculator.

Worked examples

These three examples use the typicals in the table. They are arithmetic checks, not bids.

• A 24 × 24 ft broom-finished 4 in driveway is 576 sq ft. 576 × $9.25 = $5,328, typical of the six-guide median.
• Ten standard vinyl windows: 10 × $612.50 = $6,125.
• 2,000 sq ft of roof surface (not floor area) at the mixed-scope typical of $6.25 per sq ft would be $12,500. That figure can sit above HomeGuide’s architectural-shingle top ($12,000) and above the whole-job typical ($10,000), because the $6.25 row mixes scopes and is a per-square-foot rate, not a typical whole-roof bid. HomeGuide’s architectural-shingle range alone is $4–$6 per sq ft, or $8,000–$12,000 for 2,000 sq ft of roof surface — the example already used on the cost hub. $12,500 is not “the typical 2,000 sq ft roof.”

Official electricity prices (EIA)

Source: US Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A, “Table 5.6.A. Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector, by State, August 2026 and 2025 (Cents per Kilowatthour).” Data for August 2026; release date October 23, 2026; next release November 24, 2026. Values for 2025 are final; values for 2026 are preliminary estimates based on a cutoff model sample. Source line: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861M (formerly EIA-826), Monthly Electric Power Industry Report. Figures below are EIA’s published average price, in cents per kilowatthour. They are not a tariff or a quoted rate. Retrieved 2026-11-12.

In August 2026, the US total residential average price was 18.16¢ per kWh (August 2025: 17.57¢). The US total all-sectors average price was 14.87¢ (August 2025: 14.15¢). That all-sectors figure is already the default rate on the electricity cost calculator.

A related table, Table 5.6.B, same release date, gives the US total residential year-to-date average price through August 2026 as 18.19¢ (2025 YTD: 17.03¢). That is the electricity calculator’s other preset. The August monthly 18.16 and the year-to-date 18.19 are not the same number.

Ranked from the complete Table 5.6.A (50 states and the District of Columbia), residential August 2026, the highest average prices were: Hawaii 47.18, Maine 32.11, Massachusetts 30.48, California 29.75, Alaska 29.41, New York 28.65. The lowest were: Nevada 12.72, Louisiana 12.87, North Dakota 13.31 and Utah 13.31 (tie), Idaho 13.37, Tennessee 13.42, Nebraska 13.54.

Electricity prices here are context for running tools and household power, not a construction-cost index. This page does not scale project typicals by state electricity prices.

Totals may not equal sum of components because of independent rounding.

2026 values are preliminary; 2025 values are final. US total residential in this table is 18.16¢ in August 2026.

Official consumer prices (BLS CPI)

Sources opened 2026-11-12: the CPI news release, October 2026 (USDL-26-1685, published November 10, 2026); Table 2, detailed expenditure categories, October 2026; and The Economics Daily, “Prices for gasoline increased 34.2 percent over the year ended September 2026,” October 16, 2026, which points back to the September 2026 CPI news release. The 12-month figures from that note are not seasonally adjusted.

Data limitation: BLS did not collect survey data for October 2025 because of a lapse in appropriations. For most CPI series, BLS could not publish October 2025 indexes. As a result, BLS cannot publish 12-month percent changes for October 2026 for indexes where October 2025 data are unavailable. This page does not invent or approximate those missing 12-month changes. Every CPI figure below is labeled with its period. A September year-over-year figure is not placed next to an October monthly figure without that label. CPI electricity, 12 months ended September 2026, and the EIA residential August 2026 versus August 2025 average prices are different series and are not treated here as the same measure.

The October 2026 news release also states that shelter, seasonally adjusted, rose 0.3 percent in October and that the unadjusted September–October change was +0.2 percent. Shelter accounted for over thirty percent of the monthly all-items increase. A 12-month change for tools and hardware is not cited here because it was not read from an official BLS table opened for this page. CPI shelter and tools indexes are not a “home-project inflation rate.”

Cost vs Value 2025 defined-scope figures

From the cost tables already on this site, cited as Cost vs Value 2025 (Zonda / Journal of Light Construction), 2025 Cost vs Value Report, as of Sep 18, 2025. 2025 edition, the latest published as of Oct 27, 2026 (no 2026 report yet). These are recoup-study job costs for a defined scope, not national averages. They also already sit inside the entry-door and kitchen typicals in the table above.

Methodology

• Project typicals are compiled, not surveyed by us. Each figure in the calculator source tables was read from a named page with an “as of” date when that calculator was built; those dates, URLs and scopes are listed in the source-figures table below and in the CSV.
• Typical = median of source central values; central = published average, or a published median when that is what the source reports instead of an average, else the midpoint of the published low–high range. Houzz’s bathroom median is stored as the source’s central value in the existing table, so the same function already treats it as the central value.
• Spreads are the lowest and highest source centrals, not the lowest low and highest high of the raw ranges.
• Official series are quoted as published, with their period, seasonal adjustment, and preliminary or final status. The EIA state table is frozen as a checked-in constant, retrieved 2026-11-12, so a later revision of Table 5.6.A cannot silently change this page.
• Unit rates under $100 are shown to the cent, rounded half-up from a decimal. Totals of $100 or more show the exact median, including half-dollars, with no second nearest-dollar rounding.
• Update cadence: when EIA releases a new Electric Power Monthly, when BLS releases a new CPI, or when a calculator’s source table is re-checked. The visible “Last reviewed” date is bumped only when the figures are actually re-checked.
• Corrections: contact@calcthejob.com.

Source figures used in the typicals

Every typical in the table above is the median of the source centrals below. “As of” is the date on the page we opened when the matching calculator was built. Published averages, medians and ranges are labeled as printed on the source page. Where the calculator source table already records a unit rate derived from a project total (for example a total divided by a stated area), that figure is labeled as derived, and the derivation is in the Scope column. Cost vs Value figures are labeled as defined-scope job costs, not averages. These rows are also in the CSV.

Cost vs Value rows are defined-scope recoup-study job costs, not market averages.

Related calculators

Cost calculators for the jobs in the typicals table are linked from each row and collected on the home improvement costs hub. Official electricity prices are also used on the electricity cost calculator. For related energy and comfort planning, see the insulation calculator and the heat-loss calculator.

Sources

Official sources opened 2026-11-12:

• EIA, Table 5.6.A. Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector, by State, August 2026 and 2025 (Cents per Kilowatthour): https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_a. Data for August 2026; released October 23, 2026.
• EIA, Table 5.6.B. Average Price of Electricity to Ultimate Customers by End-Use Sector, by State, Year-to-Date through August 2026 and 2025 (Cents per Kilowatthour): https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_5_6_b. Data for Year-to-date through August 2026; released October 23, 2026.
• BLS, Consumer Price Index — October 2026: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm. Published November 10, 2026.
• BLS, CPI Table 2, October 2026: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm.
• BLS, The Economics Daily, October 16, 2026: https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/prices-for-gasoline-increased-34-2-percent-over-the-year-ended-september-2026.htm.
• Cost vs Value 2025 (Zonda / JLC): https://zondahome.com/2025-cost-vs-value-report/, as of Sep 18, 2025. 2025 edition, the latest published as of Oct 27, 2026 (no 2026 report yet).

Project typicals use the published price-guide figures already stored for each calculator (HomeGuide, Angi, HomeAdvisor, Fixr, Modernize, This Old House, Homewyse, ConcreteListings, ConcreteCalculate, Metal America Concrete, Concrete Network, Inch Calculator, Houzz, NerdWallet, Cost vs Value 2025, and the other publishers listed on those arrays), combined with the method above. Each calculator’s “Sources & assumptions” section gives the page URL and “as of” date for its rows.

Disclaimer

These are planning figures only. They are not bids, appraisals or advice about what you will actually pay. Get written local quotes for the same scope, and confirm quantities, structural details, permits and code requirements with your contractor or a qualified professional. See our Terms of Use.