Sangamon County, Illinois · Springfield
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Springfield, Chatham and Sherman. 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 Sangamon County on about 34 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 32% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 7.8 times a year here, most often in July. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Sewage backups in Sangamon County spike on heavy-rain days, about 7.8 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 81 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
5% of occupied homes in Sangamon County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Illinois county median of 16.5%.
With 51 muggy nights a year, mold in Sangamon County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 194,947 people live in Sangamon County, 868 square miles in central Illinois, in roughly 93,382 homes. The county seat is Springfield, and Chatham, Sherman and Auburn round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1974, half after.
38/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Sangamon County ranks 91 of 102 Illinois counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Sangamon County ranks highest compared with other Illinois counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Sangamon County sits near the middle of the state. It averaged 105 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 34 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 53rd.
The longest cold spell was straight 15 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -13°F on January 30, 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 21 and end around Apr 15.
Rainfall is about average for Illinois. Of roughly 40.3 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 7.8 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 63rd of 102. June, July and August see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 2.94 inches, April 30, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 5 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 81 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 62% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Sangamon near the middle of Illinois's 102 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 32% of homes are pre-1960 and 16% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
22% 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 51 times a year here, close to 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 Sangamon County's occupied homes: 73% utility gas, 21% electric, 5% 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 Sangamon County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Cass, Logan, Menard and Morgan get more pipe-freeze nights than Sangamon. Logan County has the oldest housing nearby, with 78% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Sangamon | Illinois median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 32% | 38% | 82 of 102 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 62% | 66% | 68 of 102 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 16% | 15% | 39 of 102 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 3.9% | 5.6% | 62 of 102 |
| Vacant homes | 9.2% | 11% | 69 of 102 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4.6% | 17% | 90 of 102 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 34/yr | 35/yr | 53 of 102 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7.8/yr | 8.4/yr | 63 of 102 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 81/yr | 81/yr | 46 of 102 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 51/yr | 51/yr | 48 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 Sangamon 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