Kendall County, Illinois · Yorkville
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Kendall County averages 46 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 9% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Kendall County averages 6.7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Kendall County gets about 6.7 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 89 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
3% of occupied homes in Kendall County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Illinois county median of 16.5%.
With 36 muggy nights a year, mold in Kendall County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Kendall County covers 320 square miles of northeast Illinois, with about 137,675 residents and 46,589 homes. Yorkville is the county seat; Oswego, Montgomery and Plano are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 2001.
30/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Kendall County ranks 99 of 102 Illinois counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Kendall County ranks highest compared with other Illinois counties.
Kendall is on the colder side of Illinois for pipes. It averaged 124 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 46 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 17th.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 19 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -23°F on January 31, 2019.
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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 26 and the last spring freeze around Apr 24.
Kendall gets fewer downpours than most Illinois counties, but they still fill basements. About 6.7 days a year bring an inch or more (91st of 102), most often in June, out of 38.8 inches of total precipitation. On October 15, 2017, 3.6 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.2 inches (through June 16, 2015).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 89 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
24% of homes in Kendall County predate 1980, below the Illinois county median of 65.9%, which ranks 102nd of Illinois's 102 counties.
Since 2000 the county has added enough housing that 55% of homes are that new. Modern PEX and copper rarely fail on their own; the leaks come from connections, appliances and storms.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 36 times a year here, below the Illinois county median of 51. 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, Kendall County homes break down as 87% utility gas, 10% electric, 3% propane and under 1% wood. Fires here are likelier to start in the kitchen or the wiring than in the furnace. After any fire, keep the HVAC off until ducts are checked, or soot will travel through the house.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Kendall County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
DeKalb and Kane get more pipe-freeze nights than Kendall. LaSalle County has the oldest housing nearby, with 70% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Kendall | Illinois median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 8.8% | 38% | 102 of 102 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 24% | 66% | 102 of 102 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 55% | 15% | 1 of 102 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 0.2% | 5.6% | 102 of 102 |
| Vacant homes | 2.6% | 11% | 102 of 102 |
| Wood or propane heat | 2.7% | 17% | 96 of 102 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 46/yr | 35/yr | 17 of 102 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.7/yr | 8.4/yr | 91 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 Kendall 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