Travis County, Texas · Austin
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Travis County averages 1 night a year at 20°F or colder, mostly midwinter, and 7% of its homes predate 1960.
May brings the most downpours to Travis County, part of 9.3 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
7% 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 Travis County, 4.59 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
3% of occupied homes in Travis County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
About 151 nights a year here stay at 65°F or warmer, so basements and crawl spaces can grow mold even without a leak.
Local risk profile
With 618,236 homes and around 1,330,015 residents, Travis County is 994 square miles of eastern Texas. The county seat is Austin, and Pflugerville, Lakeway and Steiner Ranch round out the largest towns. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1999.
35/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Travis County ranks 211 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Travis County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Travis 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 15 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 159th of 232 counties.
On February 16, 2021 the low fell to about 6°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 5 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
With only about 15 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 6°F, on February 16, 2021.
Rainfall is about average for Texas. The county gets about 35.1 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 9.3 days of an inch or more (96th of 232). Those downpours cluster in April, May and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.59 inches on October 24, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.83 inches (through October 25, 2015).
Housing
Roughly 24% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Travis among the newer housing stocks of Texas's 232 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 48% 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.
28% 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.
Renters occupy 48% 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 151 nights a year in Travis County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (65th of 232 counties). May is the wettest month. 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, Travis County homes break down as 39% utility gas, 57% electric, 3% propane and under 1% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Travis County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Blanco, Burnet and Williamson get more pipe-freeze nights than Travis. Caldwell County has the oldest housing nearby, with 34% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Travis | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 6.7% | 20% | 212 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 24% | 46% | 206 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 48% | 26% | 18 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.8% | 13% | 223 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 5.6% | 17% | 223 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 2.9% | 6.5% | 193 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 3/yr | 159 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 9.3/yr | 7.8/yr | 96 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 14/yr | 27/yr | 168 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 151/yr | 129/yr | 65 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 Travis County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in April, May 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