Smith County, Texas · Tyler
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With 18% of homes built before 1960 and about 3 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in April. Smith County averages 14.7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Smith County spike on heavy-rain days, about 14.7 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Smith County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 5.26 inches, and about 28 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
4% of occupied homes in Smith County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
With 128 muggy nights a year, mold in Smith County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 241,740 people live in Smith County, 921 square miles in eastern Texas, in roughly 99,673 homes. Tyler is the county seat; Whitehouse, Lindale and Bullard are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1986.
58/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Smith County ranks 63 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Smith County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
For frozen pipes, Smith County is a typical Texas county, which is still plenty. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 3 nights a year at or below 20°F (94th of 232) and 29 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 6 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -2°F on February 16, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs midwinter. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 18 and the last spring freeze around Feb 26.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. About 14.7 days a year bring an inch or more (35th of 232), most often in April, out of 50.7 inches of total precipitation. On March 9, 2016, 5.26 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.67 inches (through March 11, 2016).
About 28 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
Texas's 232 counties range widely in housing age; Smith ranks 146th, with 42% of its homes built before 1980.
Growth since 2000 added 33% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
About 26% 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 11% of the housing here. Water lines in the underbelly depend on intact skirting and working heat tape, and they're usually the first to freeze in a cold snap.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 128 times a year here, close to the Texas county median of 129. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Smith County it's 36% utility gas, 59% electric, 3% 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 Smith County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Smith gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Gregg County has the oldest housing nearby, with 50% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Smith | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 18% | 20% | 126 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 42% | 46% | 146 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 33% | 26% | 68 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 11% | 13% | 151 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 17% | 17% | 115 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 3.9% | 6.5% | 167 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 3/yr | 3/yr | 94 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 15/yr | 7.8/yr | 35 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 28/yr | 27/yr | 107 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 128/yr | 129/yr | 119 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 Smith County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in March, April and May.
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