Clearfield County, Pennsylvania · Clearfield
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With 43% of homes built before 1960 and about 47 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 5.6 times a year here, most often in September. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
43% 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 Clearfield County, 2.7 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
11% of occupied homes in Clearfield County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Pennsylvania county median of 10%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 9 times a year in Clearfield County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 78,635 people live in Clearfield County, 1,145 square miles in central Pennsylvania, in roughly 38,198 homes. The county seat is Clearfield, and DuBois, Treasure Lake and Curwensville round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1970.
46/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Clearfield County ranks 42 of 67 Pennsylvania counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Clearfield County ranks highest compared with other Pennsylvania counties.
Clearfield is on the colder side of Pennsylvania for pipes. It averaged 138 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 47 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 67 Pennsylvania counties that's 15th.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 17 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -16°F on February 24, 2015.
Most freezing nights fall from November to March, peaking in January. Disconnect garden hoses and shut off outdoor spigots before the first hard frost, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher if you'll be away.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 15 and the last spring freeze around May 9.
Clearfield gets fewer downpours than most Pennsylvania counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 44.9 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 5.6 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 58th of 67. August, September and November see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 2.7 inches, September 10, 2018. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.85 inches (through September 11, 2018).
About 105 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
65% of homes in Clearfield County predate 1980, close to the Pennsylvania county median of 66%, which ranks 36th of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 43% of homes are pre-1960 and 12% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
23% 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.
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.
The Census counted 15% of homes as vacant, above the Pennsylvania county median of 11.6%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
Clearfield County averages 9 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Clearfield County homes break down as 29% utility gas, 13% electric, 7% propane and 4% 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 Clearfield County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Cameron and Elk get more pipe-freeze nights than Clearfield. Cambria County has the oldest housing nearby, with 80% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Clearfield | Pennsylvania median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 43% | 42% | 30 of 67 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 65% | 66% | 36 of 67 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 12% | 13% | 40 of 67 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 11% | 6.6% | 11 of 67 |
| Vacant homes | 15% | 12% | 24 of 67 |
| Wood or propane heat | 11% | 10% | 31 of 67 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 47/yr | 37/yr | 15 of 67 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.6/yr | 7/yr | 58 of 67 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 105/yr | 98/yr | 11 of 67 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 9/yr | 16/yr | 51 of 67 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Pennsylvania county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Clearfield County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in August, September and November.
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