Water damage data for Durham: what the federal numbers say
Free local data for water damage work in Durham, taken from federal sources and last pulled October 30, 2026. It covers the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area, starting with the homes and moving on to the local trade.
The housing here
The Census does not record leaks or flood history, so the age of the stock is the proxy for where water damage has had time to happen. In the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area, 12,525 of 270,378 homes (4.6%) were built before 1940, and 35,707 (13.2%) before 1960. Nationally the shares are 11.7% and 25.6%. The median home across the metro is worth $396,100, against $332,700 nationally. 37.8% of households rent.
| Area | Homes | Median year built | Built before 1940 | Built before 1960 | Renters | Median value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area | 270,378 | 1993 | 4.6% | 13.2% | 37.8% | $396,100 |
| Durham County, North Carolina | 153,022 | 1993 | 4.8% | 13.5% | 44.5% | $389,400 |
| Orange County, North Carolina | 62,858 | 1990 | 3.8% | 11.3% | 36.2% | $459,500 |
| Chatham County, North Carolina | 35,914 | 1998 | 4.3% | 11.5% | 19.4% | $446,200 |
| Durham (city) | 136,837 | 1995 | 5.2% | 13.8% | 47.7% | $392,800 |
| Chapel Hill (city) | 23,581 | 1988 | 3.2% | 11.4% | 52.6% | $613,700 |
| North Carolina | 4,895,668 | 1991 | 4.9% | 14.1% | 33.4% | $288,900 |
| United States | 143,775,355 | 1980 | 11.7% | 25.6% | 34.8% | $332,700 |
U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2020-2024. Counties shown are the main ones in the metro (4 in all).
The local market
County Business Patterns counts 7 remediation services establishments across the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Metro Area, 0.28 for every ten thousand households. That is roughly one for every 35,465 households. The Census counts locations rather than companies, so a one-truck operator and a national chain's branch each count once. That code is wider than one job, since it also takes in other cleanup and abatement work, so read it as an upper bound.
Home prices
The Federal Housing Finance Agency's house price index for Durham-Chapel Hill, NC is up 1.8% over the latest year (through 2025). Over five years it is up 57.6%, and over ten it is up 109.3%. The index follows repeat sales of the same houses, so it measures how prices moved, not what any one home sells for this month.
What the trade pays
Hazardous Materials Removal Workers (SOC 47-4041) in Durham-Chapel Hill, NC earned a mean of $28.46 an hour ($59,190 a year) in May 2025, against $27.13 an hour ($56,430) nationally, about 5% above the national mean. The median is $23.97 an hour here and $23.78 nationally. BLS estimates 50 people hold that job in Durham-Chapel Hill, NC.
No occupation code matches water damage work exactly, so this uses the closest match: Hazardous Materials Removal Workers. These are wages paid to workers, not prices charged to customers; a customer's bill also has to cover the vehicle and the insurance.
Where these numbers come from
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2020-2024, tables B25034, B25040, B25003, B25024, B25035, B25077, B01003, B11001
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2015-2019 (county trend comparison)
- FHFA House Price Index (all-transactions, annual, NSA), Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 562910 (remediation services)
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year 2020-2024, table B11001 (households, density denominator)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) (OEWS), Hazardous Materials Removal Workers (47-4041), Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, May 2025 (national benchmark: U.S.)
The American Community Survey is a sample, so every housing figure carries a margin of error, and it is widest for small areas. Where a source suppresses a cell to protect individual businesses or because the sample is too thin, we leave it blank rather than estimate it. Durham Restoration Desk reads these files and does not edit them.