Short-term kit
PicoCan short-term charcoal canister radon test
- Lab fee included
Method: Charcoal
In home: 48 to 96 hours
Locations and reports
Radon Levels in Bethel Census Area, Alaska
EPA puts Bethel Census Area in Zone 3, its lowest radon zone, and only 9 radon tests from it are on file with CDC (2017). Homes with elevated levels occur in all three zones, so only a test measures yours.
Data checked By Radon411Methodology
Highest bordering
14.3%
Matanuska-Susitna Borough
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough
- 14.3%
1 of 6 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2022
Nearest county
14.3%
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, 351 miles
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough
- 14.3%
- Alaska
- 11.5%
Share at 4+ pCi/L, 42 tests, 2022
Ground above low
97.8%
18.6 pts above Alaska
- Bethel Census Area
- 97.8%
- Alaska
- 79.2%
Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential
Tests reported
9
Too few for a share
- Bethel Census Area
- 9
- Needed
- 30
2017
EPA radon zone
Zone 3
Lower potential
- 1
- 2
- Zone 3
1 highest, 3 lowest
EPA predicts under 2 pCi/L indoors
Read a result for Bethel Census Area
Starts at EPA's action level
EPA’s own thresholds; the figures are the area’s, never this home’s.
EPA’s reading of 4.0 pCi/L
At or above 4 pCi/L
- Under 20 to 1.9 pCi/L
- 2 to 4consider a fix
- 4 and aboveEPA says fix it
This result is at or above 4 pCi/L. EPA recommends fixing a home when the radon level is 4 pCi/L or higher.
The data
Bethel Census Area, At a glance
Bethel Census Area at a glance
Predicted: EPA radon zone
EPA Zone 3: lower predicted potential
USGS geologic potential: Moderate across 98% of the county's area
Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones
Measured: tests reported to CDC
Radon tests reported for Bethel Census Area, 2017
CDC holds 9 reported tests for Bethel Census Area in 2017, with a median of 1.8 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Bethel Census Area beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.
What these figures count
Only 9 tests were reported to CDC for Bethel Census Area over 2017, and tests are often run on homes being sold or already suspected of a problem: so few describe neither the borough or census area nor this house.
Measured: CDC tracking data. Measured data period: 2017.
Bethel Census Area, Compared
Bethel Census Area radon figures, compared
Calculated by Radon411CDC's largest figure for Bethel Census Area rests on 9 tests in 2017, 1 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 11.1 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 4.0 pCi/L, with a middle value of 1.8 pCi/L.
Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the one bordering county with a figure in 2022, reported 14.3% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L. Farther out, Anchorage Municipality (360 miles away) at 3.1% and Fairbanks North Star Borough (497 miles away) at 19.4% have figures too. Pooled across 19 Alaska counties, 11.5% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 23.9%.
Statewide for the same period, Fairbanks North Star Borough reported the highest share (19.4%) and Anchorage Municipality the lowest (3.1%). EPA's 1993 map puts Bethel Census Area in Zone 3, its lowest label: a predicted county average under 2 pCi/L. USGS geology rates 98% of the county's land moderate radon potential.
Pooled shares: Radon411's sum of CDC's county counts for one period.
Bethel Census Area, Geology
The ground under Bethel Census Area
PredictedUSGS's geologic map puts all of Bethel Census Area's mapped land in one class: moderate radon potential. The map puts 92.1% of Bethel Census Area in the area it calls Central Alaska and 5.7% in Alaska-Aleutian Province. USGS gives the first a radon index of 11 and the second 9, both in the moderate band (9 to 11).
| Area | The rock, in USGS's words | Potential | Radon index | Share of land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Alaska | Uraniferous granites, felsic intrusives; clastic and carbonate sedimentary rocks; metamorphic, and volcanic rocks. | Moderate | 11 | 92.1% |
| Alaska-Aleutian Province | sedimentary and mafic volcanic rocks, glacial deposits; felsic intrusives; metamorphic rocks | Moderate | 9 | 5.7% |
Names, descriptions and indexes: U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Radon Potential Map (2025). Shares: Radon411, from the map cut to the boundary.
Bethel Census Area beside the ground around it
Bethel Census Area has more moderate-potential ground than Alaska as a whole: 97.8% of its land against 79.2%. Of the 6 boroughs and census areas that border it, 4 have more moderate-potential ground, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area the most at 100%.
The map rates the ground, not the air in any home.
Local help
Bethel Census Area, Local resources
Radon testing and mitigation in Bethel Census Area
- Alaska's radon programAlaska Division of Geological & Geophysical SurveysAlaska's radon program answers questions about testing, mitigation and the rules in Alaska.Visit the program’s page(opens in a new tab)
- Free and low-cost kitsAsk the program whether it has free or discounted kits, or compare kits you can buy.
- Compare kits
- See the Alaska directoryNo professionals are listed in Alaska yet. The state program can point you to registered testers and mitigators.
What Alaska's program says
- Phone
- 907-269-6401
- paul.goodfellow@alaska.gov
What it means
Bethel Census Area, Questions
Questions about radon in Bethel Census Area
Are radon levels high in Bethel Census Area?
In 2017, 11.1% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Bethel Census Area, Alaska were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 1.8 pCi/L. Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the one bordering county with a figure in 2022, reported 14.3% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L.
Which counties border Bethel Census Area?
Bethel Census Area borders 6 boroughs and census areas: Kusilvak Census Area, Dillingham Census Area, Lake and Peninsula Borough, Kenai Peninsula Borough, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area and Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Products
Bethel Census Area, Products
Testing a home in Bethel Census Area
No CDC figure names Bethel Census Area; the nearest county with one, Matanuska-Susitna Borough (351 miles away), reported 14.3% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L in 2022, the only reading nearby until a test of this home. Zone 3 is the lowest label, yet homes at or above 4 pCi/L occur in every zone: a short-term kit (2 to 90 days) is the quick first check in Bethel Census Area.
Test kits and monitors3
See every kit and monitor
Long-term kit
RL416 long-term radon test kit, lab fee included
- Lab fee included
Method: Alpha track
In home: 90 days to 12 months
MonitorX-Sense
XR0A-SR battery digital radon detector with a screen
- C-NRPP 2024/25: Not included
- Battery
- Screen
Method: Alpha spectrometry
First reading: Within 24 hours
- See every kit and monitor Test kits and monitors
Test kits and monitors: 1 of 3
Explore
Bethel Census Area, Bordering boroughs and census areas
Boroughs and census areas bordering Bethel Census Area
Calculated by Radon41114.3%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 1.1 pCi/L · 42 tests
- Radon levels in Kenai Peninsula BoroughEPA zone 2
8.3%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 0.8 pCi/L · 24 tests
- Radon levels in Dillingham Census AreaEPA zone 3
0.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 1.4 pCi/L · 1 test
0.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 0.5 pCi/L · 1 test
- Radon levels in Kusilvak Census AreaEPA zone 3
No CDC figure for 2022; its page reads it against its own neighbours.
No CDC figure for 2022; its page reads it against its own neighbours.
Bethel Census Area, Cities and towns
Cities and towns in Bethel Census Area
About 18,391 people live in Bethel Census Area by the Census Bureau's estimate for July 1, 2025, 281 fewer than in 2020 (−1.5%). Spread over its land, that is 0.5 people to the square mile. Its largest town, Bethel, has 6,626 residents, 36.0% of the total. Together its 18 incorporated places hold 72.4% of those residents; the other 27.6% live outside any of them. Testing is reported here more often than across the state: CDC's 9 reported tests for 2017 come to 0.5 for every 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), against 0.1 for Alaska.
From Bethel to Platinum, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Bethel Census Area's.
| Place | Residents | Since 2020 | Share of residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel | 6,626 | +4.6% | 36.0% |
| Kwethluk | 771 | −4.8% | 4.2% |
| Quinhagak | 737 | −4.9% | 4.0% |
| Toksook Bay | 625 | −5.2% | 3.4% |
| Nunapitchuk | 571 | −4.5% | 3.1% |
| Aniak | 487 | −4.5% | 2.6% |
| Chefornak | 486 | −4.5% | 2.6% |
| Napaskiak | 486 | −4.5% | 2.6% |
| Akiak | 443 | −4.5% | 2.4% |
| Eek | 384 | −4.5% | 2.1% |
| Napakiak | 338 | −4.5% | 1.8% |
| Nightmute | 291 | −4.6% | 1.6% |
- Lower Kalskag
- Goodnews Bay
- Upper Kalskag
- Mekoryuk
- Chuathbaluk
- Platinum
18 incorporated places, as listed in the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 place reference files. Residents: U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for July 1, 2025 (Vintage 2025).
Bethel Census Area, Homes
Homes in Bethel Census Area
Bethel Census Area is a place of houses on their own lots: 80% of its 6,009 homes are detached single-family houses, against 63% across Alaska. Half of its homes were built before 1988, close to Alaska's 1985: 2% date from before 1960 and 26% from 2000 or later. 61% of occupied homes are lived in by their owner (Alaska: 67%); in the rest a tenant can run a test, but a fix is the landlord's to make.
| Homes | Bethel Census Area | Alaska |
|---|---|---|
| Housing units | 6,009 | 327,610 |
| Detached houses | 80% | 63% |
| In buildings of 5 or more | 5% | 12% |
| Mobile homes | 3% | 4% |
| Built before 1960 | 2% | 8% |
| Built since 2000 | 26% | 25% |
| Middle year built | 1988 | 1985 |
| Owner-occupied | 61% | 67% |
Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019 to 2023: estimates from a sample of homes, looser for a small place. Shares by Radon411.