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Radon Levels in Magoffin County, Kentucky

EPA puts Magoffin County in Zone 2, its middle radon zone, and only 13 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

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  • Highest bordering

    19.1%

    Breathitt County

    Breathitt
    19.1%

    1 of 6 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2008 to 2017

  • Nearest county

    19.1%

    Breathitt County, 19 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

    Magoffin
    100.0%
    Kentucky
    94.3%

    Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential

  • Tests reported

    13

    Too few for a share

    Magoffin
    13
    Needed
    30

    2008 to 2017, laboratory

  • EPA radon zone

    Zone 2

    Moderate potential

    1. 1
    2. Zone 2
    3. 3

    1 highest, 3 lowest

    EPA predicts 2 to 4 pCi/L indoors

Read a result for Magoffin County

Starts at EPA's action level

4.0pCi/L

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

  1. Under 20 to 1.9 pCi/L
  2. 2 to 4consider a fix
  3. 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.

Interpret this readingWhat a fix costs

The data

Magoffin County, At a glance

Magoffin County at a glance

Predicted: EPA radon zone

EPA Zone 2: moderate predicted potential

Magoffin County is a county: EPA's forecast for it as a whole is an average indoor of 2 to 4 pCi/L (75 to 150 Bq/m³). It describes no single address, and homes above EPA's are found in every zone, this one included.

USGS geologic potential: Moderate across 100% of the county's area

Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones

Measured: tests reported to CDC

Radon tests reported for Magoffin County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory

CDC holds 13 reported tests for Magoffin County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 0.5 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Magoffin County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.

What these figures count

Only 13 tests were reported to CDC for Magoffin 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: 2005 to 2017 (every CDC figure on file).

How to read these figures

Magoffin County, Compared

Magoffin County radon figures, compared

Calculated by Radon411

CDC's largest figure for Magoffin County rests on 13 tests over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 0 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 7.7 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 3.9 pCi/L, with a middle value of 0.5 pCi/L.

Breathitt County, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, reported 19.1% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L. Farther out, Menifee County (33 miles away) at 22.0%, Rowan County (39 miles away) at 18.9% and Pike County (40 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 Magoffin County in Zone 2, its middle label: a predicted county average between 2 and 4 pCi/L. USGS geology rates 100% of the county's land moderate radon potential.

Kentucky, the United States and the counties around Magoffin County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
AreaTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Kentucky, pooled120 counties, pooled28,79343.7%Not pooled
United States, pooled2,661 counties, pooled2,013,54435.7%Not pooled
Meade Countyhighest in the state11768.4%8.2 pCi/L
Hopkins Countylowest in the state429.5%1.7 pCi/L
Floyd County, KYborders it2040.0%2.7 pCi/L
Knott County, KYborders it1323.1%1.7 pCi/L
Breathitt County, KYborders it4719.1%1.7 pCi/L
Morgan County, KYborders it185.6%1.2 pCi/L
Johnson County, KYborders it280.0%0.8 pCi/L
Wolfe County, KYborders it40.0%0.1 pCi/L
The nearest Kentucky counties to Magoffin County with 30 or more tests, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CountyDistanceTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Breathitt County19 mi4719.1%1.7 pCi/L
Menifee County33 mi4122.0%1.4 pCi/L
Rowan County39 mi7418.9%1.6 pCi/L
Pike County40 mi8217.1%1.1 pCi/L
Carter County42 mi4131.7%2.2 pCi/L
Estill County49 mi17744.1%3.2 pCi/L
Boyd County50 mi16817.9%2.1 pCi/L
Montgomery County52 mi10551.4%4.1 pCi/L
Magoffin County ten-year laboratory totals, against Kentucky's pooled share
PeriodTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedianHighestKentucky, pooledChange from the row before
2008 to 2017130.0%0.5 pCi/L3.9 pCi/L43.7%Level
2007 to 2016130.0%0.5 pCi/L3.9 pCi/L45.1%Level
2006 to 2015130.0%0.5 pCi/L3.9 pCi/L46.4%Level
2005 to 2014130.0%0.5 pCi/L3.9 pCi/L47.3%First on file

Pooled shares: Radon411's sum of CDC's county counts for one period.

Magoffin County, Geology

The ground under Magoffin County

Predicted

USGS's geologic map puts all of Magoffin County's mapped land in one class: moderate radon potential. All of it lies in the area the map calls Cumberland Plateau, to which USGS gives a radon index of 9, in the moderate band (9 to 11).

USGS's geologic areas under Magoffin County
AreaThe rock, in USGS's wordsPotentialRadon indexShare of land
Cumberland PlateauPennsylvanian sandstones, siltstones, and shales.Moderate9100%

Names, descriptions and indexes: U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Radon Potential Map (2025). Shares: Radon411, from the map cut to the boundary.

Magoffin County beside the ground around it

Across Kentucky 18.2% of the land is rated high; none of Magoffin County's is. Of the 6 counties that border it, none has as large a share of moderate-potential ground; Breathitt County comes nearest at 100%.

Share of land by USGS radon potential: Magoffin County, the 6 counties bordering it and Kentucky
AreaEPA zoneLow potentialModerate potentialHigh potential
Magoffin CountyZone 2None100%None
Morgan CountyZone 2None100%None
Breathitt CountyZone 2None100%None
Johnson CountyZone 2None100%None
Floyd CountyZone 2None100%None
Wolfe CountyZone 2None100%None
Knott CountyZone 2None100%None
Kentucky120 counties, pooled by land areaVaries5.7%76.1%18.2%

The map rates the ground, not the air in any home.

Local help

Magoffin County, Local resources

Radon testing and mitigation in Magoffin County

What Kentucky's program says
Phone
502-782-2782
Email
Radon@ky.gov

What it means

Magoffin County, Questions

Questions about radon in Magoffin County

Are radon levels high in Magoffin County?

Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 0.0% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Magoffin County, Kentucky were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 0.5 pCi/L. Breathitt County, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, reported 19.1% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L.

Which counties border Magoffin County?

Magoffin County borders 6 counties: Morgan County, Breathitt County, Johnson County, Floyd County, Wolfe County and Knott County.

Products

Magoffin County, Products

Testing a home in Magoffin County

No CDC figure names Magoffin County; the nearest county with one, Breathitt County (19 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 Magoffin County; a long-term test tells the year-round average.

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Best radon monitors for Magoffin County homes, compared

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Magoffin County, Bordering counties

Counties bordering Magoffin County

Calculated by Radon411

Magoffin County, Cities and towns

Cities and towns in Magoffin County

About 11,110 people live in Magoffin County by the Census Bureau's estimate for July 1, 2025, 496 fewer than in 2020 (−4.3%). That works out to 36 people per square mile of land. Salyersville, its one incorporated place, has 1,502 residents, 13.5% of the total. Reported testing is thin here: 13 tests over 2008 to 2017, or 1.2 for every 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), where Kentucky as a whole comes to 6.3.

Salyersville is the one incorporated place here; CDC publishes no figure by town, so it reads Magoffin County's.

Salyersville, Magoffin County: residents on July 1, 2025
PlaceResidentsSince 2020Share of residents
Salyersville1,502−5.2%13.5%

One incorporated place, 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).

Magoffin County, Homes

Homes in Magoffin County

Mobile homes are 44% of Magoffin County's 5,466 homes and detached houses 50%, against 68% across Kentucky. Half of its homes were built before 1986, close to Kentucky's 1982: 13% date from before 1960 and 21% from 2000 or later. Owners live in 78% of the occupied homes (Kentucky: 68%), so for most households a test and a fix are their own to order.

Homes in Magoffin County, Kentucky, 2019 to 2023
HomesMagoffin CountyKentucky
Housing units5,4662,010,655
Detached houses50%68%
In buildings of 5 or more2%12%
Mobile homes44%11%
Built before 196013%22%
Built since 200021%24%
Middle year built19861982
Owner-occupied78%68%

Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019 to 2023: estimates from a sample of homes, looser for a small place. Shares by Radon411.