Wright County, Iowa · Clarion
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Wright County averages 72 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 50% of its homes predate 1960.
August brings the most downpours to Wright County, part of 6.5 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
50% 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 Wright County, 2.51 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
19% of occupied homes in Wright County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Iowa county median of 22.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 17 times a year in Wright County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 12,791 people live in Wright County, 580 square miles in northern Iowa, in roughly 6,278 homes. Clarion is the county seat; Eagle Grove, Belmond and Goldfield are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1960.
50/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Wright County ranks 49 of 99 Iowa counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Wright County ranks highest compared with other Iowa counties.
Wright is on the colder side of Iowa for pipes. It averaged 152 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 72 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 99 Iowa counties that's 18th.
The longest cold spell was straight 18 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -26°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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 13 and the last spring freeze around May 1.
Wright gets fewer downpours than most Iowa counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 34.2 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 6.5 days of an inch or more (71st of 99). Those downpours cluster in May, June and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.51 inches on August 29, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.06 inches (through September 21, 2018).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 96 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 80% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Wright among the oldest housing stocks of Iowa's 99 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 50% of homes are pre-1960 and 10% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
15% of homes were vacant at survey time. A leak in an empty rental or seasonal house can run for days before anyone notices, which is why those losses tend to be larger.
Beyond water
About 17 nights a year in Wright County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (92nd of 99 counties). May 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 expectMain heating fuel in Wright County's occupied homes: 60% utility gas, 20% electric, 19% 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 Wright County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Hancock gets more pipe-freeze nights than Wright. Franklin County has the oldest housing nearby, with 85% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Wright | Iowa median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 50% | 48% | 39 of 99 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 80% | 73% | 17 of 99 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 9.9% | 13% | 78 of 99 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 0.9% | 3.2% | 94 of 99 |
| Vacant homes | 15% | 9.5% | 15 of 99 |
| Wood or propane heat | 19% | 22% | 70 of 99 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 72/yr | 62/yr | 18 of 99 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.5/yr | 7.1/yr | 71 of 99 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 96/yr | 94/yr | 24 of 99 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 17/yr | 29/yr | 92 of 99 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Iowa county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Wright County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, June 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