DuPage County, Illinois · Wheaton
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DuPage County averages 45 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 18% of its homes predate 1960.
June brings the most downpours to DuPage County, part of 6.6 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which DuPage County gets about 6.6 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In DuPage County, 3.55 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
1% of occupied homes in DuPage County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Illinois county median of 16.5%.
With 37 muggy nights a year, mold in DuPage County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 367,152 homes and around 930,024 residents, DuPage County is 328 square miles of northeast Illinois. Besides Wheaton, the county seat, the biggest communities are Naperville, Downers Grove and Elmhurst. Half the homes here were built before 1978, half after.
30/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate DuPage County ranks 98 of 102 Illinois counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where DuPage County ranks highest compared with other Illinois counties.
DuPage County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Illinois. It averaged 120 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 45 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 102 Illinois counties that's 21st.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 18 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -24°F on January 31, 2019.
Most freezing nights fall from November to March, peaking in January. Disconnect garden hoses and shut off outdoor spigots before the first hard frost, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher if you'll be away.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 30 and end around Apr 24.
DuPage gets fewer downpours than most Illinois counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 39.1 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 6.6 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 92nd of 102. June, July and October see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.55 inches, October 15, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.15 inches, ending October 15, 2017, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 86 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
Roughly 54% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts DuPage among the newer housing stocks of Illinois's 102 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 18% of homes are pre-1960 and 15% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
32% date from 1980 to 1999, the window when polybutylene, a gray flexible plastic supply pipe, was used in some homes. It's prone to leaks at the fittings, so it's worth checking for in a house from those years.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 37 times a year here, below the Illinois county median of 51. 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 expectMain heating fuel in DuPage County's occupied homes: 83% utility gas, 15% electric, 1% 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 DuPage County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Kane gets more pipe-freeze nights than DuPage. Cook County has the oldest housing nearby, with 73% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | DuPage | Illinois median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 18% | 38% | 99 of 102 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 54% | 66% | 88 of 102 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 15% | 15% | 48 of 102 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 0.3% | 5.6% | 101 of 102 |
| Vacant homes | 4.5% | 11% | 95 of 102 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1.1% | 17% | 102 of 102 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 45/yr | 35/yr | 21 of 102 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.6/yr | 8.4/yr | 92 of 102 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 86/yr | 81/yr | 27 of 102 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 37/yr | 51/yr | 80 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 DuPage County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in June, July and October.
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