Jefferson County, Texas · Beaumont
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Beaumont, Port Arthur and Nederland. 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 17% of homes built before 1960 and about 0 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
May brings the most downpours to Jefferson County, part of 17.8 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
17% 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.
Jefferson County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 11.34 inches.
1% of occupied homes in Jefferson County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
With 178 muggy nights a year, mold in Jefferson County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 109,884 homes and around 253,878 residents, Jefferson County is 877 square miles of eastern Texas. Besides Beaumont, the county seat, the biggest communities are Port Arthur, Nederland and Groves. Half the homes here were built before 1978, half after.
53/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Jefferson County ranks 95 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Jefferson County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Texas, and pipes still freeze. It averaged 4 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 0 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 205th.
Hard freezes are uncommon here, about 4 nights a year at or below 32°F, and that's exactly why they do damage: pipes in attics, exterior walls and slab-edge plumbing are rarely insulated. The coldest night in the record was about 16°F on February 16, 2021.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. The county gets about 67.4 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 17.8 days of an inch or more (5th of 232). Those downpours cluster in May, June and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 11.34 inches on August 28, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 28.34 inches, ending August 30, 2017, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Housing
54% of homes in Jefferson County predate 1980, above the Texas county median of 45.8%, which ranks 74th of Texas's 232 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 17% of homes are pre-1960 and 25% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
Renters occupy 38% 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
Jefferson County averages 178 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in August. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Jefferson County it's 39% utility gas, 59% 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 Jefferson County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Hardin, Liberty and Orange get more pipe-freeze nights than Jefferson. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Jefferson | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 17% | 20% | 130 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 54% | 46% | 74 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 25% | 26% | 125 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 3.4% | 13% | 220 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 17% | 145 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1.4% | 6.5% | 219 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 0/yr | 3/yr | 205 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 18/yr | 7.8/yr | 5 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 4/yr | 27/yr | 212 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 Jefferson County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in May, June and August.
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