Kankakee County, Illinois · Kankakee
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Kankakee County averages 41 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 32% of its homes predate 1960.
July brings the most downpours to Kankakee County, part of 6.1 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
32% 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.
In Kankakee County, 3.57 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
8% of occupied homes in Kankakee County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Illinois county median of 16.5%.
With 36 muggy nights a year, mold in Kankakee County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Kankakee County covers 676 square miles of northeast Illinois, with about 106,635 residents and 45,415 homes. Besides Kankakee, the county seat, the biggest communities are Bourbonnais, Bradley and Manteno. The county's median home was built in 1972.
32/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Kankakee County ranks 94 of 102 Illinois counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Kankakee County ranks highest compared with other Illinois counties.
Kankakee is on the colder side of Illinois for pipes. It averaged 120 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 41 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 29th.
The longest cold spell was straight 19 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in March 2015. The coldest night reached about -21°F on January 31, 2019. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 25 and the last spring freeze around Apr 22.
Kankakee 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 6.1 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 100th of 102. June, July and August see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.57 inches, September 28, 2019. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.61 inches (through July 22, 2017).
About 89 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
65% of homes in Kankakee County predate 1980, close to the Illinois county median of 65.9%, which ranks 54th of Illinois's 102 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 32% of homes are pre-1960 and 17% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
Renters occupy 30% 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
About 36 nights a year in Kankakee County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (83rd of 102 counties). July is the wettest month. 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, Kankakee County homes break down as 77% utility gas, 14% electric, 8% 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 Kankakee County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Grundy, Livingston and Will get more pipe-freeze nights than Kankakee. Ford County has the oldest housing nearby, with 82% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Kankakee | Illinois median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 32% | 38% | 78 of 102 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 65% | 66% | 54 of 102 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 17% | 15% | 32 of 102 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 6.5% | 5.6% | 46 of 102 |
| Vacant homes | 9.7% | 11% | 63 of 102 |
| Wood or propane heat | 8% | 17% | 80 of 102 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 41/yr | 35/yr | 29 of 102 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.1/yr | 8.4/yr | 100 of 102 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 89/yr | 81/yr | 11 of 102 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 36/yr | 51/yr | 83 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 Kankakee 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