Wharton County, Texas · Wharton
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Wharton County averages 1 night a year at 20°F or colder, mostly midwinter, and 24% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Wharton County averages 12.5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Wharton County gets about 12.5 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. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
15% of occupied homes in Wharton County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Texas county median of 6.5%.
With 182 muggy nights a year, mold in Wharton County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Wharton County covers 1,086 square miles of southeast Texas, with about 41,794 residents and 17,711 homes. Wharton is the county seat; El Campo, East Bernard and Louise are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1980.
57/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Wharton County ranks 69 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Wharton County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Wharton County is milder than most of Texas, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 1 night a year at or below 20°F (159th of 232) and 6 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
With only about 6 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. Of roughly 46 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 12.5 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 62nd of 232. April, May and June see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 5.88 inches, August 26, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 14.16 inches (through August 28, 2017).
Housing
Roughly 51% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Wharton near the middle of Texas's 232 counties.
24% were built before 1960. Homes from that era often still have galvanized steel supply pipe, which rusts from the inside until it pinholes, and cast iron drains that crack with age. Slow leaks behind walls are a common start to water damage in these houses.
About 25% 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.
Here 10% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
Beyond water
Wharton County averages 182 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Wharton County it's 25% utility gas, 59% electric, 15% propane and under 1% wood. Propane heat is more common here than in most Texas counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Wharton County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Wharton gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Jackson County has the oldest housing nearby, with 53% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Wharton | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 24% | 20% | 88 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 51% | 46% | 93 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 24% | 26% | 131 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 10% | 13% | 158 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 10% | 17% | 187 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 15% | 6.5% | 28 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 3/yr | 159 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 13/yr | 7.8/yr | 62 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 6/yr | 27/yr | 202 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 182/yr | 129/yr | 26 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 Wharton County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in April, May and June.
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