Short-term kit
Radon Short Term Test Kit short-term charcoal radon test kit, lab fee included
- Lab fee included
Method: Charcoal
In home: 2 to 7 days
Locations and reports
Radon Levels in Harlan County, Kentucky
EPA puts Harlan County in Zone 2, its middle radon zone, and only 4 radon tests from it are on file with CDC (2008 to 2017, laboratory totals). Homes with elevated levels occur in all three zones, so only a test measures yours.
Data checked By Radon411Methodology
Highest bordering
28.3%
Wise County
- Wise
- 28.3%
1 of 6 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2008 to 2017
Nearest county
19.1%
Breathitt County, 46 miles
- Breathitt
- 19.1%
- Kentucky
- 43.7%
Share at 4+ pCi/L, 47 tests, 2008 to 2017
Ground above low
100.0%
5.7 pts above Kentucky
- Harlan
- 100.0%
- Kentucky
- 94.3%
Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential
Tests reported
4
Too few for a share
- Harlan
- 4
- Needed
- 30
2008 to 2017, laboratory
EPA radon zone
Zone 2
Moderate potential
- 1
- Zone 2
- 3
1 highest, 3 lowest
EPA predicts 2 to 4 pCi/L indoors
Read a result for Harlan 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
Harlan County, At a glance
Harlan County at a glance
Predicted: EPA radon zone
EPA Zone 2: moderate predicted potential
Harlan County is a
USGS geologic potential: Moderate across 93% of the county's area
Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones
Measured: tests reported to CDC
Radon tests reported for Harlan County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CDC holds 4 reported tests for Harlan County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 0.1 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Harlan County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.
What these figures count
Only 4 tests were reported to CDC for Harlan County over 2008 to 2017 (laboratory totals), 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: 2008 to 2017, laboratory. Measured data period: 2006 to 2017 (every CDC figure on file).
Harlan County, Compared
Harlan County radon figures, compared
Calculated by Radon411CDC's largest figure for Harlan County rests on 4 tests over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 1 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 25.0 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 9.4 pCi/L, with a middle value of 0.1 pCi/L.
Wise County, VA, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, reported 28.3% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L. Farther out, Breathitt County (46 miles away) at 19.1%, Laurel County (53 miles away) at 22.0% and Pike County (62 miles away) at 17.1% have figures too. Pooled across 120 Kentucky counties, 43.7% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 35.7%.
Statewide for the same period, Meade County reported the highest share (68.4%) and Hopkins County the lowest (9.5%). EPA's 1993 map puts Harlan County in Zone 2, its middle label: a predicted county average between 2 and 4 pCi/L. USGS geology rates 93% of the county's land moderate radon potential.
Pooled shares: Radon411's sum of CDC's county counts for one period.
Harlan County, Geology
The ground under Harlan County
PredictedMost of the ground under Harlan County is one class on USGS's geologic map: 93.1% of its land is moderate radon potential, with 6.9% high. The map puts 93.0% of Harlan County in the area it calls Cumberland Plateau and 6.9% in Valley and Ridge. USGS gives the first a radon index of 9, in the moderate band (9 to 11), and the second 15, in the high band (12 to 17).
| Area | The rock, in USGS's words | Potential | Radon index | Share of land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cumberland Plateau | Pennsylvanian sandstones, siltstones, and shales. | Moderate | 9 | 93.0% |
| Valley and Ridge | Cambrian dolomite, limestone, shale, and sandstone, Silurian-Ordovician limestone, dolomite, shale, and sandstone, Mississippian-Devonian sandstone, shale, limestone, gypsum, and coal. | High | 15 | 6.9% |
Names, descriptions and indexes: U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Radon Potential Map (2025). Shares: Radon411, from the map cut to the boundary.
Harlan County beside the ground around it
Kentucky as a whole has more high-potential ground than Harlan County: 18.2% of its land, against 6.9% here. Of the 6 counties that border it, 2 have more high-potential ground, Lee County, VA the most at 91.2%.
The map rates the ground, not the air in any home.
Local help
Harlan County, Local resources
Radon testing and mitigation in Harlan County
- Kentucky's radon programKentucky Board of Radon SafetyKentucky's radon program answers questions about testing, mitigation and the rules in Kentucky.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 Kentucky8 professionals are listed in Kentucky.
What Kentucky's program says
- Phone
- 502-782-2782
- Radon@ky.gov
What it means
Harlan County, Questions
Questions about radon in Harlan County
Are radon levels high in Harlan County?
Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 25.0% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Harlan County, Kentucky were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 0.1 pCi/L. Wise County, VA, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, reported 28.3% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L.
Which counties border Harlan County?
Harlan County borders 6 counties: Lee County, VA, Bell County, KY, Leslie County, KY, Perry County, KY, Letcher County, KY and Wise County, VA.
Products
Harlan County, Products
Testing a home in Harlan County
No CDC figure names Harlan County; the nearest county with one, Breathitt County (46 miles away), reported 19.1% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, the only reading nearby until a test of this home. In Zone 2 a short-term kit (2 to 90 days) is the quick first check in Harlan County; a long-term test tells the year-round average.
Test kits and monitors3
See every kit and monitor
Long-term kit
RL116 long-term radon test kit
- Lab fee extra
Method: Alpha track
In home: 90 days to 12 months
MonitorX-Sense
XR0B-SR battery digital radon monitor with an alarm
- C-NRPP 2024/25: Not included
- Battery
- Alarm
- 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
Harlan County, Bordering counties
Counties bordering Harlan County
Calculated by Radon411- Radon levels in Lee County, VAEPA zone 1
50.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 4.9 pCi/L · 14 tests
- Radon levels in Letcher County, KYEPA zone 2
31.8%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 1.8 pCi/L · 22 tests
- Radon levels in Wise County, VAEPA zone 2
28.3%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 1.3 pCi/L · 53 tests
- Radon levels in Perry County, KYEPA zone 2
20.8%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 1.4 pCi/L · 24 tests
- Radon levels in Bell County, KYEPA zone 2
12.5%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 1.3 pCi/L · 8 tests
- Radon levels in Leslie County, KYEPA zone 2
10.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 0.1 pCi/L · 10 tests
Harlan County, Cities and towns
Cities and towns in Harlan County
Harlan County has been losing residents: from 26,752 in 2020 to 24,725 on July 1, 2025, a fall of 7.6% by the Census Bureau's estimates. That works out to 53 people per square mile of land. No town dominates: Harlan, the largest, has 1,822 residents, 7.4% of the total. Together its 6 incorporated places hold 23.5% of those residents; the other 76.5% live outside any of them. Reported testing is thin here: 4 tests over 2008 to 2017, or 0.2 for every 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), where Kentucky as a whole comes to 6.3.
From Harlan to Benham, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Harlan County's.
| Place | Residents | Since 2020 | Share of residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harlan | 1,822 | −8.8% | 7.4% |
| Cumberland | 1,761 | −9.1% | 7.1% |
| Evarts | 596 | −7.7% | 2.4% |
| Lynch | 593 | −9.0% | 2.4% |
| Loyall | 576 | −8.6% | 2.3% |
| Benham | 455 | −9.7% | 1.8% |
6 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).
Harlan County, Homes
Homes in Harlan County
Of Harlan County's 13,012 homes, 66% are detached houses, against 68% across Kentucky; 20% are mobile homes. Half of its homes were built before 1977, close to Kentucky's 1982: 30% date from before 1960 and 15% from 2000 or later. 71% of occupied homes are lived in by their owner (Kentucky: 68%); in the rest a tenant can run a test, but a fix is the landlord's to make.
| Homes | Harlan County | Kentucky |
|---|---|---|
| Housing units | 13,012 | 2,010,655 |
| Detached houses | 66% | 68% |
| In buildings of 5 or more | 7% | 12% |
| Mobile homes | 20% | 11% |
| Built before 1960 | 30% | 22% |
| Built since 2000 | 15% | 24% |
| Middle year built | 1977 | 1982 |
| Owner-occupied | 71% | 68% |
Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019 to 2023: estimates from a sample of homes, looser for a small place. Shares by Radon411.