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
Locations and reports
Radon Levels in Ness County, Kansas
EPA puts Ness County in Zone 1, its highest radon zone, and only 26 radon tests from it are on file with CDC (2022). Homes with elevated levels occur in all three zones, so only a test measures yours.
Data checked By Radon411Methodology
Highest bordering
66.7%
Pawnee County
- Pawnee
- 66.7%
- Finney
- 30.1%
3 of 8 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2019
Nearest county
66.7%
Pawnee County, 42 miles
- Pawnee
- 66.7%
- Kansas
- 33.7%
Share at 4+ pCi/L, 33 tests, 2019
Ground above low
100.0%
Level with Kansas
- Ness
- 100.0%
- Kansas
- 100.0%
Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential
Tests reported
28
Too few for a share
- Ness
- 28
- Needed
- 30
2020
EPA radon zone
Zone 1
Highest potential
- Zone 1
- 2
- 3
1 highest, 3 lowest
EPA predicts over 4 pCi/L indoors
Read a result for Ness County
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
Ness County, At a glance
Ness County at a glance
Predicted: EPA radon zone
EPA Zone 1: highest predicted potential
EPA puts all of Ness County in
USGS geologic potential: High across 100% of the county's area
Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones
Measured: tests reported to CDC
Radon tests reported for Ness County, 2022
| Year | Share of reported tests at or above 4 pCi/L |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 69.2% |
| 2017 | 40.0% |
| 2018 | 76.9% |
| 2019 | 83.3% |
| 2020 | 14.3% |
| 2021 | 33.3% |
| 2022 | 69.2% |
2022: 69.2%. Across these years the share ran from 14.3% to 83.3%. Each column counts radon tests reported to CDC that year, not homes.
What these figures count
Only 26 tests were reported to CDC for Ness County over 2022, and tests are often run on homes being sold or already suspected of a problem: so few describe neither the county nor this house.
Measured: CDC tracking data. Figure above: 2022. Measured data period: 2016 to 2022 (every CDC figure on file).
Ness County, Compared
Ness County radon figures, compared
Calculated by Radon411CDC's largest figure for Ness County rests on 28 tests in 2020, 4 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 3.6 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 9.3 pCi/L, with a middle value of 1.7 pCi/L.
Of the counties bordering it, 3 have a figure in 2019: Pawnee County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 66.7%, and Finney County the smallest, 30.1%, with Ellis County at 41.6% between. Farther out, Scott County (54 miles away) at 61.5%, Ford County (54 miles away) at 42.4% and Barton County (63 miles away) at 24.6% have figures too. Pooled across 102 Kansas counties, 33.7% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 29.0%.
Statewide for the same period, Jewell County reported the highest share (71.9%) and Reno County the lowest (20.8%). EPA's 1993 map puts Ness County in Zone 1, the map's highest label: a predicted county average above 4 pCi/L. USGS geology rates 100% of the county's land high radon potential.
Pooled shares: Radon411's sum of CDC's county counts for one period.
Ness County, Geology
The ground under Ness County
PredictedUSGS's geologic map puts all of Ness County's mapped land in one class: high radon potential. The map puts 81.7% of Ness County in the area it calls Smoky Hills and 18.3% in Ogallala Formation. USGS gives both a radon index of 12, in the high band (12 to 17).
| Area | The rock, in USGS's words | Potential | Radon index | Share of land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smoky Hills | Cretaceous marine sandstone, shale, and siltstone covered by discontinuous loess deposits. | High | 12 | 81.7% |
| Ogallala Formation | Tertiary sandstone, in part covered by windblown eolian sand and loess deposits. | High | 12 | 18.3% |
Names, descriptions and indexes: U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Radon Potential Map (2025). Shares: Radon411, from the map cut to the boundary.
Ness County beside the ground around it
Ness County has more high-potential ground than Kansas as a whole: 100% of its land against 59.9%. Of the 8 counties that border it, none has as large a share of high-potential ground; Gove County comes nearest at 100%.
The map rates the ground, not the air in any home.
Local help
Ness County, Local resources
Radon testing and mitigation in Ness County
- Kansas Radon ProgramKansas Radon Program answers questions about testing, mitigation and the rules in Kansas.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
- Professionals in Kansas178 professionals are listed in Kansas.
What Kansas's program says
- Phone
- (800) 693-5343
What it means
Ness County, Questions
Questions about radon in Ness County
Are radon levels high in Ness County?
In 2022, 69.2% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Ness County, Kansas were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 10.2 pCi/L. Of the counties bordering it, 3 have a figure in 2019: Pawnee County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 66.7%, and Finney County the smallest, 30.1%, with Ellis County at 41.6% between.
Which counties border Ness County?
Ness County borders 8 counties: Hodgeman County, Trego County, Lane County, Rush County, Gove County, Pawnee County, Ellis County and Finney County.
Products
Ness County, Products
Testing a home in Ness County
No CDC figure names Ness County; the nearest county with one, Pawnee County (42 miles away), reported 66.7% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L in 2019, the only reading nearby until a test of this home. In Zone 1 the year-round level in Ness County is the one to know: a long-term test (more than 90 days) or a monitor, with a short-term kit for a first answer.
Test kits and monitors3
See every kit and monitor
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
Short-term kit
RA100 short-term liquid scintillation radon test kit
- Lab fee extra
Method: Liquid scintillation
In home: 48 to 96 hours
- See every kit and monitor Test kits and monitors
Test kits and monitors: 1 of 3
Ness County is in EPA Zone 1, the highest predicted radon potential. Best radon monitors for Zone 1 counties like Ness County
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Ness County, Bordering counties
Counties bordering Ness County
Calculated by Radon411- Radon levels in Gove CountyEPA zone 1
75.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 9.1 pCi/L · 8 tests
- Radon levels in Hodgeman CountyEPA zone 1
71.4%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 5.2 pCi/L · 7 tests
- Radon levels in Trego CountyEPA zone 1
66.7%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 6.2 pCi/L · 9 tests
- Radon levels in Pawnee CountyEPA zone 1
66.7%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 4.9 pCi/L · 33 tests
- Radon levels in Lane CountyEPA zone 1
50.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 7.3 pCi/L · 4 tests
- Radon levels in Rush CountyEPA zone 1
50.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 4.2 pCi/L · 4 tests
- Radon levels in Ellis CountyEPA zone 1
41.6%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 3.3 pCi/L · 209 tests
- Radon levels in Finney CountyEPA zone 1
30.1%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 3.0 pCi/L · 156 tests
Ness County, Cities and towns
Cities and towns in Ness County
About 2,617 people live in Ness County by the Census Bureau's estimate for July 1, 2025, 57 fewer than in 2020 (−2.1%). Spread over its land, that is 2.4 people to the square mile. Ness City alone is home to 1,313 of them, 50.2% of the total. Together its 5 incorporated places hold 74.8% of those residents; the other 25.2% live outside any of them. CDC's 28 reported tests for 2020 work out to 10.7 per 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), close to Kansas' 7.7.
From Ness City to Brownell, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Ness County's.
| Place | Residents | Since 2020 | Share of residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ness City | 1,313 | −2.0% | 50.2% |
| Bazine | 268 | −1.8% | 10.2% |
| Ransom | 257 | −2.3% | 9.8% |
| Utica | 97 | −3.0% | 3.7% |
| Brownell | 22 | −4.3% | 0.8% |
5 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).
Ness County, Homes
Homes in Ness County
Ness County is a place of houses on their own lots: 91% of its 1,475 homes are detached single-family houses, against 72% across Kansas. The homes are older than Kansas' as a whole: half were built before 1959 (1975 for Kansas), and 52% date from before 1960. Owners live in 79% of the occupied homes (Kansas: 67%), so for most households a test and a fix are their own to order.
| Homes | Ness County | Kansas |
|---|---|---|
| Housing units | 1,475 | 1,285,221 |
| Detached houses | 91% | 72% |
| In buildings of 5 or more | 4% | 13% |
| Mobile homes | 3% | 4% |
| Built before 1960 | 52% | 33% |
| Built since 2000 | 4% | 20% |
| Middle year built | 1959 | 1975 |
| Owner-occupied | 79% | 67% |
Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019 to 2023: estimates from a sample of homes, looser for a small place. Shares by Radon411.