By vintage
Before about 1950 — the streets around Naglee Park, the Rose Garden, downtown and the first blocks of Willow Glen. Steeper pitches, more complicated roof lines, and often several generations of covering. These are the houses where a tear-off finds two layers and a surprise.
The tract era, 1955–1980 — Cambrian, Blossom Valley, Berryessa, older Evergreen and Almaden. Simple gable and hip roofs, low to moderate pitch, originally light shake or early composition. Most are now on their second or third covering, and they are the bread and butter of the repair-or-replace question.
The last four decades — Silver Creek and Santa Teresa, the newer phases above Almaden and Evergreen, infill in North San José. Bigger, more complex roofs with more penetrations, concrete tile in quantity, and failures that are usually about flashing and underlayment rather than about the field.
The fire zones, which change the specification
Much of the eastern and southern foothill edge of the city — the ground above Alum Rock and East Foothills, and the upper reaches around Almaden and Silver Creek — falls within state-mapped fire hazard severity zones. For an address inside one, a reroof that crosses the code threshold has to be Class A rated and built to resist ember intrusion, including the attic vents. That is a specification difference, not a paperwork difference, and it is worth establishing before comparing bids. The state's hazard-zone map answers it for a specific parcel.
Towns beside the city
Campbell · Santa Clara · Sunnyvale · Cupertino · Saratoga · Los Gatos · Milpitas
What a roof must be is set by the state and does not change at a town line. What does change: which counter issues the permit, what it charges, and how long an inspector takes in October. Worth noting too that the hillsides above Saratoga and Los Gatos carry more mapped fire-zone acreage than anything inside the city.
Parcels the city does not permit
A handful of pockets carry city mail from outside the city: Burbank, Cambrian Park, Fruitdale, slices of the East Foothills and the Alum Rock area. A reroof at one of those addresses is permitted, inspected and charged by the County of Santa Clara instead. The County's Property Explorer confirms it for a given parcel, and confirming beforehand is cheaper than discovering it when an inspector declines the job.
What the list is for
"What does this roof have to be" has a different answer on different parcels — vintage, hazard zone, jurisdiction — and a range quoted without those is a number pulled from the air. Addresses above get checked against their own requirements before anything is said about price. No crew lives in your neighbourhood as a result of appearing on this list.
Fire-zone statements refer to state-mapped hazard severity zones as applied through California's building standards; jurisdiction statements follow published City of San José and County of Santa Clara guidance. Maps and rules are revised — check your own parcel rather than a neighbour's answer.