Sheboygan County, Wisconsin · Sheboygan
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With 41% of homes built before 1960 and about 60 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in August. Sheboygan County averages 5.2 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
41% 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.
Sheboygan County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.49 inches, and about 92 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
10% of occupied homes in Sheboygan County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Wisconsin county median of 32.9%.
With 11 muggy nights a year, mold in Sheboygan County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 53,067 homes and around 117,991 residents, Sheboygan County is 512 square miles of southeast Wisconsin. Besides Sheboygan, the county seat, the biggest communities are Plymouth, Sheboygan Falls and Howards Grove. Half the homes here were built before 1970, half after.
43/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Sheboygan County ranks 53 of 72 Wisconsin counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Sheboygan County ranks highest compared with other Wisconsin counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Wisconsin, and pipes still freeze. It averaged 144 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 60 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 72 Wisconsin counties that's 63rd.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 27 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -25°F on January 31, 2019.
The freeze season here runs November to April, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 19 and end around May 4.
Sheboygan gets fewer downpours than most Wisconsin counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 34.6 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 5.2 days of an inch or more (58th of 72). Those downpours cluster in May, June and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.49 inches on August 27, 2018. The worst three-day stretch dropped 6.18 inches, ending August 29, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 92 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
64% of homes in Sheboygan County predate 1980, above the Wisconsin county median of 54.1%, which ranks 10th of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
41% 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.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 11 times a year here, close to the Wisconsin county median of 11. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Sheboygan County homes break down as 74% utility gas, 13% electric, 9% propane and 2% 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 Sheboygan County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Calumet, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc and Washington get more pipe-freeze nights than Sheboygan. Manitowoc County has the oldest housing nearby, with 69% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Sheboygan | Wisconsin median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 41% | 31% | 9 of 72 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 64% | 54% | 10 of 72 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 16% | 21% | 67 of 72 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.2% | 4.8% | 62 of 72 |
| Vacant homes | 6.3% | 12% | 55 of 72 |
| Wood or propane heat | 10% | 33% | 59 of 72 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 60/yr | 73/yr | 63 of 72 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.2/yr | 6.3/yr | 58 of 72 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 92/yr | 94/yr | 44 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 Sheboygan County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in May, June 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