Champaign County, Illinois · Urbana
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Champaign, Urbana and Rantoul. Start the steps below while you wait.
Answered 24/7 by a participating local provider. We're a referral service and don't do the work ourselves. How it works
Start here
Pick the closest match. These steps limit the damage and protect your insurance claim. Skip anything that isn't safe.
Pipes freeze in Champaign County on about 36 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 24% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Champaign County averages 6.6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
24% 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.
Champaign County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.31 inches, and about 85 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
4% of occupied homes in Champaign County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Illinois county median of 16.5%.
With 42 muggy nights a year, mold in Champaign County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Champaign County covers 996 square miles of eastern Illinois, with about 208,741 residents and 95,115 homes. The county seat is Urbana, and Champaign, Rantoul and Mahomet round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1981, half after.
26/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Champaign County ranks 102 of 102 Illinois counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Champaign County ranks highest compared with other Illinois counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Champaign 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 110 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 46th of 102 counties.
The longest cold spell was straight 16 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -15°F on January 31, 2019. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
The freeze season here runs November to March, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 22 and end around Apr 22.
Champaign gets fewer downpours than most Illinois counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 40.2 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 6.6 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 92nd of 102. May, June and July see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.31 inches, July 10, 2024. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.71 inches, ending December 29, 2015, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 85 times a year here. They're the main driver of ice dams and of water working its way through foundation cracks in late winter.
Housing
Illinois's 102 counties range widely in housing age; Champaign ranks 92nd, with 48% of its homes built before 1980.
29% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of Illinois. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps and storms.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 23% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
Renters occupy 46% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
Champaign County averages 42 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in June. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, ideally 30 to 50%. Basements can pass 60% on their own in summer, so a dehumidifier matters even without a leak, and anything wet should be dried within 24 to 48 hours.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Champaign County homes break down as 54% utility gas, 41% electric, 4% propane and under 1% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Champaign County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Ford, McLean and Vermilion get more pipe-freeze nights than Champaign. Ford County has the oldest housing nearby, with 82% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Champaign | Illinois median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 24% | 38% | 93 of 102 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 48% | 66% | 92 of 102 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 29% | 15% | 7 of 102 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 3.1% | 5.6% | 73 of 102 |
| Vacant homes | 10% | 11% | 60 of 102 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4% | 17% | 93 of 102 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 36/yr | 35/yr | 46 of 102 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.6/yr | 8.4/yr | 92 of 102 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 85/yr | 81/yr | 31 of 102 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 42/yr | 51/yr | 69 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 Champaign County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, June and July.
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