Harris County, Texas · Houston
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With 12% of homes built before 1960 and about 1 hard-freeze night a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 16.2 times a year here, most often in May. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
12% 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 Harris County, 11.49 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
1% of occupied homes in Harris County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
With 178 muggy nights a year, mold in Harris County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Harris County covers 1,707 square miles of eastern Texas, with about 4,838,303 residents and 1,917,790 homes. Houston is the county seat; Pasadena, Atascocita and Baytown are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1988.
50/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Harris County ranks 119 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Harris County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Harris County is milder than most of Texas, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. It averaged 5 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 1 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 232 Texas counties that's 159th.
With only about 5 freezing nights a year, many homes here aren't built for cold, so a single arctic outbreak can burst pipes across the county. The record low in this data was about 13°F, on February 16, 2021.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. About 16.2 days a year bring an inch or more (16th of 232), most often in May, out of 56.3 inches of total precipitation. On August 27, 2017, 11.49 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 26.27 inches (through August 29, 2017).
Housing
Roughly 37% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Harris among the newer housing stocks of Texas's 232 counties.
37% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of Texas. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps 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 45% 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
Harris County averages 178 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, Harris County homes break down as 42% utility gas, 55% electric, 1% 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 Harris County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Harris gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Harris | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 12% | 20% | 179 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 37% | 46% | 164 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 37% | 26% | 50 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.5% | 13% | 226 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 8.4% | 17% | 202 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1.2% | 6.5% | 224 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 3/yr | 159 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 16/yr | 7.8/yr | 16 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 5/yr | 27/yr | 206 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 178/yr | 129/yr | 29 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 Harris County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in May, June and December.
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