Clinton County, Ohio · Wilmington
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Clinton County averages 28 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 34% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in March. Clinton County averages 7.2 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Clinton County gets about 7.2 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 80 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
15% of occupied homes in Clinton County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Ohio county median of 15.9%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 40 times a year in Clinton County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 42,012 people live in Clinton County, 409 square miles in southwest Ohio, in roughly 18,039 homes. The county seat is Wilmington, and Blanchester, Sabina and New Vienna round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1977.
52/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Clinton County ranks 39 of 88 Ohio counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Clinton County ranks highest compared with other Ohio counties.
Clinton County is milder than most of Ohio, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 28 nights a year at or below 20°F (63rd of 88) and 100 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 13 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near -9°F on February 24, 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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 31 and the last spring freeze around Apr 21.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Ohio. The county gets about 45.4 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 7.2 days of an inch or more (13th of 88). Those downpours cluster in February, March and June, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.79 inches on June 24, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 3.77 inches (through June 18, 2019).
About 80 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
53% of homes in Clinton County predate 1980, below the Ohio county median of 61.1%, which ranks 63rd of Ohio's 88 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 34% of homes are pre-1960 and 19% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
28% date from 1980 to 1999, the window when polybutylene, a gray flexible plastic supply pipe, was used in some homes. It's prone to leaks at the fittings, so it's worth checking for in a house from those years.
Beyond water
About 40 nights a year in Clinton County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (24th of 88 counties). June 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Clinton County homes break down as 35% utility gas, 44% electric, 14% propane and 2% 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 Clinton County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Fayette and Highland get more pipe-freeze nights than Clinton. Fayette County has the oldest housing nearby, with 66% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Clinton | Ohio median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 34% | 37% | 50 of 88 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 53% | 61% | 63 of 88 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 19% | 17% | 29 of 88 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 6.5% | 5.9% | 36 of 88 |
| Vacant homes | 7.1% | 8.4% | 55 of 88 |
| Wood or propane heat | 15% | 16% | 49 of 88 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 28/yr | 31/yr | 63 of 88 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7.2/yr | 5.7/yr | 13 of 88 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 80/yr | 82/yr | 55 of 88 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 40/yr | 35/yr | 24 of 88 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Ohio county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Clinton County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in February, March and June.
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