Freeborn County, Minnesota · Albert Lea
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Pipes freeze in Freeborn County on about 79 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 52% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in September. Freeborn County averages 7.6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Freeborn County gets about 7.6 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 90 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
20% of occupied homes in Freeborn County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Minnesota county median of 30%.
With 18 muggy nights a year, mold in Freeborn County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 14,116 homes and around 30,623 residents, Freeborn County is 707 square miles of southern Minnesota. The county seat is Albert Lea, and Clarks Grove, Alden and Glenville round out the largest towns. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1959.
65/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Freeborn County ranks 11 of 87 Minnesota counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Freeborn County ranks highest compared with other Minnesota counties.
Freeborn County is milder than most of Minnesota, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. It averaged 156 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 79 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 87 Minnesota counties that's 71st.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 31 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -30°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 13 and the last spring freeze around May 2.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Minnesota. About 7.6 days a year bring an inch or more (9th of 87), most often in September, out of 37.1 inches of total precipitation. On September 22, 2016, 4.24 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5 inches (through June 23, 2024).
About 90 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
79% of homes in Freeborn County predate 1980, above the Minnesota county median of 58.4%, which ranks 6th of Minnesota's 87 counties.
Before 1960 is when 52% of these homes went up. Galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains were standard then, and after 60-plus years both corrode and crack, often out of sight inside a wall or under a slab.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 18 times a year here, above the Minnesota county median of 13. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Freeborn County it's 65% utility gas, 13% electric, 19% propane and 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 Freeborn County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Steele and Waseca get more pipe-freeze nights than Freeborn. Faribault County has the oldest housing nearby, with 86% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Freeborn | Minnesota median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 52% | 34% | 8 of 87 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 79% | 58% | 6 of 87 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 8.9% | 21% | 81 of 87 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.4% | 3.8% | 63 of 87 |
| Vacant homes | 9% | 11% | 55 of 87 |
| Wood or propane heat | 20% | 30% | 64 of 87 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 79/yr | 89/yr | 71 of 87 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7.6/yr | 5.3/yr | 9 of 87 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 90/yr | 86/yr | 13 of 87 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 18/yr | 13/yr | 23 of 87 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Minnesota county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Freeborn County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in June, July and September.
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