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 Chaves County, New Mexico
EPA puts Chaves County in Zone 2, its middle radon zone, and only 9 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
20.6%
Lincoln County
- Lincoln
- 20.6%
- Otero
- 10.7%
3 of 6 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2006 to 2015
Nearest county
20.6%
Lincoln County, 63 miles
- Lincoln
- 20.6%
- New Mexico
- 30.3%
Share at 4+ pCi/L, 34 tests, 2006 to 2015
Ground above low
100.0%
7.4 pts above New Mexico
- Chaves
- 100.0%
- New Mexico
- 92.6%
Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential
Tests reported
25
Too few for a share
- Chaves
- 25
- Needed
- 30
2005 to 2014, 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 Chaves 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
Chaves County, At a glance
Chaves County at a glance
Predicted: EPA radon zone
EPA Zone 2: moderate predicted potential
Chaves County is a
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 Chaves County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CDC holds 9 reported tests for Chaves County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 3.8 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Chaves County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.
What these figures count
Only 9 tests were reported to CDC for Chaves 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).
Chaves County, Compared
Chaves County radon figures, compared
Calculated by Radon411CDC's largest figure for Chaves County rests on 25 tests over the 2005 to 2014 laboratory totals, 11 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 4.0 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 13.5 pCi/L, with a middle value of 3.4 pCi/L.
Of the counties bordering it, 3 have a figure over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals: Lincoln County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 20.6%, and Otero County the smallest, 10.7%, with Lea County at 11.1% between. Farther out, San Miguel County (147 miles away) at 44.4%, Doña Ana County (154 miles away) at 16.3% and Santa Fe County (171 miles away) at 32.5% have figures too. Pooled across 30 New Mexico counties, 30.3% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 36.3%.
Statewide for the same period, Taos County reported the highest share (71.9%) and Otero County the lowest (10.7%). EPA's 1993 map puts Chaves 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.
Pooled shares: Radon411's sum of CDC's county counts for one period.
Chaves County, Geology
The ground under Chaves County
PredictedUSGS's geologic map puts all of Chaves County's mapped land in one class: moderate radon potential. The map puts 60.5% of Chaves County in the area it calls Basin and Range Sacramento Section and 34.2% in Great Plains Pecos Valley Section, with one smaller area beside them. USGS gives the first a radon index of 10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basin and Range Sacramento Section | Paleozoic marine limestones and shales. | Moderate | 10 | 60.5% |
| Great Plains Pecos Valley Section | Triassic sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, Quaternary alluvial and eolian sand and silt. | Moderate | 9 | 34.2% |
| Ogallala Formation/High Plains | Sandstone, siltstone, minor shale of the Ogallala Formation. | Moderate | 9 | 5.3% |
Names, descriptions and indexes: U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Radon Potential Map (2025). Shares: Radon411, from the map cut to the boundary.
Chaves County beside the ground around it
Across New Mexico 19.2% of the land is rated high; none of Chaves County's is. Of the 6 counties that border it, 2 have more high-potential ground, Otero County the most at 39.5%.
The map rates the ground, not the air in any home.
Local help
Chaves County, Local resources
Radon testing and mitigation in Chaves County
- New Mexico Indoor Radon Outreach ProgramNew Mexico Indoor Radon Outreach Program, run by New Mexico Environment Department, does not license radon professionals and offers free or discounted test kits, and answers questions about testing and mitigation in New Mexico.Visit the program’s page(opens in a new tab)
- Free and low-cost kitsThe program says:
The New Mexico Environment Department seasonally distributes free radon testing kits to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Compare kits
- See the New Mexico directoryNo professionals are listed in New Mexico yet. The state program can point you to registered testers and mitigators.
What New Mexico's program says
- Phone
- (505) 476-8600
- radon.questions@env.nm.gov
- Licensing of radon professionals
There is not currently a certification program within the state.
What it means
Chaves County, Questions
Questions about radon in Chaves County
Are radon levels high in Chaves County?
Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 44.4% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Chaves County, New Mexico were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 3.8 pCi/L. Of the counties bordering it, 3 have a figure over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals: Lincoln County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 20.6%, and Otero County the smallest, 10.7%, with Lea County at 11.1% between.
Which counties border Chaves County?
Chaves County borders 6 counties: Eddy County, Lea County, Lincoln County, Roosevelt County, De Baca County and Otero County.
Products
Chaves County, Products
Testing a home in Chaves County
No CDC figure names Chaves County; the nearest county with one, Lincoln County (63 miles away), reported 20.6% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L over the 2006 to 2015 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 Chaves County; a long-term test tells the year-round average.
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
MonitorAranet
Radon Plus battery digital radon monitor with an e-ink screen
- C-NRPP 2024/25: Approved
- Battery
- Bluetooth
- Alarm
- Screen, app
Method: Ion chamber
First reading: Within 10 minutes
- See every kit and monitor Test kits and monitors
Test kits and monitors: 1 of 3
Explore
Chaves County, Bordering counties
Counties bordering Chaves County
Calculated by Radon411- Radon levels in Roosevelt CountyEPA zone 2
60.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 4.2 pCi/L · 5 tests
- Radon levels in Lincoln CountyEPA zone 2
20.6%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 1.9 pCi/L · 34 tests
- Radon levels in Lea CountyEPA zone 2
11.1%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 1.9 pCi/L · 36 tests
- Radon levels in Otero CountyEPA zone 2
10.7%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 1.1 pCi/L · 56 tests
- Radon levels in Eddy CountyEPA zone 2
5.9%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 0.1 pCi/L · 17 tests
- Radon levels in De Baca CountyEPA zone 2
No CDC figure for 2006 to 2015; its page reads it against its own neighbours.
Chaves County, Cities and towns
Cities and towns in Chaves County
About 63,364 people live in Chaves County by the Census Bureau's estimate for July 1, 2025, 1,790 fewer than in 2020 (−2.7%). That works out to 10 people per square mile of land. Roswell alone is home to 46,878 of them, 74.0% of the total. Together its 4 incorporated places hold 77.7% of those residents; the other 22.3% live outside any of them. Reported testing is thin here: 25 tests over 2005 to 2014, or 0.4 for every 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), where New Mexico as a whole comes to 2.2.
From Roswell to Lake Arthur, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Chaves County's.
| Place | Residents | Since 2020 | Share of residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roswell | 46,878 | −3.2% | 74.0% |
| Dexter | 1,049 | −1.2% | 1.7% |
| Hagerman | 957 | −2.2% | 1.5% |
| Lake Arthur | 377 | −0.8% | 0.6% |
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).
Chaves County, Homes
Homes in Chaves County
Of Chaves County's 26,794 homes, 71% are detached houses, against 65% across New Mexico; 14% are mobile homes. The homes are older than New Mexico's as a whole: half were built before 1972 (1984 for New Mexico), and 33% date from before 1960. 69% of occupied homes are lived in by their owner (New Mexico: 69%); in the rest a tenant can run a test, but a fix is the landlord's to make.
| Homes | Chaves County | New Mexico |
|---|---|---|
| Housing units | 26,794 | 949,524 |
| Detached houses | 71% | 65% |
| In buildings of 5 or more | 7% | 10% |
| Mobile homes | 14% | 16% |
| Built before 1960 | 33% | 17% |
| Built since 2000 | 11% | 24% |
| Middle year built | 1972 | 1984 |
| Owner-occupied | 69% | 69% |
Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019 to 2023: estimates from a sample of homes, looser for a small place. Shares by Radon411.