Brown County, Wisconsin · Green Bay
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Green Bay, De Pere and Howard. 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 22% of homes built before 1960 and about 64 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 6.3 times a year here, most often in August. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Brown County gets about 6.3 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Brown County, 3.42 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
4% of occupied homes in Brown County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Wisconsin county median of 32.9%.
About 11 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
About 270,892 people live in Brown County, 530 square miles in eastern Wisconsin, in roughly 115,493 homes. Besides Green Bay, the county seat, the biggest communities are De Pere, Howard and Ashwaubenon. Half the homes here were built before 1981, half after.
31/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Brown County ranks 68 of 72 Wisconsin counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Brown County ranks highest compared with other Wisconsin counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Wisconsin, and pipes still freeze. From 2015–2024 it averaged 64 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 143 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 52nd of 72 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 19 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near -23°F on January 31, 2019.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November to March. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 20 and end around May 6.
Rainfall is about average for Wisconsin. The county gets about 36 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 6.3 days of an inch or more (36th of 72). Those downpours cluster in May, August and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.42 inches on October 23, 2020. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.94 inches, ending August 29, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 87 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
Wisconsin's 72 counties range widely in housing age; Brown ranks 58th, with 48% of its homes built before 1980.
Since 2000 the county has added enough housing that 25% of homes are that new. Modern PEX and copper rarely fail on their own; the leaks come from connections, appliances and storms.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 26% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
Renters occupy 34% 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 11 nights a year in Brown County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (33rd of 72 counties). August is the wettest month. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Brown County's occupied homes: 72% utility gas, 21% 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 Brown County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Door, Oconto, Outagamie and Shawano get more pipe-freeze nights than Brown. Manitowoc County has the oldest housing nearby, with 69% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Brown | Wisconsin median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 22% | 31% | 63 of 72 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 48% | 54% | 58 of 72 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 25% | 21% | 13 of 72 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 1.4% | 4.8% | 65 of 72 |
| Vacant homes | 3.9% | 12% | 66 of 72 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4.4% | 33% | 68 of 72 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 64/yr | 73/yr | 52 of 72 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.3/yr | 6.3/yr | 36 of 72 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 87/yr | 94/yr | 70 of 72 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 11/yr | 11/yr | 33 of 72 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Wisconsin county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Brown County: freezing from November to March, 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