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Radon Levels in Worcester County, Maryland

EPA puts Worcester County in Zone 3, its lowest radon zone, and only 7 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

    10.4%

    Sussex County

    Sussex
    10.4%
    Wicomico
    0.0%

    2 of 4 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2008 to 2017

  • Nearest county

    0.0%

    Wicomico County, 19 miles

    Wicomico
    0.0%
    Maryland
    23.9%

    Share at 4+ pCi/L, 32 tests, 2008 to 2017

  • Ground above low

    None

    64.3 pts below Maryland

    Worcester
    0.0%
    Maryland
    64.3%

    Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential

  • Tests reported

    12

    Too few for a share

    Worcester
    12
    Needed
    30

    2007 to 2016, laboratory

  • EPA radon zone

    Zone 3

    Lower potential

    1. 1
    2. 2
    3. Zone 3

    1 highest, 3 lowest

    EPA predicts under 2 pCi/L indoors

Read a result for Worcester 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

Worcester County, At a glance

Worcester County at a glance

Predicted: EPA radon zone

EPA Zone 3: lower predicted potential

is EPA's lowest class, and its forecast for Worcester County as a whole is an average indoor of less than 2 pCi/L (less than 75 Bq/m³). A low zone clears no address in it: homes above EPA's turn up in all three zones.

USGS geologic potential: Low across 78% of the county's area

Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones

Measured: tests reported to CDC

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

CDC holds 7 reported tests for Worcester County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 0.6 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Worcester County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.

What these figures count

Only 7 tests were reported to CDC for Worcester 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

Worcester County, Compared

Worcester County radon figures, compared

Calculated by Radon411

CDC's largest figure for Worcester County rests on 12 tests over the 2007 to 2016 laboratory totals, 0 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 8.3 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 1.0 pCi/L, with a middle value of 0.7 pCi/L.

Of the counties bordering it, 2 have a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals: Sussex County, DE reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 10.4%, and Wicomico County the smallest, 0.0%. Farther out, St. Mary's County (69 miles away) at 20.9%, Queen Anne's County (70 miles away) at 16.9% and Calvert County (71 miles away) at 30.2% have figures too. Pooled across 24 Maryland counties, 23.9% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 35.7%.

Statewide for the same period, Washington County reported the highest share (56.0%) and Wicomico County the lowest (0.0%). EPA's 1993 map puts Worcester County in Zone 3, its lowest label: a predicted county average under 2 pCi/L. USGS geology rates 78% of the county's land low radon potential.

Maryland, the United States and the counties around Worcester County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
AreaTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Maryland, pooled24 counties, pooled47,94123.9%Not pooled
United States, pooled2,661 counties, pooled2,013,54435.7%Not pooled
Washington Countyhighest in the state1,25956.0%5.2 pCi/L
Baltimore citylowest in the state1,1487.9%0.8 pCi/L
Sussex County, DEborders it45110.4%1.0 pCi/L
Wicomico County, MDborders it320.0%0.9 pCi/L
Accomack County, VAborders it90.0%0.1 pCi/L
Somerset County, MDborders it20.0%0.3 pCi/L
The nearest Maryland counties to Worcester County with 30 or more tests, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CountyDistanceTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Wicomico County19 mi320.0%0.9 pCi/L
St. Mary's County69 mi63620.9%1.8 pCi/L
Queen Anne's County70 mi6516.9%1.3 pCi/L
Calvert County71 mi1,20530.2%2.0 pCi/L
Kent County81 mi5752.6%4.4 pCi/L
Anne Arundel County88 mi4,08817.4%1.4 pCi/L
Charles County92 mi47724.1%1.8 pCi/L
Prince George's County92 mi1,60319.0%1.4 pCi/L
Worcester County ten-year laboratory totals, against Maryland's pooled share
PeriodTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedianHighestMaryland, pooledChange from the row before
2008 to 201770.0%0.6 pCi/L1.5 pCi/L23.9%Level
2007 to 2016120.0%0.7 pCi/L1.0 pCi/L24.4%Level
2006 to 2015120.0%0.5 pCi/L1.0 pCi/L24.9%Level
2005 to 2014120.0%0.5 pCi/L1.0 pCi/L24.6%First on file

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

Worcester County, Geology

The ground under Worcester County

Predicted

USGS's geologic map puts all of Worcester County's mapped land in one class: low radon potential. 77.5% of it lies in the area the map calls Eastern Shore, to which USGS gives a radon index of 7, in the low band (5 to 8).

USGS's geologic areas under Worcester County
AreaThe rock, in USGS's wordsPotentialRadon indexShare of land
Eastern ShoreQuaternary coastal sand, silt.Low777.5%

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

Worcester County beside the ground around it

Across Maryland 36.7% of the land is rated high; none of Worcester County's is. None of the 4 counties that border it has any moderate-potential ground either.

Share of land by USGS radon potential: Worcester County, the 4 counties bordering it and Maryland
AreaEPA zoneLow potentialModerate potentialHigh potential
Worcester CountyZone 378.1%NoneNone
Wicomico CountyZone 398.3%NoneNone
Somerset CountyZone 286.6%NoneNone
Sussex County, DEZone 396.6%NoneNone
Accomack County, VAZone 367.7%NoneNone
Maryland24 counties, pooled by land areaVaries29.9%27.6%36.7%

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

Local help

Worcester County, Local resources

Radon testing and mitigation in Worcester County

What Maryland's program says
Phone
1-866-703-3266

What it means

Worcester County, Questions

Questions about radon in Worcester County

Are radon levels high in Worcester County?

Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 0.0% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Worcester County, Maryland were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 0.6 pCi/L. Of the counties bordering it, 2 have a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals: Sussex County, DE reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 10.4%, and Wicomico County the smallest, 0.0%.

Which counties border Worcester County?

Worcester County borders 4 counties: Wicomico County, MD, Somerset County, MD, Sussex County, DE and Accomack County, VA.

Products

Worcester County, Products

Testing a home in Worcester County

No CDC figure names Worcester County; the nearest county with one, Wicomico County (19 miles away), reported 0.0% 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. 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 Worcester County.

Test kits and monitors3

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Best radon monitors for Worcester County homes, compared

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Worcester County, Bordering counties

Counties bordering Worcester County

Calculated by Radon411

Worcester County, Cities and towns

Cities and towns in Worcester County

The Census Bureau estimates 54,459 residents in Worcester County for July 1, 2025, 1,935 more than in 2020 (+3.7%). That works out to 116 people per square mile of land. No town dominates: Ocean City, the largest, has 6,840 residents, 12.6% of the total. Together its 4 incorporated places hold 34.6% of those residents; the other 65.4% live outside any of them. Reported testing is thin here: 12 tests over 2007 to 2016, or 0.2 for every 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), where Maryland as a whole comes to 7.1.

From Ocean City to Snow Hill, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Worcester County's.

The cities and towns in Worcester County by residents, July 1, 2025
PlaceResidentsSince 2020Share of residents
Ocean City6,840−0.1%12.6%
Berlin5,335+5.3%9.8%
Pocomoke City4,421+2.6%8.1%
Snow Hill2,237+4.3%4.1%

4 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).

Worcester County, Homes

Homes in Worcester County

Worcester County has 56,585 homes, and many share a building: 38% are in buildings of five or more, 43% are detached houses, against 51% across Maryland. Half of its homes were built before 1984, close to Maryland's 1979: 9% date from before 1960 and 21% from 2000 or later. Owners live in 77% of the occupied homes (Maryland: 67%), so for most households a test and a fix are their own to order.

Homes in Worcester County, Maryland, 2019 to 2023
HomesWorcester CountyMaryland
Housing units56,5852,545,532
Detached houses43%51%
In buildings of 5 or more38%23%
Mobile homes5%1%
Built before 19609%27%
Built since 200021%20%
Middle year built19841979
Owner-occupied77%67%

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