Payne County, Oklahoma · Stillwater
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Pipes freeze in Payne County on about 16 nights a year, mostly December to February. Older homes, 18% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Payne County averages 10.6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Payne County gets about 10.6 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 69 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
8% of occupied homes in Payne County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Oklahoma county median of 12.5%.
With 96 muggy nights a year, mold in Payne County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 37,069 homes and around 82,972 residents, Payne County is 685 square miles of northeast Oklahoma. The county seat is Stillwater, and Cushing, Perkins and Yale round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1984.
49/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Payne County ranks 47 of 77 Oklahoma counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Payne County ranks highest compared with other Oklahoma counties.
Payne is on the colder side of Oklahoma for pipes. It averaged 75 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 16 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 77 Oklahoma counties that's 23rd.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 10 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -15°F on February 17, 2021.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December 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 Nov 5 and the last spring freeze around Apr 6.
Rainfall is about average for Oklahoma. Of roughly 37.4 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 10.6 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 40th of 77. April, May and October see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 6.06 inches, May 21, 2019. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.01 inches (through May 21, 2019).
About 69 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
Oklahoma's 77 counties range widely in housing age; Payne ranks 58th, with 45% of its homes built before 1980.
Growth since 2000 added 32% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
About 23% 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 8% 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.
Renters occupy 49% 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
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 96 times a year here, close to the Oklahoma county median of 98. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Payne County's occupied homes: 44% utility gas, 47% 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 Payne County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Noble and Pawnee get more pipe-freeze nights than Payne. Noble County has the oldest housing nearby, with 60% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Payne | Oklahoma median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 18% | 24% | 52 of 77 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 45% | 55% | 58 of 77 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 32% | 22% | 9 of 77 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 8.1% | 12% | 62 of 77 |
| Vacant homes | 12% | 17% | 62 of 77 |
| Wood or propane heat | 7.5% | 13% | 59 of 77 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 16/yr | 13/yr | 23 of 77 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 11/yr | 40 of 77 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 69/yr | 65/yr | 25 of 77 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 96/yr | 98/yr | 44 of 77 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Oklahoma county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Payne County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in April, May and October.
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