Zavala County, Texas · Crystal City
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Pipes freeze in Zavala County on about 1 night a year, mostly midwinter. Older homes, 19% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in September. Zavala County averages 5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Zavala County spike on heavy-rain days, about 5 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Zavala County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.1 inches.
4% of occupied homes in Zavala County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 169 times a year in Zavala County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 3,946 homes and around 9,412 residents, Zavala County is 1,297 square miles of southern Texas. Besides Crystal City, the county seat, the biggest communities are La Pryor, Batesville and Loma Grande. The county's median home was built in 1979.
40/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Zavala County ranks 194 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Zavala County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Zavala 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 10 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
With only about 10 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 14°F, on February 16, 2021.
Zavala gets fewer downpours than most Texas counties, but they still fill basements. About 5 days a year bring an inch or more (170th of 232), most often in September, out of 20.8 inches of total precipitation. On October 9, 2015, 3.1 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.62 inches (through September 28, 2017).
Housing
Roughly 51% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Zavala near the middle of Texas's 232 counties.
The mix runs from 19% built before 1960 to 18% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
About 31% 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 23% 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
Zavala County averages 169 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 Zavala County it's 9% utility gas, 87% electric, 4% 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 Zavala County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Zavala 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 | Zavala | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 19% | 20% | 120 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 51% | 46% | 92 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 18% | 26% | 168 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 23% | 13% | 33 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 17% | 17% | 109 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 3.7% | 6.5% | 175 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 1/yr | 3/yr | 159 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5/yr | 7.8/yr | 170 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 10/yr | 27/yr | 182 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 169/yr | 129/yr | 39 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 Zavala County: freezing from midwinter, heavy rain in May, August and September.
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