Archer County, Texas · Archer City
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Holliday, Lakeside City and Archer City. Start the steps below while you wait.
Answered 24/7 by a participating local provider. We're a referral service and don't do the work ourselves. How it works
Start here
Pick the closest match. These steps limit the damage and protect your insurance claim. Skip anything that isn't safe.
With 23% of homes built before 1960 and about 6 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
May brings the most downpours to Archer County, part of 8.9 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
23% 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 Archer County, 3.79 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
18% of occupied homes in Archer County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Texas county median of 6.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 113 times a year in Archer County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 8,867 people live in Archer County, 903 square miles in northern Texas, in roughly 3,966 homes. The county seat is Archer City, and Holliday, Lakeside City and Scotland round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1982.
60/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Archer County ranks 41 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Archer County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Archer is on the colder side of Texas for pipes. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 6 nights a year at or below 20°F (44th of 232) and 45 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 10 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -6°F on February 16, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Most freezing nights fall from January, 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 Nov 14 and the last spring freeze around Mar 8.
Rainfall is about average for Texas. About 8.9 days a year bring an inch or more (100th of 232), most often in May, out of 33.1 inches of total precipitation. On May 20, 2015, 3.79 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.9 inches (through May 8, 2015).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 42 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
46% of homes in Archer County predate 1980, close to the Texas county median of 45.8%, which ranks 113th of Texas's 232 counties.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 23% predate 1960 and 20% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
34% 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.
10% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, below the Texas county median of 13.4%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 113 times a year here, below the Texas county median of 129. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, ideally 30 to 50%. Basements can pass 60% on their own in summer, so a dehumidifier matters even without a leak, and anything wet should be dried within 24 to 48 hours.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Archer County homes break down as 16% utility gas, 65% electric, 17% propane and under 1% wood. Propane heat is more common here than the state median. Have chimneys swept and fuel-burning appliances serviced each fall, and keep three feet clear around stoves and space heaters.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Archer County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Baylor, Clay and Wichita get more pipe-freeze nights than Archer. Baylor County has the oldest housing nearby, with 74% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Archer | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 23% | 20% | 98 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 46% | 46% | 113 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 20% | 26% | 161 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 10% | 13% | 159 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 17% | 158 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 18% | 6.5% | 12 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 6/yr | 3/yr | 44 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.9/yr | 7.8/yr | 100 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 42/yr | 27/yr | 50 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 113/yr | 129/yr | 166 of 232 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Texas county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Archer County: freezing from January, heavy rain in May, June 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