Phillips County, Kansas · Phillipsburg
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With 49% of homes built before 1960 and about 53 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
May brings the most downpours to Phillips County, part of 3.8 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
49% 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 Phillips County, 2.9 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
16% of occupied homes in Phillips County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
With 40 muggy nights a year, mold in Phillips County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 4,813 people live in Phillips County, 886 square miles in northern Kansas, in roughly 2,790 homes. The county seat is Phillipsburg, and Logan, Agra and Prairie View round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1961.
51/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Phillips County ranks 57 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Phillips County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Phillips is on the colder side of Kansas for pipes. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 53 nights a year at or below 20°F (14th of 105) and 139 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
On February 15, 2021 the low fell to about -22°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 13 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
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 18 and the last spring freeze around Apr 26.
Phillips gets fewer downpours than most Kansas counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 22.8 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 3.8 days of an inch or more (82nd of 105). Those downpours cluster in May, July and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.9 inches on April 17, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.09 inches (through April 18, 2016).
About 117 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
Roughly 83% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Phillips among the oldest housing stocks of Kansas's 105 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 49% of homes are pre-1960 and 5% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
The Census counted 19% of homes as vacant, above the Kansas county median of 14.9%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 40 times a year here, below the Kansas county median of 59. 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, Phillips County homes break down as 65% utility gas, 15% electric, 15% propane and 2% 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 Phillips County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Norton gets more pipe-freeze nights than Phillips. Smith County has the oldest housing nearby, with 84% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Phillips | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 49% | 48% | 48 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 83% | 74% | 16 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 4.5% | 11% | 97 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 3.4% | 5.6% | 81 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 19% | 15% | 30 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 16% | 17% | 59 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 53/yr | 39/yr | 14 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 3.8/yr | 6.8/yr | 82 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 117/yr | 97/yr | 22 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 40/yr | 59/yr | 82 of 105 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Kansas county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Phillips County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, 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