Florida, Georgia, and Delaware top the 2026 ranking of states with the heaviest consumer-complaint pressure, while South Dakota, North Dakota, and Iowa sit at the bottom. That ranking uses the Federal Trade Commission’s 2024 reports-per-100,000-residents rate as the closest public state-level proxy, because no agency publishes roofing-only complaints uniformly across all 50 states. The pattern that emerges is blunt: storm exposure and population, not whether a state licenses roofers, drive where homeowners file the most complaints about contractors.
Key findings
- Florida ranks worst for overall consumer-complaint pressure at 2,163 reports per 100,000 residents in 2024, per the FTC Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book (2024). Florida licenses roofers, so licensing alone does not prevent complaints.
- South Dakota ranks best at 676 reports per 100,000, followed by North Dakota (696) and Iowa (715), per the same FTC dataset.
- Licensing barely moves the rate. States that require a roofing license averaged 1,215 reports per 100,000, versus 1,170 for registration-only states and 1,151 for states with no state-level license (The Roofing Brief analysis of FTC 2024 data).
- Home improvement is a top-tier complaint category. The Consumer Federation of America’s 2024 Consumer Complaint Survey (June 2025) lists home improvement, including complaints about licensure status, among the top categories reported by state and local agencies.
- The FTC logged 81,925 home improvement, repair, and solar reports in 2024, about 1.27 percent of all 6.5 million consumer reports (FTC, 2024).
- Roughly 26 states require a roofing license, 13 require registration only, and about 11 have no state-level requirement (Fixr and Jobber roofing license guides, 2026).
How we ranked the states for roofing complaints
The ranking scores each state by the Federal Trade Commission’s 2024 rate of fraud and other consumer reports per 100,000 residents, then annotates each state with its roofing-license regime. This is a deliberate proxy. No single agency publishes roofing-contractor complaints per capita for all 50 states, so a broad, consistently measured consumer-complaint rate is the most defensible way to compare states head to head.
Two limits matter. First, the FTC rate covers all consumer reports, not roofing alone, so a high rank signals general complaint pressure rather than a roofing-only problem. Second, states run their own contractor boards and attorneys general with different intake systems, so raw state-published roofing counts are not comparable across borders. Where a state does publish roofing-specific figures, we cite them separately below.
Roofing complaint pressure by state, 2026 ranking
The table below ranks all 50 states from the heaviest to the lightest consumer-complaint pressure, using FTC 2024 reports per 100,000 residents, with each state’s roofing-license status attached. A higher rate places a state closer to the “worst” end. Read a single row on its own: it pairs a state’s complaint rate with whether that state licenses roofers.
| Rank | State | Reports per 100,000 (FTC, 2024) | Roofer license regime (2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 2,163 | License |
| 2 | Georgia | 2,108 | None |
| 3 | Delaware | 1,876 | Register |
| 4 | Nevada | 1,867 | License |
| 5 | Maryland | 1,799 | License |
| 6 | Texas | 1,561 | None |
| 7 | South Carolina | 1,536 | Register |
| 8 | New Jersey | 1,506 | Register |
| 9 | Louisiana | 1,472 | License |
| 10 | Illinois | 1,469 | License |
| 11 | Arizona | 1,459 | License |
| 12 | Pennsylvania | 1,419 | Register |
| 13 | New York | 1,402 | None |
| 14 | Alabama | 1,388 | License |
| 15 | North Carolina | 1,369 | License |
| 16 | Virginia | 1,361 | License |
| 17 | California | 1,291 | License |
| 18 | Colorado | 1,260 | None (local) |
| 19 | Mississippi | 1,221 | License |
| 20 | Connecticut | 1,220 | Register |
| 21 | Tennessee | 1,188 | License |
| 22 | Missouri | 1,169 | Register |
| 23 | Michigan | 1,167 | License |
| 24 | Massachusetts | 1,165 | License |
| 25 | Washington | 1,134 | Register |
| 26 | Ohio | 1,115 | Register |
| 27 | Oregon | 1,090 | License |
| 28 | Rhode Island | 1,075 | License |
| 29 | Indiana | 1,071 | None |
| 30 | New Hampshire | 1,033 | None |
| 31 | Alaska | 992 | License |
| 32 | New Mexico | 991 | License |
| 33 | Hawaii | 980 | License |
| 34 | Arkansas | 971 | License |
| 35 | Wisconsin | 908 | License |
| 36 | Vermont | 908 | None |
| 37 | Oklahoma | 908 | Register |
| 38 | Utah | 906 | License |
| 39 | Minnesota | 906 | License (threshold) |
| 40 | Wyoming | 899 | None |
| 41 | Nebraska | 887 | Register |
| 42 | Maine | 879 | None |
| 43 | Montana | 873 | Register |
| 44 | Kentucky | 859 | None |
| 45 | Idaho | 849 | License |
| 46 | Kansas | 848 | Register |
| 47 | West Virginia | 836 | License |
| 48 | Iowa | 715 | Register |
| 49 | North Dakota | 696 | License |
| 50 | South Dakota | 676 | None |
The District of Columbia recorded 2,509 reports per 100,000 and Puerto Rico 376, but the FTC excludes both from its state ranking (FTC, 2024). License regimes are drawn from the Fixr and Jobber 2026 roofing-license guides; Colorado regulates roofers at the city or county level rather than statewide, and Minnesota and North Carolina tie licensing to project-cost thresholds.
Does licensing reduce roofing complaints?
Licensing shows almost no measurable link to lower complaint pressure in the 2024 data. Grouping states by regime, the average FTC report rate is nearly flat across all three tiers, and the licensed group actually sits slightly higher because it contains several high-population Sunbelt states. Licensing sets a floor for accountability, but it does not, on its own, lower how often homeowners complain.
| License regime | Avg reports per 100,000 (FTC, 2024) | What it means for homeowners |
|---|---|---|
| State license required (about 26 states) | 1,215 | Highest average pressure, but skewed by high-population storm states like Florida and Nevada |
| Registration only (13 states) | 1,170 | Middle of the pack; a registry lists a contractor but rarely tests skill |
| No state license or registration (about 11 states) | 1,151 | Lowest average, yet includes Georgia (2nd) and Texas (6th) at the top of the raw rankings |
The clearest example sits at the top of the list. Florida requires a state roofing license and still ranks first for complaint pressure, while Texas requires no state roofing license and ranks sixth. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation regulates 39 industries, and roofing is not one of them (TDLR, 2026). A license can give a homeowner a board to complain to, but it does not stop a bad job from happening.
The most common roofing complaint categories
Roofing complaints cluster around a short list of recurring problems that consumer agencies see year after year. The Consumer Federation of America’s 2024 survey defines the home improvement category as complaints about contractors covering quality and completion of work and licensure status (CFA, June 2025). State agencies report the same themes.
- Poor workmanship and leaks. Improper installation, recurring leaks, and callbacks that go unanswered.
- Non-completion and delays. Deposits taken, then slow or abandoned work. Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection logged 285 roofing-related complaints in 2024, many tied to poor installations and door-to-door solicitations after storms (CT DCP, 2025).
- Deposit and deceptive-pricing disputes. Large up-front payments with no signed contract, a common thread in state case files (CFA, 2025).
- Warranty and lien issues. Failure to honor warranties and, in some cases, frivolous liens filed against homeowners.
- Storm-chasing and fraud. Out-of-state crews that surge in after hurricanes and hail, then vanish. Florida’s attorney general opened investigations into roofers with more than 100 complaints each following Hurricane Ian (NICB, 2024).
Why storm exposure, not licensing, drives the worst states
The states at the top of the ranking share one trait more than any license rule: heavy storm exposure and large populations. Florida, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, and the Carolinas all rank high, and all face hurricanes, hail, or both. Storm damage creates a spike in roofing work and a matching spike in the transient crews that follow the weather.
This is why licensing looks like a weak predictor in the data. Florida and Texas sit near the top with opposite license rules, because both draw storm-driven demand and storm-driven fraud. A homeowner in a high-hail metro faces more roofing-complaint risk from sheer transaction volume than a homeowner in a low-storm state, regardless of the license on the truck. Our 2026 Severe Weather Roof Damage Report maps that state-by-state hail and wind claim exposure in detail.
What homeowners in high-complaint states can do
Homeowners in top-ranked states can cut most of the risk with a short vetting routine, whether or not their state licenses roofers. The goal is to confirm the contractor is local, insured, and traceable before any money changes hands.
- Check the state contractor board or, in no-license states, the county or city permit office for the firm’s standing and any disciplinary history.
- Search the company on the Better Business Bureau and read the actual complaint narratives, not just the letter grade.
- Confirm general-liability and workers’ compensation coverage in writing, and verify it directly with the insurer.
- Refuse large up-front deposits and never pay in full before work is finished. Get the full scope, price, and warranty in a signed contract.
- After a storm, be wary of unsolicited door-to-door offers, which drive a large share of post-disaster complaints.
For the full checklist, see our guides on the 18-point contractor vetting process and the red flags and scams to avoid. State-level insurance dynamics, which shape how claims and complaints play out, are covered in our 2026 State of Roofing Insurance report.
Methodology and data sources
State complaint pressure is ranked using the Federal Trade Commission Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024 (published March 2025), which reports fraud and other consumer reports per 100,000 population by state. This is an all-category rate used as a proxy, because roofing-only complaint counts are not published uniformly across states. Category context comes from the same FTC dataset, which recorded 81,925 home improvement, repair, and solar reports in 2024. Top-category framing comes from the Consumer Federation of America 2024 Consumer Complaint Survey (June 2025). Roofing-license regimes are compiled from the Fixr and Jobber 2026 state license guides. State-specific figures cite the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (2025), the National Insurance Crime Bureau (2024), and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (2026). Group averages are The Roofing Brief’s own calculation from the FTC state table. Figures reflect the latest full-year data available as of July 2026 and may be revised as agencies update their datasets.
Reviewed by The Roofing Brief Team. Last reviewed July 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Which state has the worst roofing and contractor complaints?
Florida ranks worst for overall consumer-complaint pressure, at 2,163 reports per 100,000 residents in 2024, per the FTC Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. Georgia (2,108) and Delaware (1,876) follow. These are all-category consumer reports used as a proxy, since no agency publishes roofing-only complaints uniformly by state, but they track storm exposure and population closely.
Which states have the fewest consumer complaints?
South Dakota has the lowest rate at 676 reports per 100,000 residents in 2024, followed by North Dakota (696) and Iowa (715), per the FTC 2024 Consumer Sentinel data. These low-population, lower-storm states see far less roofing transaction volume, which reduces the raw number of complaints homeowners file.
Does requiring a roofing license reduce complaints?
Not clearly. In 2024 FTC data, states that require a roofing license averaged 1,215 consumer reports per 100,000, versus 1,151 in states with no state-level license. Florida licenses roofers and ranks first for complaints, while Texas has no state roofing license and ranks sixth. Licensing gives homeowners a board to complain to, but it does not on its own lower complaint rates.
What are the most common roofing complaints?
The most common roofing complaints involve poor workmanship and leaks, non-completion or long delays, deposit and pricing disputes, unhonored warranties, and storm-chasing fraud. The Consumer Federation of America groups these under home improvement, defined to include work quality, completion, and a contractor’s licensure status (CFA, 2025).
Do states without a roofing license have more scams?
Not measurably in the aggregate data. No-license states averaged the lowest overall complaint rate in 2024 FTC data. What raises risk is storm exposure: states like Texas and Georgia draw transient storm-chasing crews after hurricanes and hail regardless of licensing. Homeowners in any state should verify insurance, avoid large deposits, and check permit or board records before hiring.
Where can I file a complaint against a roofing contractor?
File with your state contractor licensing board if the state licenses roofers, or with the county or city permit office in no-license states. You can also file with your state attorney general’s consumer protection division and the Better Business Bureau. In Texas, complaints route through the attorney general under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which can allow up to triple economic damages (Texas AG).