Racine County, Wisconsin · Racine
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With 40% of homes built before 1960 and about 49 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in October. Racine County averages 6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
40% 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.
Racine County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.18 inches, and about 89 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
4% of occupied homes in Racine County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Wisconsin county median of 32.9%.
About 21 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 197,532 people live in Racine County, 333 square miles in southeast Wisconsin, in roughly 85,658 homes. The county seat is Racine, and Mount Pleasant, Caledonia and Burlington round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1968, half after.
51/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Racine County ranks 38 of 72 Wisconsin counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Racine 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 49 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 130 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 70th of 72 counties.
On January 31, 2019 the low fell to about -24°F, and in the stretch ending March 2015 the county went 19 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
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 19 and end around May 3.
Rainfall is about average for Wisconsin. About 6 days a year bring an inch or more (42nd of 72), most often in October, out of 36.8 inches of total precipitation. On September 12, 2022, 4.18 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.56 inches, ending September 13, 2022, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 89 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
Roughly 66% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Racine among the oldest housing stocks of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
In Racine County 40% of homes are older than 1960. If yours is one of them and the plumbing has never been replaced, expect galvanized steel supply pipe and cast iron drain lines, the two materials most likely to fail quietly.
Beyond water
Racine County averages 21 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. Keep indoor humidity under 60%, as the EPA advises, and dry any leak within 24 to 48 hours; in a humid month a wet basement left alone won't dry by itself.
Mold remediation: what to expectMain heating fuel in Racine County's occupied homes: 76% utility gas, 18% electric, 4% 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 Racine County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Walworth and Waukesha get more pipe-freeze nights than Racine. Milwaukee County has the oldest housing nearby, with 79% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Racine | Wisconsin median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 40% | 31% | 11 of 72 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 66% | 54% | 4 of 72 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 14% | 21% | 70 of 72 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 0.9% | 4.8% | 68 of 72 |
| Vacant homes | 6.1% | 12% | 57 of 72 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4.3% | 33% | 69 of 72 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 49/yr | 73/yr | 70 of 72 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6/yr | 6.3/yr | 42 of 72 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 89/yr | 94/yr | 65 of 72 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 21/yr | 11/yr | 8 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 Racine County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in July, September and October.
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