The quick answer#
New flooring costs $4 to $15 per square foot installed on average in 2026, depending almost entirely on the material. Luxury vinyl plank runs $4 to $16, laminate $4 to $14, engineered wood $7 to $20, solid hardwood $11 to $25, and tile $10 to $50.
Luxury vinyl plank
$4–$16per sq ft installedEngineered wood
$7–$20per sq ft installedSolid hardwood
$11–$25per sq ft installedTile
$10–$50per sq ft installedThose are finished-floor prices on a sound, flat subfloor with the old floor already gone. Both of those conditions are worth checking before you take a number seriously, because subfloor replacement adds $2.20 to $4.75 per square foot where it is needed, pulling bonded tile adds $2 to $7, and neither one appears in a showroom price.
Before you price anything
Boxes and square footage with the waste factor
Enter the room size and the box coverage to get the boxes you need, with 10 percent waste for a straight layout or 15 for a diagonal.
Cost by flooring material#
Material and labor move together more than people expect. Tile is expensive to install as well as to buy, because it is slow and unforgiving. Floating floors like LVP and laminate are fast, which is why their installed price is barely double their material price.
| Material | Material only | Installed | Expected life |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laminate | $1.00–$6.00 | $4.00–$14.00 | 10 to 25 years |
| Luxury vinyl plank | $2.00–$10.00 | $4.00–$16.00 | 10 to 25 years |
| Carpet | $1.00–$5.00 | $2.00–$8.00 | — |
| Engineered wood | $2.00–$9.00 | $7.00–$20.00 | Refinishable on a 4 to 6 mm veneer |
| Tile, ceramic or porcelain | $2.00–$30.00 | $10.00–$50.00 | — |
| Solid hardwood | $4.00–$15.00 | $11.00–$25.00 | Generations, refinished 4 to 10 times |
Installed prices assume a flat, sound subfloor with the old floor removed, in a rectangular room with a straight layout. Tile installed cost includes thinset and grout but not backer board or a decoupling membrane. A lifespan is shown only where a published source gives one, so carpet and tile carry none.
Carpet is the one material where the room's square footage barely predicts the price, because it comes off a fixed-width roll rather than in boxes. A 13 by 16 room is 23.11 square yards of floor but takes 38.13 square yards off a 12 foot roll, and the same room off a 15 foot roll is 29.33 with no seam at all. The carpet calculator tries the layout both ways round and keeps whichever buys less, which is a calculation no per-square-foot price can do for you. Our carpet cost guide prices carpet by grade, room size and extras.
Cost by room size#
These figures are installed cost on the room area, with the 10 percent waste that a straight layout in a rectangular room needs already priced in by the installer. What you buy is always more than what the floor measures.
| Room | Area | LVP | Engineered | Tile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 x 12 | 120 sq ft | $480–$1,920 | $840–$2,400 | $1,200–$6,000 |
| 12 x 15 | 180 sq ft | $720–$2,880 | $1,260–$3,600 | $1,800–$9,000 |
| 15 x 20 | 300 sq ft | $1,200–$4,800 | $2,100–$6,000 | $3,000–$15,000 |
| 20 x 24 | 480 sq ft | $1,920–$7,680 | $3,360–$9,600 | $4,800–$24,000 |
| 24 x 30 | 720 sq ft | $2,880–$11,520 | $5,040–$14,400 | $7,200–$36,000 |
Areas are the bare room. A 15 by 20 room at 10 percent waste means buying 330 square feet, which is 17 boxes at 20 square feet each. That extra 10 percent is inside the installed price above, but it is not inside a materials-only budget unless you put it there.
Subfloor prep#
This is the line that moves a flooring quote most and the one nobody can price from a photograph. Every floating floor has a flatness tolerance, usually something like 3/16 of an inch over 10 feet, and older houses routinely fail it.
| Work | Cost | When it is needed |
|---|---|---|
| Moisture barrier | $0.25–$0.75 | Any floor over a slab or a crawlspace. |
| Self-leveling compound | $1.50–$4.50 | Dips and waves beyond the flatness tolerance. |
| Plywood underlayment | $1.50–$3.50 | A rough or damaged subfloor under a thin floor. |
| Cement backer board | $1.75–$3.50 | Under tile, over any wood subfloor. |
| Subfloor replacement | $2.20–$4.75 | Soft spots, water damage, failed sections. |
Self-leveling compound is usually charged on the affected area rather than the whole room, so a quote saying "leveling as required" should also say what the rate is and how it will be measured.
Tile is the material with the strictest requirement and the least forgiveness. A wood subfloor under tile needs backer board or an uncoupling membrane, and any deflection in the joists will crack grout and eventually tile. Our tile installation cost guide prices tile by material and room. Get the tile count and the grout estimate from the tile calculator, and the setting mortar from the thinset calculator, but settle the substrate before either of those matters.
Going with tile
Tiles, boxes, and grout for the room
Enter the room and tile size to get the tile count, the box count, and an estimated grout weight with your waste factor.
Underlayment and transitions#
Small lines individually, but they add up to real money and they are the ones most often missing from a materials-only budget.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Foam underlayment for LVP or laminate | $0.30–$1.00 per sq ft |
| Carpet pad | $0.50–$1.20 per sq ft |
| T-molding, reducers, thresholds | $12–$30 per piece |
| Stair nosing | $25–$60 per tread |
| Baseboard, installed | $6–$9 per linear ft |
| Shoe moulding or quarter round | $1.50–$3.50 per linear ft |
Many LVP and laminate products come with the pad already attached, which removes the underlayment line entirely. Check before buying it separately, because doubling up on pad voids most warranties.
Baseboard is the line people forget. A new floor almost always means pulling the base off and putting it back, and putting it back well usually means replacing it. A 15 by 20 room has 70 linear feet around it, which is $420 to $630 installed, and the baseboard and trim calculator gives the piece count from the perimeter with the 15 percent miter allowance that trim actually needs.
Removing the old floor#
Demolition is priced per square foot and varies by what is coming out. Bonded tile is the worst of it, because thinset does not want to leave the subfloor and the subfloor often leaves with it.
| Existing floor | Removal cost |
|---|---|
| Carpet and pad | $0.70–$1.60 per sq ft |
| Tile, pulled yourself | $1.00–$2.00 per sq ft |
| Tile, thinset bonded | $2.00–$7.00 per sq ft |
| Dumpster, 10 yard | $220–$580 per week |
Carpet is the one most homeowners pull themselves, and it is genuinely easy: it comes up in strips and the tack strip comes off with a pry bar. Tile removal is dusty, loud, and slow, and it is the demolition worth paying somebody else to do.
On a 300 square foot room going from tile to LVP, the demolition alone is $600 to $2,100 before a single new plank is laid, plus the dumpster. That is most of the cost of the new floor, and it is the single biggest reason a flooring quote comes back higher than the per-square-foot price suggested.
Picking by room#
The right floor changes room to room, and the deciding factor is almost always water rather than looks or budget.
| Room | Best options | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Basement, over slab | LVP, tile, carpet with a moisture barrier | Solid hardwood, laminate |
| Kitchen | LVP, tile, engineered wood | Laminate, carpet |
| Bathroom | Tile, LVP | Any wood product, laminate |
| Bedroom | Carpet, engineered wood, LVP, solid hardwood | Nothing, really |
| Living areas | Solid hardwood, engineered wood, LVP, tile | Nothing, really |
| Entry and mudroom | Tile, LVP | Carpet, solid hardwood |
Laminate and water are the pairing to watch. Modern laminate handles spills fine and standing water not at all, because the core is compressed wood fiber that swells permanently once it wets through.
One practical note on ordering. The flooring calculator defaults to 10 percent waste for a straight layout and 15 for a diagonal, and those are the right numbers for a rectangular room. A room with a lot of jogs, closets, or angles wants the 15 even laid straight, and running short on a discontinued run is a far worse outcome than having a box left over.
Save the flooring cost chart#
Six floors with material price against installed price, per square foot. Save it and the showroom conversation gets a lot shorter.
Save to PinterestOpens Pinterest with the chart and link ready to go.
Common questions#
How much does it cost to floor a 15 by 20 room?#
A 15 by 20 room is 300 square feet, so $1,200 to $4,800 in luxury vinyl plank installed, $2,100 to $6,000 in engineered wood, and $3,000 to $15,000 in tile. Add $600 to $2,100 if bonded tile has to come out first, plus $220 to $580 a week for a 10 yard dumpster, and $2.20 to $4.75 per square foot wherever the subfloor needs replacing.
What is the cheapest flooring to install?#
Carpet, at $2 to $8 per square foot installed. Of the hard floors, laminate and luxury vinyl plank both start at $4, laminate running $4 to $14 and LVP $4 to $16. Both are floating floors, which is why the labor is low: they click together over an underlayment rather than being glued or nailed down. LVP is the better buy of the two in any room that might see water, because vinyl is waterproof and not all laminate is.
Do I need to replace the subfloor before new flooring?#
Only where it is soft, water damaged, or out of flatness tolerance. Most floating floors want no more than about 3/16 of an inch of variation over 10 feet, and older houses often fail it. Self-leveling compound at $1.50 to $4.50 per square foot fixes dips and waves; full subfloor replacement at $2.20 to $4.75 is for soft spots and water damage.
How much extra flooring should I order for waste?#
Ten percent for a straight layout in a rectangular room, and 15 percent for a diagonal layout or a room with a lot of jogs and closets. On a 300 square foot room that means buying 330 square feet, which is 17 boxes at 20 square feet each. Running short on a discontinued run is much worse than having a box left over.