Adams County, Illinois · Quincy
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Pipes freeze in Adams County on about 36 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 44% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Adams County averages 8.7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
44% 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.
Adams County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 2.84 inches, and about 75 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
6% of occupied homes in Adams County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Illinois county median of 16.5%.
With 58 muggy nights a year, mold in Adams County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 30,302 homes and around 64,754 residents, Adams County is 855 square miles of western Illinois. Quincy is the county seat; Camp Point, Mendon and Payson are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1965, half after.
58/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Adams County ranks 24 of 102 Illinois counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Adams County ranks highest compared with other Illinois counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Adams County sits near the middle of the state. From 2015–2024 it averaged 36 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 103 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 46th of 102 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 15 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near -14°F on January 15, 2024.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November to March. 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 1 and end around Apr 14.
Rainfall is about average for Illinois. About 8.7 days a year bring an inch or more (47th of 102), most often in June, out of 38.6 inches of total precipitation. On April 30, 2017, 2.84 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.58 inches, ending September 8, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 75 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
71% of homes in Adams County predate 1980, close to the Illinois county median of 65.9%, which ranks 36th of Illinois's 102 counties.
In Adams County 44% of homes are older than 1960. If yours is one of them and the plumbing has never been replaced, expect galvanized steel supply pipe and cast iron drain lines, the two materials most likely to fail quietly.
Beyond water
About 58 nights a year in Adams County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (39th of 102 counties). July is the wettest month. Mold grows when indoor humidity stays above about 60%, the EPA's ceiling. A basement dehumidifier set to 50% and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours prevents most problems.
Mold remediation: what to expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Adams County it's 59% utility gas, 33% electric, 6% 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 Adams County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Brown, Hancock and Schuyler get more pipe-freeze nights than Adams. Pike County has the oldest housing nearby, with 76% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Adams | Illinois median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 44% | 38% | 37 of 102 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 71% | 66% | 36 of 102 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 12% | 15% | 68 of 102 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4.5% | 5.6% | 56 of 102 |
| Vacant homes | 7.9% | 11% | 79 of 102 |
| Wood or propane heat | 6.4% | 17% | 82 of 102 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 36/yr | 35/yr | 46 of 102 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.7/yr | 8.4/yr | 47 of 102 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 75/yr | 81/yr | 65 of 102 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 58/yr | 51/yr | 39 of 102 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Illinois county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Adams County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in June, July and August.
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