Cobb County, Georgia · Marietta
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Pipes freeze in Cobb County on about 3 nights a year, mostly January. Older homes, 5% of the stock here, are most at risk.
December brings the most downpours to Cobb County, part of 12.2 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
5% of homes here predate 1960, when clay and cast iron sewer laterals were standard. Roots and cracks in those lines are a common cause of backups.
Cobb County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 5.79 inches, and about 42 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
1% of occupied homes in Cobb County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Georgia county median of 7.1%.
With 96 muggy nights a year, mold in Cobb County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 775,208 people live in Cobb County, 340 square miles in northwest Georgia, in roughly 314,104 homes. Besides Marietta, the county seat, the biggest communities are Mableton, Smyrna and Kennesaw. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1990.
42/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Cobb County ranks 118 of 159 Georgia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Cobb County ranks highest compared with other Georgia counties.
Cobb County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Georgia. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 3 nights a year at or below 20°F (25th of 159) and 42 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs January. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 15 and end around Mar 19.
Rainfall is about average for Georgia. About 12.2 days a year bring an inch or more (70th of 159), most often in December, out of 53.1 inches of total precipitation. On September 27, 2024, 5.79 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 8.67 inches, ending September 28, 2024, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 42 days a year swing from below freezing at night to above freezing by day. Those freeze-thaw cycles feed ice dams on roofs, open cracks in foundations and driveways, and stress pipes that are already marginal.
Housing
Roughly 27% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Cobb among the newer housing stocks of Georgia's 159 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 31% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
About 42% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 96 times a year here, below the Georgia county median of 112. Keep indoor humidity under 60%, as the EPA advises, and dry any leak within 24 to 48 hours; in a humid month a wet basement left alone won't dry by itself.
Mold remediation: what to expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Cobb County it's 68% utility gas, 30% electric, 1% propane and under 1% wood. Most homes here heat with gas or electricity, so cooking and electrical faults are the likelier fire sources. Even a contained kitchen fire can send soot through the ductwork to every room.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Cobb County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Bartow, Cherokee and Paulding get more pipe-freeze nights than Cobb. Fulton County has the oldest housing nearby, with 33% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Cobb | Georgia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 5.4% | 15% | 145 of 159 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 27% | 38% | 123 of 159 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 31% | 27% | 57 of 159 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 0.9% | 21% | 157 of 159 |
| Vacant homes | 5.9% | 14% | 146 of 159 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1.3% | 7.1% | 157 of 159 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 3/yr | 2/yr | 25 of 159 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 12/yr | 12/yr | 70 of 159 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 42/yr | 29/yr | 34 of 159 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 96/yr | 112/yr | 126 of 159 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Georgia county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Cobb County: freezing from January, heavy rain in January, February and December.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024); weather from NOAA nClimGrid-Daily county averages (EpiNOAA), 2015–2024, averaged across the county; county boundaries from Census TIGER. Reviewed 2026-10-21. Methodology