Highland County, Ohio · Hillsboro
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Highland County averages 29 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 32% of its homes predate 1960.
February brings the most downpours to Highland County, part of 9.2 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
32% 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 Highland County, 2.98 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
22% of occupied homes in Highland County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Ohio county median of 15.9%.
With 35 muggy nights a year, mold in Highland County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 43,517 people live in Highland County, 553 square miles in southwest Ohio, in roughly 19,036 homes. Hillsboro is the county seat; Greenfield, Lynchburg and Leesburg are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1979.
51/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Highland County ranks 42 of 88 Ohio counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Highland County ranks highest compared with other Ohio counties.
For frozen pipes, Highland County is a typical Ohio county, which is still plenty. From 2015–2024 it averaged 29 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 103 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 56th of 88 counties.
The longest cold spell was straight 13 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in January 2018. The coldest night reached about -10°F on February 21, 2015. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
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 23 and the last spring freeze around Apr 21.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Ohio. About 9.2 days a year bring an inch or more (2nd of 88), most often in February, out of 48.1 inches of total precipitation. On June 24, 2017, 2.98 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.25 inches (through September 29, 2024).
About 86 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 51% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Highland among the newer housing stocks of Ohio's 88 counties.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 32% predate 1960 and 18% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
31% 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 14% of the housing here. Water lines in the underbelly depend on intact skirting and working heat tape, and they're usually the first to freeze in a cold snap.
11% of homes were vacant at survey time. A leak in an empty rental or seasonal house can run for days before anyone notices, which is why those losses tend to be larger.
Beyond water
Highland County averages 35 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in June. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Highland County's occupied homes: 24% utility gas, 47% electric, 15% propane and 7% wood. Wood heat is above the Ohio norm. Annual chimney and vent inspection, which the NFPA recommends, is one of the most effective fire-prevention habits for these homes.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Highland County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Fayette gets more pipe-freeze nights than Highland. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Fayette County has the oldest housing nearby, with 66% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Highland | Ohio median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 32% | 37% | 62 of 88 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 51% | 61% | 73 of 88 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 18% | 17% | 35 of 88 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 14% | 5.9% | 15 of 88 |
| Vacant homes | 11% | 8.4% | 23 of 88 |
| Wood or propane heat | 22% | 16% | 24 of 88 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 29/yr | 31/yr | 56 of 88 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 9.2/yr | 5.7/yr | 2 of 88 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 86/yr | 82/yr | 20 of 88 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 35/yr | 35/yr | 42 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 Highland 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