Every number below comes from one file: the Contractors State License Board's own public license-search export, filtered to active ("CLEAR") C-39 — Roofing Contractor — licenses, pulled August 24, 2026. 5,483 rows. No survey, no estimate, no third-party aggregator standing between the data and this page.
New C-39 roofing contractor licenses issued in California have grown roughly 5x in thirteen years — from 82 in 2012 to 435 in 2025 — and 2026 is on pace to set another record.
New C-39 licenses issued per year, California, 2012–2026. 2026 (dashed) is partial — through August 24 — not a completed year; its 381 licenses annualize to roughly 589 if the year's pace holds, which we're flagging as a projection, not a count. Source: CSLB public license-search export.
How this page is compiled: every figure below is computed directly from CSLB's public license-search export — 5,483 rows, filtered to active ("CLEAR") C-39 licenses, pulled August 24, 2026. Nothing here is estimated, surveyed, or sourced from a third party. The same export backs the per-city licensing table on our California roof replacement cost page — that page filters to six metro areas; this one is the state-wide picture. Two things worth knowing about the dataset itself: it's a snapshot of currently active licenses, not a historical record of every license ever issued, so it can't speak to closures or lapses — only to what's active right now and when those licenses were originally issued. And two records carry an identical issue date of October 1, 1929, which reads like a pre-digitization default rather than two genuine coincidences — we've used the median, not the mean, for tenure specifically because of that.
Who actually holds a C-39 license
Corporations hold a clear majority of active C-39 licenses, but the specialist end of the market is real and sizable: 25.0% of all active licenses are sole owners holding the roofing classification and nothing else — no general contracting license, no other trade, just roofing.
What else they're licensed to do
66.9% of active C-39 holders carry only the roofing classification. The other 33.1% hold at least one additional classification, and it's not evenly spread — a general Class B (building) license accounts for 1,460 of the 1,816 multi-classification holders, by far the most common pairing. The next most common additions, in order, are C-10 (electrical), C-33 (painting), C-43 (sheet metal), and Class A (general engineering) — each held by well under a fifth as many contractors as B.
Insurance and bonding
The bonding side is far more concentrated than the insurance side. 69 different surety companies underwrite C-39 contractor bonds in this dataset, but two of them — American Contractors Indemnity Company (35.2%) and Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company (26.1%) — cover 61.3% of every active license between them.
Where the industry is concentrated
Active C-39 licenses appear in 55 of California's 58 counties, but the distribution is heavily Southern California: the top five counties account for 48.5% of every active license in the state.
How long these businesses have been around
Median tenure — years since the license was originally issued — is 10.2 years. Half of all active C-39 licenses are 10 years or older; a third were issued within the last five. Read the "44% expiring within 12 months" figure some sources might quote from data like this with caution: CSLB licenses generally run on a roughly two-year renewal cycle, so on any given day, something close to half of an active license pool will always be within 12 months of its next renewal. That's the normal shape of a renewal cycle, not a sign of contractors leaving the trade — our own count comes to 41.2%, consistent with exactly that.
Why this matters if you're hiring, not just reading
The workers' comp figure above is the one with a direct, practical consequence: 1 in roughly 200 active C-39 licenses has no current coverage on file. An active license alone doesn't rule that out — it's a separate field on the same lookup. Before signing anything, use CSLB's own Check a License tool and confirm three things specifically: the license is active, the classification is C-39 (not a general B license operating outside its scope on a standalone roofing job), and the workers' compensation coverage shown is current, not just present. It takes longer to type a license number into CSLB's own site than to take a truck's door magnet at face value, and it's the only way to actually know.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many licensed roofing contractors are there in California?
5,483 active C-39 (Roofing Contractor) licenses were on file with the Contractors State License Board as of August 24, 2026, filtered to licenses in "CLEAR" status. That's licenses, not companies — a small number of businesses hold more than one — and it's roofing-classified licenses specifically, not every licensed contractor who occasionally does roofing work under a broader classification.
Is the number of roofing contractors in California growing or shrinking?
Growing, and not slowly. New C-39 license issuance rose from 82 in 2012 to 435 in 2025 — roughly 5x over 13 years. 2026 is on pace to set another record: 381 new licenses were issued through August 24 alone, which annualizes to roughly 589 for the full year if the pace holds, though that's a projection from a partial year, not a final count.
What percentage of California roofing contractors carry workers' compensation insurance?
92.0% carry a direct Workers' Compensation Insurance policy. Another 6.8% get coverage through a leasing or temp agency arrangement. The remainder is small but not zero: 0.5% of active licenses have no current workers' comp on file, 0.4% are covered out-of-state, and 0.2% are self-insured. Checking this specifically — not just whether a license is active — is exactly what CSLB's own license lookup tool shows.
Are most California roofing contractors solo operators or companies?
Companies, by a clear margin. 62.0% of active C-39 licenses are held by corporations, 30.7% by sole owners, 6.1% by LLCs, and 1.2% by partnerships. A quarter of all active licenses (25.0%) are sole owners holding only the C-39 classification and no other trade license — the smallest, most specialized end of the market.
Do most roofing contractors also hold other contractor licenses?
No — two-thirds don't. 66.9% of active C-39 license holders hold only the roofing classification. The 33.1% who hold something else pair it with a general Class B (building) license more often than anything else: 1,460 of the 1,816 multi-classification holders carry B alongside C-39.
How do I verify a roofing contractor's license in California?
Use CSLB's own Check a License tool directly (cslb.ca.gov) rather than taking a business card or a website claim at face value. Confirm three things specifically: the license is active, the classification is C-39 (not a general B license operating outside its scope on a standalone roofing job), and the workers' compensation coverage shown is current — an active license doesn't by itself confirm the insurance behind it hasn't lapsed.
What's the difference between a C-39 license and a general contractor's B license?
C-39 is CSLB's specialty classification for installing and repairing roofing and waterproofing systems specifically. A B (general building) license covers broader construction projects involving multiple unrelated trades. A roofing job can legally be run under either, which is exactly why confirming the classification, not just that a license exists, matters when hiring — 1,460 contractors in this dataset hold both, but two-thirds of C-39 holders hold only the roofing classification.