Ingham County, Michigan · Mason
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Ingham County averages 44 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 36% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Ingham County averages 5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Ingham County spike on heavy-rain days, about 5 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 93 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
8% of occupied homes in Ingham County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Michigan county median of 29%.
With 20 muggy nights a year, mold in Ingham County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 283,913 people live in Ingham County, 556 square miles in southwest Michigan, in roughly 126,232 homes. Besides Mason, the county seat, the biggest communities are Lansing, East Lansing and Okemos. Half the homes here were built before 1971, half after.
59/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Ingham County ranks 21 of 83 Michigan counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Ingham County ranks highest compared with other Michigan counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Michigan, and pipes still freeze. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 44 nights a year at or below 20°F (58th of 83) and 132 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 21 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -18°F on February 20, 2015.
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.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 21 and end around Apr 30.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Michigan. Of roughly 36.2 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 5 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 16th of 83. May, June and August see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.56 inches, August 16, 2016. The worst three-day stretch dropped 3.98 inches, ending August 18, 2016, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 93 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 65% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Ingham among the oldest housing stocks of Michigan's 83 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 36% of homes are pre-1960 and 15% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
Renters occupy 41% 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
Ingham County averages 20 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in August. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Ingham County it's 69% utility gas, 21% electric, 7% 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 Ingham County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Livingston gets more pipe-freeze nights than Ingham. Shiawassee County has the oldest housing nearby, with 70% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Ingham | Michigan median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 36% | 32% | 29 of 83 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 65% | 58% | 25 of 83 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 15% | 16% | 49 of 83 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.6% | 7.3% | 79 of 83 |
| Vacant homes | 7.2% | 20% | 69 of 83 |
| Wood or propane heat | 7.6% | 29% | 75 of 83 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 44/yr | 54/yr | 58 of 83 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5/yr | 3.9/yr | 16 of 83 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 93/yr | 95/yr | 48 of 83 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 20/yr | 10/yr | 20 of 83 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Michigan county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Ingham 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