Short answer: choose architectural asphalt unless you intend to stay in the house more than fifteen years, in which case metal is the better buy. Everything below is why.
Cost compared
Architectural asphalt on a typical Dayton house: $11,000 to $15,000. Standing-seam metal on the same house: roughly $25,000 to $45,000, so two to three times. The full pricing breakdown sets out where the difference goes.
Over fifty years the comparison inverts. Asphalt means two or three replacements in that window; metal means one. If you are staying, metal is cheaper per year. If you are moving inside a decade, you will not recover the difference on resale.
Lifespan and upkeep in this climate
Asphalt gives 20 to 25 years in Ohio. Metal gives 50 or more. The gap is wider here than the national figures suggest, and the reason is freezing and thawing. A 47-degree swing every year works on asphalt in a way it does not on metal with hidden fixings.
The practical winter advantage is snow. Twenty-three inches a year, and metal sheds nearly all of it before it can sit at the roof edge and form an ice dam. On a low-pitch Kettering ranch that is a genuine argument, not a sales point.
Which to choose
Choose asphalt if you are staying under fifteen years, if the budget is the constraint, or if the roof is complex enough that metal's material cost compounds. That is most houses and it is not a compromise. A well-installed architectural shingle roof is a good roof.
Choose metal if you are staying long term, if you have had repeated ice damming, or if the roof is prominent enough that the look matters to you. In Beavercreek and Oakwood we fit a good deal of it for exactly those reasons.
Frequently asked questions
Are metal roofs noisy in rain?
Not on a house. That reputation comes from barns, where metal is fixed straight to open beams with nothing behind it. Over roof boards and underlay in a finished attic it is no louder than asphalt.
Do metal roofs attract lightning?
No. Metal does not attract lightning, and if a house is struck a metal roof disperses the charge more safely than a combustible covering would.
Want both options priced on your roof?
Metal beside asphalt, on your actual roof line, so the difference is a number rather than a claim.