Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri · Ste. Genevieve
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With 19% of homes built before 1960 and about 24 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 11 times a year here, most often in March. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
19% 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 Ste. Genevieve County, 4.41 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
34% of occupied homes in Ste. Genevieve County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Missouri county median of 24.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 68 times a year in Ste. Genevieve County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Ste. Genevieve County covers 499 square miles of eastern Missouri, with about 18,571 residents and 8,326 homes. Ste. Genevieve is the county seat; Bloomsdale, Grayhawk and Ozora are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1981.
43/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Ste. Genevieve County ranks 82 of 114 Missouri counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Ste. Genevieve County ranks highest compared with other Missouri counties.
For frozen pipes, Ste. Genevieve County is a typical Missouri county, which is still plenty. It averaged 89 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 24 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 114 Missouri counties that's 70th.
On December 23, 2022 the low fell to about -5°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 12 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 February. 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 25 and the last spring freeze around Apr 6.
Rainfall is about average for Missouri. The county gets about 46.4 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 11 days of an inch or more (48th of 114). Those downpours cluster in March, May and July, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.41 inches on April 30, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 8.17 inches (through May 1, 2017).
About 76 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 48% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Ste. Genevieve near the middle of Missouri's 114 counties.
The mix runs from 19% built before 1960 to 20% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
About 32% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
Here 11% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
Beyond water
About 68 nights a year in Ste. Genevieve County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (37th of 114 counties). May is the wettest month. Keep indoor humidity under 60%, as the EPA advises, and dry any leak within 24 to 48 hours; in a humid month a wet basement left alone won't dry by itself.
Mold remediation: what to expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Ste. Genevieve County it's 19% utility gas, 46% electric, 23% propane and 11% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than in most Missouri counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Ste. Genevieve County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
St. Francois gets more pipe-freeze nights than Ste. Genevieve. Perry County has the oldest housing nearby, with 54% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Ste. Genevieve | Missouri median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 19% | 25% | 85 of 114 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 48% | 53% | 72 of 114 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 20% | 21% | 70 of 114 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 11% | 9.8% | 46 of 114 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 15% | 64 of 114 |
| Wood or propane heat | 34% | 25% | 35 of 114 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 24/yr | 28/yr | 70 of 114 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 10/yr | 48 of 114 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 76/yr | 77/yr | 61 of 114 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 68/yr | 65/yr | 37 of 114 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Missouri county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Ste. Genevieve County: freezing from November to February, heavy rain in March, May and July.
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