El Paso County, Texas · El Paso
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El Paso County averages 1 night a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to January, and 16% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in July. El Paso County averages 0.6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which El Paso County gets about 0.6 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 46 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
2% of occupied homes in El Paso County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
With 96 muggy nights a year, mold in El Paso County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 323,571 homes and around 870,779 residents, El Paso County is 1,014 square miles of western Texas. Besides El Paso, the county seat, the biggest communities are Socorro, Horizon City and Fort Bliss. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1988.
21/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Lower El Paso County ranks 232 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where El Paso County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
El Paso County is milder than most of Texas, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. From 2015–2024 it averaged 1 night a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 46 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 159th of 232 counties.
The freeze season here runs December to January, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 17 and the last spring freeze around Feb 27.
El Paso gets fewer downpours than most Texas counties, but they still fill basements. About 0.6 days a year bring an inch or more (229th of 232), most often in July, out of 8.7 inches of total precipitation. On October 24, 2018, 1.99 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 2.16 inches (through August 22, 2022).
About 46 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 39% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts El Paso among the newer housing stocks of Texas's 232 counties.
Since 2000 the county has added enough housing that 34% of homes are that new. Modern PEX and copper rarely fail on their own; the leaks come from connections, appliances and storms.
About 27% 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.
Renters occupy 36% 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
About 96 nights a year in El Paso County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (193rd of 232 counties). August 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 expectMain heating fuel in El Paso County's occupied homes: 71% utility gas, 26% electric, 2% propane and under 1% 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 El Paso County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Every neighboring county gets more pipe-freeze nights than El Paso. All of its neighbors see more heavy-rain days. Hudspeth County has the oldest housing nearby, with 45% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | El Paso | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 16% | 20% | 145 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 39% | 46% | 158 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 34% | 26% | 61 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 5.4% | 13% | 203 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 7.4% | 17% | 213 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1.9% | 6.5% | 208 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 3/yr | 159 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 0.6/yr | 7.8/yr | 229 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 46/yr | 27/yr | 45 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 96/yr | 129/yr | 193 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 El Paso County: freezing from December to January, heavy rain in July, August 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