Thunder Bay Roofing Statistics — September 2026

Roofing is a large and steady business across Canada. The market was worth about 4.37 billion US dollars in 2025, and it is expected to reach 6.09 billion by 2033. That growth follows a simple fact: every roof in the country eventually wears out and needs to be replaced.

Thunder Bay is the largest city in Northwestern Ontario, with 108,843 residents and 48,405 occupied private dwellings in the 2021 census. Add the surrounding townships and north-shore communities and that is a large stock of roofs spread across an isolated region, every one of them exposed to the same heavy snow load, ice, and Lake Superior weather year after year.

Older homes mean older roofs. About 73 percent of Thunder Bay's occupied housing was built before 1981, based on the 2021 census, and 39 percent dates from 1960 or earlier, which is far older than the Ontario average. Only 9 percent has been built since 2001. A typical asphalt roof lasts 15 to 25 years in this climate, so most of these homes have been re-roofed at least once and a steady share reach replacement age every year.

Thunder Bay sits on Lake Superior, which drives heavy lake-effect snow, strong cold winds, and big temperature swings. Heavy snow load and repeated freeze-thaw are the main forces wearing roofs down here. Our storm tracker logs major weather events that damage roofs across the region as they are reported.

A new asphalt shingle roof on a typical 1,500 square foot Ontario home runs about 8,500 to 18,000 dollars installed, with most jobs landing near 10,500. The final price depends on roof size, shingle grade, and how complex the roof is. In a cold, snowy region like Northwestern Ontario, proper ice-and-water membrane and ventilation are part of doing it right. Metal costs more up front but lasts far longer.

Asphalt shingles are the most popular roofing choice in Canada. They made up about 37 percent of the roofing materials market in 2025, the largest share of any single material. They stay popular because they cost less and hold up reasonably well to cold and snow, though in a hard freeze-thaw climate like the North's, metal increasingly wins on longevity.

Weather drives roofing demand in the North. Thunder Bay's long, snowy winter loads roofs for months and the freeze-thaw cycle wears them down, pushing most repair and replacement work into the spring and fall windows. The shorter workable season is one reason durable, low-maintenance roofing like metal is so popular here.

Severe weather stays expensive even in a quieter year. Insured damage across Canada hit a record 8.55 billion dollars in 2024, then eased to 2.4 billion in 2025, still the tenth-costliest year on record. The Insurance Bureau of Canada puts the last decade's average at 3.7 billion a year, up from 1.4 billion the decade before. Closer to home, the June 30 to July 3, 2026 thunderstorms across Ontario and Quebec caused 439 million dollars in insured damage, which feeds into the premiums homeowners pay across the province.

New construction feeds future roofing demand, and in Thunder Bay it is slowing. CMHC counted 221 housing starts in the Thunder Bay area in 2025, down 26 percent from 300 the year before, with just 27 starts in July 2026 against 43 in July 2025. Across Canada, builders started 259,028 homes in 2025, up 5.6 percent. With few new roofs going on here, the region's roofing work is overwhelmingly replacement and repair on the existing stock.

Roofing prices track the wider cost of building. Statistics Canada's residential building construction price index for its eleven-city composite rose 0.5 percent in the second quarter of 2026 and 2.3 percent over the year. Toronto was one of only three cities where residential prices fell in the quarter, down 0.8 percent, as Ontario builders paused on projects. Metal and steel products led the cost increases, which matters for anyone pricing a metal roof or flashing this year.

Your roof does more than keep snow out. Natural Resources Canada's Keeping the Heat In guide sets minimum roof and ceiling insulation by climate zone, from R-45 in the mildest zone up to R-80 in the coldest, and notes that a properly insulated and ventilated attic is what keeps warm indoor air from melting roof snow and forming ice dams. A roof replacement is the best time to fix venting and top up insulation, because the deck is open and the work costs far less than doing it later.

How long a roof lasts depends on the material. Basic asphalt shingles last about 15 to 25 years, architectural shingles 25 to 35, and metal roofs 40 to 70. Flat membrane roofs usually last 20 to 30 years. Cold, snowy climates like Thunder Bay's tend to sit at the lower end of each range, which is a big part of why metal is the long-term favourite up here.