One national report says a midrange bathroom remodel gives you back 80 percent of what you spend. Another, published five months earlier, says a bathroom renovation gives you back 50.
The best ROI remodeling projects are small exterior replacements, and that’s the one thing both reports agree on completely. Doors, garage doors, siding and stone veneer top the returns; big interior remodels and additions sit at the bottom. Zonda’s 2025 Cost vs. Value Report puts eight of its top ten in that exterior category, and the highest cost recovery figures in NAR’s Remodeling Impact Report are a steel front door, a closet renovation and a fiberglass front door.
Below the top of the list the two reports part company, sometimes by thirty points on the same project. Neither number is a mistake, and the reason they differ isn’t that one report is better researched than the other.
Which Are the Best ROI Remodeling Projects Right Now
Both reports point at the same kind of work: cheap, visible, and done from the outside.
From Zonda’s 2025 Cost vs. Value Report, published in September 2025:
- Garage door replacement led nationally for the second year running, recouping 267.7 percent of its cost
- Eight of the top ten projects were exterior replacements, with steel entry door replacement and manufactured stone veneer next behind the garage door
- The only interior project in the top five was a minor kitchen remodel
From the 2025 Remodeling Impact Report, published by NAR and NARI in April 2025, the projects with the highest estimated cost recovery were:
- A new steel front door at 100 percent
- A closet renovation at 83 percent
- A new fiberglass front door at 80 percent
Two independent groups of professionals, asked in different months, put a front door at or near the top. That’s about as close to a consensus as remodeling data gets.
There’s a third list in that same report, though, and it doesn’t look like either of the first two. When NAR asked Realtors what they recommend sellers do before listing, the top answers were painting the entire home at 50 percent, painting a single interior room at 41 percent, and new roofing at 37 percent.
Two of the three top recommendations are paint. Paint isn’t one of the 28 projects Cost vs. Value measures, so it never appears on any ROI ranking at all, and the people who watch houses sell for a living put it first anyway.
Underneath that agreement the lists diverge fast, and it helps to know what you’re actually holding.
The Two Reports Everyone Quotes, and What Each One Measures
Nearly every ROI ranking on the internet traces back to one of two documents.
The Cost vs. Value Report, published by Zonda, is the one most pages quote. The 2025 edition is the 38th annual, released on 18 September 2025, and it covers 28 defined projects across 115 local US markets.
It answers one question: what value does this project add to the sale price of a home? The cost side comes from Verisk’s XactRemodel estimating software and the value side from surveys of real estate professionals, run through an econometric model that takes in local GDP, existing home sales, existing home values and housing starts.
The Remodeling Impact Report, published jointly by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, is the one almost nobody mentions. The most recent edition came out on 9 April 2025.
Its cost recovery percentages are estimated by NARI members, who’re remodelers rather than agents, and it carries something Cost vs. Value doesn’t have at all: a Joy Score for each project, rating from 1 to 10 how happy homeowners said they were once the work was done.
So one report asks people who sell houses what a project would fetch. The other asks people who build things what a project gets back, and asks the homeowners how they felt about it.
A third tier of source turns up far more often than either of these: the cost guides and calculator sites that publish their own ranges. Some are careful and some are repackaging one of the two reports above with the numbers rounded. The tell is whether the page states a methodology and a date. If it doesn’t say who was asked, what the project included and when, treat the figure as a rough sense of scale and nothing more.
Why the Same Bathroom Recoups 80 Percent in One Report and 50 in the Other
A midrange bathroom remodel, in the Cost vs. Value definition, costs $26,138 nationally and adds $20,915 at resale. That’s 80.0 percent.
In the Remodeling Impact Report, a bathroom renovation comes back at 50 percent.
Thirty points apart, same year, same country, same room. Three things explain it, and none of them is an error:
- Different estimators: real estate professionals price a bathroom by what a buyer will pay for it in a listing, while remodelers price it against what the work cost to do. Those are different mental models and they produce different numbers
- Different project definitions: Cost vs. Value describes a specific 5 by 7 foot bathroom with a named list of fixtures, while “bathroom renovation” in a survey means whatever the respondent pictures, which spans a vanity swap and a gut
- Different questions: one asks what a house would sell for with and without the work, and the other asks what share of the money comes back
Jessica Lautz, NAR’s deputy chief economist, named the same tension in her own report: “Homeowners undertake remodeling projects for numerous reasons, but what remains intriguing is the disparity between the joy experienced post-remodel and the actual cost recovery.”
The practical consequence is that a single percentage, quoted with no source attached, tells you almost nothing. When you meet one, ask which report it came from before you let it move your budget. If you’re weighing a bathroom specifically, what a bathroom remodel actually costs is a better starting point than either national percentage.
There Is No 2026 Report, Whatever the Headlines Say
The most recent Cost vs. Value Report is the 38th annual, published on 18 September 2025. The most recent Remodeling Impact Report came out in April 2025. As of August 2026, no newer edition of either one exists.
A 2026 date on a page doesn’t mean 2026 data. Plenty of pages published this year carry a 2026 label over September 2025 figures, and some of them name the 2025 source correctly in the body while running the newer year in the headline. The data isn’t wrong. It’s a year older than the label implies, and it was gathered in a market that has moved since.
Two habits protect you:
- Look for the edition number and the publication date, not the year in the title. Zonda numbers its editions, so “38th annual” pins it exactly
- Treat any figure without a named source and a date as an opinion
Neither report contains a line for Wilkes-Barre, and one of them will hand you a local number for free.
How to Get the Numbers for Your Own Market in About Two Minutes
Cost vs. Value publishes all 115 of its metro markets at costvsvalue.com at no charge, and you can drill below the metro level. Almost nobody quoting the national average mentions this.
The nearest Pennsylvania market to us is Philadelphia, which isn’t the Wyoming Valley by any stretch, and the difference from the national average still shows up clearly. Garage door replacement recoups 257.2 percent in Philadelphia against 267.7 nationally, on a job costing $4,596. A basement remodel recoups 65.0 percent in Philadelphia against 71.0 nationally.
To pull your own:
- Go to costvsvalue.com and choose the market closest to you, which in Northeastern Pennsylvania means Philadelphia
- Find your project by its exact name, then read the scope description rather than the title. “Midrange” and “upscale” are defined down to the fixtures
- Compare the job cost to a real local quote. If the report’s cost is far off what a contractor here quotes you, the percentage is off by the same amount
- Sanity check the resale value against your own street. A percentage assumes a buyer will pay it, and the 30 percent rule for remodel spending is the ceiling that assumption runs into
That last step is where most of the value is. A national percentage on a $183,000 Wilkes-Barre house behaves differently than the same percentage on a house worth three times as much.
These Lists Are Written for 18 Percent of Homeowners
When NAR asked homeowners why they remodeled, preparing to sell within the next two years came in at 18 percent.
The other reasons were bigger:
- Upgrading worn out surfaces, finishes and materials: 27 percent
- Improving energy efficiency: 19 percent
- Simply wanting a change: 18 percent
And 89 percent of homeowners said housing affordability wasn’t a deciding factor at all in whether to remodel.
What’s actually getting built lines up with those reasons rather than with the ROI rankings. The projects NARI members saw the biggest jump in demand for were kitchen upgrades at 48 percent, new roofing at 43 percent and bathroom renovations at 35 percent, which are three of the more expensive things on the list and none of them a front door.
Americans spent an estimated $603 billion on home remodeling in 2024, and most of that money went into houses nobody was preparing to sell.
So four out of five people reading an ROI ranking aren’t in the situation the ranking measures. Cost recouped is a number about a transaction, and most remodels don’t end in one. That doesn’t make the reports useless, it makes them one input among several, which is exactly how the people who publish them describe them.
What the Joy Score Measures That No ROI Figure Can
The Remodeling Impact Report is the only one of the two that tries to measure the other 82 percent, and the results run almost backwards to the money.
The average Joy Score across all projects is 8.2 out of 10. Three projects scored a perfect 10: the addition of a primary bedroom suite, a kitchen upgrade, and new roofing. A primary suite addition is one of the weakest returns in the entire Cost vs. Value set, and homeowners rate it as high as anything they can build. Which remodels add the most value and which add the most dollars covers why that trade sits where it does.
The rest of the satisfaction data points the same way. After finishing a project, 64 percent of homeowners reported a greater desire to be in their home and 46 percent reported enjoying their space more.
Asked what mattered most about the outcome, they named improved functionality and livability first at 28 percent, ahead of durability and appearance. And 92 percent said they’d remodel more of the house if cost weren’t a factor.
None of that appears in a percentage recouped, and for most people it’s the larger part of the return.
How to Use Both Reports Without Being Talked Into the Wrong Project
Use them as two instruments, each answering the question it was built for.
- Decide first whether you’re selling: if you’re listing inside two years, the Cost vs. Value percentage is the relevant number, and the exterior projects at the top of it are the right shortlist
- If you’re staying, read the Joy Scores instead and let the ROI list function only as a warning about which projects to keep modest
- Look up your own market before you quote any figure to yourself, then compare it to a real local quote
- Check the ceiling on your street before you commit, because a percentage assumes a buyer exists at that price
- Decide how you’re paying: 54 percent of homeowners in NAR’s survey used a home equity loan or line of credit, 29 percent used savings, and 10 percent reached for credit cards. Financing changes what the project really costs, which is worth working through alongside the ways to finance a remodel
Which brings the bathroom back. Eighty percent and 50 percent are both honest answers, produced by careful people asking different questions, and the only way to know which one applies to your bathroom is to know why you’re remodeling it. That question is yours, and no report can answer it for you.
If you’re planning a project in Wilkes-Barre or anywhere in Luzerne County and you want a real local number rather than a national average, a free on site estimate is the fastest way to get one. We’ll price the actual job, and tell you plainly where a smaller version would serve you better.
Source: the 2025 Cost vs. Value Report. (c)2025 Zonda Media, a Delaware corporation. Complete data from the 2025 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Cost vs. Value report?
An annual study, published by Zonda, that compares what 28 defined remodeling projects cost against how much value they add to a home’s sale price, across 115 US markets. The 2025 edition is the 38th annual, released in September 2025. Cost data comes from Verisk’s XactRemodel estimating software and resale values come from surveys of real estate professionals, run through an econometric model that accounts for local market conditions.
Is there a 2026 Cost vs. Value report?
Not as of August 2026, no. The most recent edition is the 38th annual, published on 18 September 2025, and the most recent Remodeling Impact Report came out in April 2025. Pages titled as 2026 reports are quoting 2025 data. Check the edition number and the publication date rather than the year in a headline.
Where can I find Cost vs. Value data for my city?
At costvsvalue.com, free, for all 115 published markets, with the ability to drill below the metro level. Wilkes-Barre and Scranton aren’t among the markets, so the closest Pennsylvania option is Philadelphia. Read the project scope descriptions while you’re there, because the difference between “midrange” and “upscale” is defined down to individual fixtures.
What remodeling project has the highest return on investment?
Garage door replacement, in the current Cost vs. Value data, at 267.7 percent of its cost nationally. In the Remodeling Impact Report the top spot goes to a new steel front door at 100 percent estimated cost recovery. Both point at the same conclusion: small exterior replacements return more of your money than any interior remodel.
Do remodeling ROI reports use actual sale prices?
No, and that’s the most common misunderstanding about them. Cost vs. Value asks real estate professionals what a project would add to a sale price; and it doesn’t compare paired sales of remodeled and unremodeled homes. The Remodeling Impact Report’s recovery figures are estimates from remodelers. Both are careful, informed estimates rather than records of completed transactions.
What is a Joy Score?
A rating from 1 to 10 in the Remodeling Impact Report, based on how happy homeowners said they were with a project once it was finished. The average across all projects is 8.2. A primary bedroom suite addition, a kitchen upgrade and new roofing all scored a perfect 10, which is notable because primary suite additions are among the worst performers on pure resale return.
Why do remodeling ROI numbers vary so much between sources?
Because different reports poll different people about differently defined projects. Real estate professionals estimate what buyers will pay; remodelers estimate against what the work costs. A “bathroom renovation” in one survey and a defined 5 by 7 foot midrange bathroom remodel in another aren’t the same job. Always check the source and the project definition before comparing two percentages.
How do most homeowners pay for remodeling projects?
According to the 2025 Remodeling Impact Report, 54 percent used a home equity loan or line of credit, 29 percent used savings, and 10 percent used credit cards. That financing choice changes what the project really costs, since interest paid over the life of a loan doesn’t appear anywhere in a cost recouped percentage.
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