Research
Gutter and rainfall statistics by city
The median home in Cincinnati was built in 1951 and in South Bend in 1955, against 1998 in Cumming, and tree canopy covers 49% of the land in Macon-Bibb County but 18% in South Bend, Census Bureau and U.S. Forest Service data show.
By Top Rated Gutters · Published
The numbers that decide how hard gutters work, in one place: how much rain falls and how hard, how cold the winters get, how old the houses are and how many trees grow over them. Weather figures are for the official station in each of our five service areas; home age and tree canopy are for each city and town we serve.
Key numbers
1951
Median year built of homes in Cincinnati, against 1955 in South Bend and 1998 in Cumming.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
49%
Share of Macon-Bibb County's land under tree canopy, against 31% in Cincinnati and 18% in South Bend.
Source: USDA Forest Service NLCD Tree Canopy Cover, 2025; our calculation
56.37 inches
Rain a year in Cumming, the wettest of our five areas; 39.23 in South Bend.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals
126.4 nights
Nights a year at or below 32°F in South Bend; 35.7 at Atlanta's airport.
Source: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals
Rain, storms and winter by service area
One NOAA weather station per service area. Rain, snow and freezing nights are 1991-2020 normals; storm figures are NOAA Atlas 14 estimates for a 10-year storm; recent heavy-rain days are our count from NOAA's daily records for 2011-2025.
| Service area (weather station) | Rain a year, inches | Days with 1 in. or more of rain | Same, average 2011-2025 | 10-year storm, 5-minute rate, in./hr | 10-year storm, rain in 1 hour, inches | Snow a year, inches | Freezing nights a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast GeorgiaCumming 2N (NOAA cooperative station) | 56.37 | 17.5 | not counted | 8.0 | 2.11 | 0.6 | 67.2 |
| Northwest Georgia and metro AtlantaAtlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport | 50.43 | 14.9 | 15.3 | 7.7 | 2.18 | 2.2 | 35.7 |
| Central GeorgiaMacon Middle Georgia Regional Airport | 46.91 | 14.0 | 13.7 | 8.1 | 2.43 | not published | 43.8 |
| CincinnatiCincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), Hebron, KY | 45.26 | 10.8 | 12.6 | 7.1 | 1.99 | 23.3 | 99.8 |
| South Bend and southwest MichiganSouth Bend International Airport | 39.23 | 7.5 | 8.4 | 7.2 | 2.01 | 64.5 | 126.4 |
Each column is explained in the study it comes from:
- How much rain your roof sheds, in a year and in a hard storm (rain a year, days with 1 inch or more, storm figures)
- Are big downpours more common? Days with 1 inch or more of rain, 1991-2025 (heavy-rain days, 1991-2025)
- Snow, freeze and ice dams: why northern gutters fail differently (snow and freezing nights)
Home age and tree canopy in the 65 communities we serve
Median year built and the share of homes built before 1980 are Census Bureau estimates for 2020-2024, with their margin of error (±) at 90% confidence. Tree canopy is the share of each community's land under tree cover in 2025, from Forest Service satellite data.
| Community | Median year built | Homes built before 1980 | Tree canopy, share of land (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast Georgia | |||
| Cumming, GA | 1998 ±5 | 17% ±6 | 29% |
| Alpharetta, GA | 1996 ±1 | 8% ±1 | 37% |
| Dawsonville, GA | 2006 ±3 | 15% ±8 | 60% |
| Duluth, GA | 1994 ±1 | 12% ±3 | 32% |
| Flowery Branch, GA | 2012 ±2 | 6% ±3 | 34% |
| Gainesville, GA | 1994 ±3 | 28% ±4 | 45% |
| Johns Creek, GA | 1995 ±1 | 4% ±1 | 38% |
| Milton, GA | 2002 ±2 | 5% ±2 | 49% |
| Oakwood, GA | 2004 ±4 | 12% ±6 | 25% |
| Roswell, GA | 1989 ±2 | 22% ±2 | 48% |
| Suwanee, GA | 2003 ±2 | 3% ±1 | 38% |
| Northwest Georgia and metro Atlanta | |||
| Marietta, GA | 1987 ±2 | 33% ±3 | 30% |
| Acworth, GA | 2000 ±1 | 14% ±3 | 41% |
| Atlanta, GA | 1989 ±2 | 43% ±1 | 41% |
| Ball Ground, GA | 2007 ±3 | 19% ±8 | 62% |
| Canton, GA | 2005 ±1 | 13% ±3 | 48% |
| Cartersville, GA | 1990 ±3 | 33% ±5 | 39% |
| Dallas, GA | 2002 ±2 | 17% ±5 | 44% |
| Kennesaw, GA | 1998 ±2 | 11% ±2 | 31% |
| Mableton, GA | 1988 ±2 | 35% ±3 | 44% |
| Powder Springs, GA | 1996 ±3 | 15% ±5 | 38% |
| Sandy Springs, GA | 1989 ±2 | 29% ±2 | 52% |
| Smyrna, GA | 1990 ±2 | 28% ±3 | 38% |
| Vinings, GA | 1996 ±3 | 21% ±4 | 43% |
| Woodstock, GA | 2005 ±2 | 7% ±2 | 39% |
| Central Georgia | |||
| Macon, GA (Macon-Bibb County) | 1977 ±2 | 55% ±2 | 49% |
| Byron, GA | 2006 ±3 | 15% ±6 | 29% |
| Centerville, GA | 2001 ±4 | 27% ±10 | 26% |
| Forsyth, GA | sample too small | sample too small | 51% |
| Juliette, GA | sample too small | sample too small | 70% |
| Perry, GA | 2003 ±3 | 30% ±6 | 25% |
| Warner Robins, GA | 1989 ±2 | 37% ±3 | 25% |
| Cincinnati | |||
| Cincinnati, OH | 1951 ±2 | 80% ±2 | 31% |
| Blue Ash, OH | 1981 ±2 | 46% ±6 | 20% |
| Indian Hill, OH | 1974 ±9 | 55% ±8 | 49% |
| Kenwood, OH | 1967 ±2 | 79% ±9 | 22% |
| Lebanon, OH | 1986 ±8 | 46% ±7 | 22% |
| Liberty Township, OH | 2001 ±1 | 12% ±3 | 17% |
| Loveland, OH | 1985 ±3 | 41% ±6 | 37% |
| Maineville, OH | 2004 ±9 | 11% ±4 | 25% |
| Mariemont, OH | 1945 ±3 | 87% ±12 | 35% |
| Mason, OH | 1996 ±2 | 22% ±3 | 16% |
| Milford, OH | 1968 ±6 | 70% ±13 | 33% |
| Montgomery, OH | 1976 ±2 | 63% ±8 | 30% |
| South Lebanon, OH | 2007 ±4 | 32% ±12 | 32% |
| Terrace Park, OH | 1954 ±2 | 81% ±7 | 52% |
| West Chester, OH | 1988 ±1 | 32% ±3 | 20% |
| Wyoming, OH | 1954 ±2 | 93% ±11 | 42% |
| South Bend and southwest Michigan | |||
| South Bend, IN | 1955 ±2 | 79% ±2 | 18% |
| Bremen, IN | 1968 ±8 | 61% ±13 | 6% |
| Elkhart, IN | 1965 ±3 | 68% ±4 | 14% |
| Goshen, IN | 1980 ±4 | 50% ±4 | 13% |
| Granger, IN | 1986 ±2 | 34% ±4 | 22% |
| La Porte, IN | 1957 ±3 | 78% ±6 | 19% |
| Michigan City, IN | 1961 ±2 | 73% ±4 | 33% |
| Mishawaka, IN | 1975 ±2 | 57% ±3 | 16% |
| Plymouth, IN | 1969 ±6 | 61% ±7 | 16% |
| Berrien Springs, MI | 1952 ±8 | 86% ±6 | 22% |
| Cassopolis, MI | 1957 ±9 | 79% ±1 | 15% |
| Dowagiac, MI | 1950 ±8 | 79% ±11 | 30% |
| Edwardsburg, MI | sample too small | sample too small | 24% |
| New Buffalo, MI | 1973 ±6 | 59% ±9 | 41% |
| Niles, MI | 1955 ±3 | 83% ±8 | 28% |
| St. Joseph, MI | 1953 ±3 | 84% ±7 | 22% |
| Stevensville, MI | 1974 ±5 | 62% ±9 | 44% |
Where the Census sample is too small for a usable estimate (a margin over 10 years or 15 points), the cell says so: Forsyth, GA, Juliette, GA, Edwardsburg, MI.
6 places on our locations list are not Census areas, so they have no figures here: Beechmont, OH (a Cincinnati-area neighborhood, not a Census area); Landon, OH (no Census area by that name in Hamilton County); Northern Kentucky (a region, not a single Census area); Lizella, GA (not a Census place); Lake Lanier, GA (a lake, not a Census place); Paces, GA (an Atlanta neighborhood, not a Census place).
Download the full table (CSV), with margins of error and each community’s weather station figures.
What this means for your gutters
- Gutter size follows the storm, not the year. The trade's sizing reference, the SMACNA Architectural Sheet Metal Manual, works from a 5-minute rainfall rate. In a 10-year storm that rate runs from 7.1 inches an hour at Cincinnati's station to 8.1 at Macon's. What decides the size on a given house is how much roof drains to each downspout, which is why we measure before recommending one.
- Older houses need the boards behind the gutters checked. Most homes in Cincinnati (80%) and South Bend (79%) were built before 1980, against 17% in Cumming. On an older house, have the fascia boards the gutters hang on checked for rot when the gutters come down; new gutters need sound wood to hold.
- Trees set the cleaning schedule. Across the 65 communities, tree canopy covers from 6% of the land (Bremen, IN) to 70% (Juliette, GA). A city average is only a guide: what fills a gutter is the trees over that roof, so a house under tall trees needs cleaning more often than its city's figure suggests.
- Up north, plan for ice as well as water. South Bend averages 126.4 freezing nights a year and Cincinnati 99.8, against 35.7 at Atlanta's airport. Ice dams come from attic heat melting snow on the roof; gutters and guards neither cause nor cure them.
Method
Weather: NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 climate normals and NOAA Atlas 14 at one station per service area, the same stations and figures as our roof runoff, heavy rain and snow and freeze studies. Days with 1 inch or more in 2011-2025 are our count from NOAA's GHCN-Daily records; the Cumming co-op station has too many gaps for that count.
Home age: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates, tables B25035 (median year structure built) and B25034 (year structure built), for each Census place or township. Built before 1980 adds the counts for the 1970s, 1960s, 1950s, 1940s and 1939 or earlier. Its margin uses the Census Bureau's formula for a derived share.
Tree canopy: USDA Forest Service NLCD Tree Canopy Cover (version 2025-6) for 2025, in 30-meter pixels, each giving the percent of the ground under tree crowns. We averaged the pixels inside each Census boundary and divided by the boundary's land share (Census land and water areas), so lakes and rivers inside city limits don't pull the figure down.
Sources
- NOAA NCEI, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020. Period: 1991-2020.
- NOAA National Weather Service, Atlas 14 Precipitation Frequency Data Server. Period: Volume 9 Version 2; Volume 2 Version 3.
- NOAA NCEI, GHCN-Daily station records. Period: 1991-2025.
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, tables B25034 and B25035. Period: 2020-2024.
- USDA Forest Service, NLCD Tree Canopy Cover, version 2025-6. Period: 2025.
- U.S. Census Bureau, TIGERweb boundaries and land and water areas. Period: current.
Limits
- Station figures describe the spot where they were measured. The Cincinnati station is CVG airport in Hebron, Kentucky; northwest Georgia uses the Atlanta airport station.
- ACS figures are survey estimates. In small towns the margins are wide, so compare them with care.
- Canopy comes from satellite imagery at 30-meter resolution, smoothed over time by the Forest Service. It is an average for the whole community, not a measure of the trees over any one roof.
- Liberty Township and West Chester figures cover the whole township. Macon's figures are for Macon-Bibb County, the consolidated city-county.
- These are public statistics, not an inspection of any house.
Cite this study
Top Rated Gutters (2026). Gutter and rainfall statistics by city. Published 12 Nov 2026. https://topratedgutters.com/research/gutter-rainfall-statistics/
The table is free to download as a CSV file and free to reuse with credit to Top Rated Gutters and a link to this page (CC BY 4.0). The underlying public data stay under their publishers’ own terms.
Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it and note the change here.