Long-term kit
RL116 long-term radon test kit
- Lab fee extra
Method: Alpha track
In home: 90 days to 12 months
Locations and reports
Radon Levels in Adams County, North Dakota
EPA puts Adams County in Zone 1, its highest radon zone, and only 10 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
71.4%
Bowman County
- Bowman
- 71.4%
1 of 8 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2008 to 2017
Nearest county
71.4%
Bowman County, 48 miles
- Bowman
- 71.4%
- ND
- 59.3%
Share at 4+ pCi/L, 35 tests, 2008 to 2017
Ground above low
100.0%
Level with ND
- Adams
- 100.0%
- ND
- 100.0%
Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential
Tests reported
27
Too few for a share
- Adams
- 27
- Needed
- 30
2006 to 2015, laboratory
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 Adams 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
Adams County, At a glance
Adams County at a glance
Predicted: EPA radon zone
EPA Zone 1: highest predicted potential
EPA puts all of Adams 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 Adams County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CDC holds 10 reported tests for Adams County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 12.7 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Adams County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.
What these figures count
Only 10 tests were reported to CDC for Adams 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).
Adams County, Compared
Adams County radon figures, compared
Calculated by Radon411CDC's largest figure for Adams County rests on 27 tests over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, 21 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 3.7 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 35.3 pCi/L, with a middle value of 8.0 pCi/L.
Bowman County, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, reported 71.4% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L. Farther out, Stark County (50 miles away) at 62.4%, Morton County (73 miles away) at 53.4% and Dunn County (87 miles away) at 74.3% have figures too. Pooled across 53 North Dakota counties, 59.3% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 35.7%.
Statewide for the same period, Pembina County reported the highest share (82.5%) and Williams County the lowest (33.8%). EPA's 1993 map puts Adams 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.
Adams County, Geology
The ground under Adams County
PredictedUSGS's geologic map puts all of Adams County's mapped land in one class: high radon potential. All of it lies in the area the map calls Great Plains (Unglaciated), to which USGS gives a radon index of 13, in the high band (12 to 17).
| Area | The rock, in USGS's words | Potential | Radon index | Share of land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Plains (Unglaciated) | Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous sandstones, shales, and locally, coal-bearing units. | High | 13 | 100% |
Names, descriptions and indexes: U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Radon Potential Map (2025). Shares: Radon411, from the map cut to the boundary.
Adams County beside the ground around it
On high-potential ground Adams County is close to North Dakota as a whole: 100% of its land against 98.9%. Of the 8 counties that border it, none has as large a share of high-potential ground; Hettinger County comes nearest at 100%.
The map rates the ground, not the air in any home.
Local help
Adams County, Local resources
Radon testing and mitigation in Adams County
- North Dakota's radon programNorth Dakota Department of Environmental QualityNorth Dakota's radon program offers free or discounted test kits, and answers questions about testing and mitigation in North Dakota.Visit the program’s page(opens in a new tab)
- Free and low-cost kitsThe program says:
Notice: The DEQ is out of free radon test kits.
- Compare kits
- Professionals in North Dakota47 professionals are listed in North Dakota.
What North Dakota's program says
- Phone
- 701-328-5166
- jOtto@nd.gov
What it means
Adams County, Questions
Questions about radon in Adams County
Are radon levels high in Adams County?
Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 80.0% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Adams County, North Dakota were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 12.7 pCi/L. Bowman County, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, reported 71.4% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L.
Which counties border Adams County?
Adams County borders 8 counties: Hettinger County, ND, Perkins County, SD, Grant County, ND, Bowman County, ND, Slope County, ND, Harding County, SD, Corson County, SD and Sioux County, ND.
Products
Adams County, Products
Testing a home in Adams County
No CDC figure names Adams County; the nearest county with one, Bowman County (48 miles away), reported 71.4% 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 1 the year-round level in Adams 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
MonitorForensics Detectors
FD-65-RADON rechargeable radon detector with a color screen
- C-NRPP 2024/25: Not included
- Battery
- Alarm
- Screen
Method: Semiconductor sensor
First reading: Within 6 hours
Short-term kitempowerDX
Standard Radon Test short-term mail-in radon test kit
- Lab fee included
Method: Passive sampler
In home: 48 to 96 hours
- See every kit and monitor Test kits and monitors
Test kits and monitors: 1 of 3
Adams County is in EPA Zone 1, the highest predicted radon potential. Best radon monitors for Zone 1 counties like Adams County
Explore
Adams County, Bordering counties
Counties bordering Adams County
Calculated by Radon411- Radon levels in Harding County, SDEPA zone 2
100.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 5.1 pCi/L · 1 test
- Radon levels in Sioux County, NDEPA zone 1
100.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 9.3 pCi/L · 2 tests
- Radon levels in Perkins County, SDEPA zone 1
76.9%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 8.1 pCi/L · 13 tests
- Radon levels in Grant County, NDEPA zone 1
73.9%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 7.4 pCi/L · 23 tests
- Radon levels in Bowman County, NDEPA zone 1
71.4%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 5.8 pCi/L · 35 tests
- Radon levels in Slope County, NDEPA zone 1
70.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 10.3 pCi/L · 10 tests
- Radon levels in Hettinger County, NDEPA zone 1
62.5%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 5.8 pCi/L · 16 tests
- Radon levels in Corson County, SDEPA zone 1
No CDC figure for 2008 to 2017; its page reads it against its own neighbours.
Adams County, Cities and towns
Cities and towns in Adams County
The Census Bureau estimates 2,275 residents in Adams County for July 1, 2025, 81 more than in 2020 (+3.7%). Spread over its land, that is 2.3 people to the square mile. Its largest town, Hettinger, has 1,119 residents, 49.2% of the total. Together its 4 incorporated places hold 56.3% of those residents; the other 43.7% live outside any of them. CDC's 27 reported tests for 2006 to 2015 work out to 11.9 per 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), close to North Dakota's 8.4.
From Hettinger to Bucyrus, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Adams County's.
| Place | Residents | Since 2020 | Share of residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hettinger | 1,119 | +2.9% | 49.2% |
| Reeder | 130 | +4.8% | 5.7% |
| Haynes | 17 | +6.3% | 0.7% |
| Bucyrus | 15 | Level | 0.7% |
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).
Adams County, Homes
Homes in Adams County
Of Adams County's 1,336 homes, 74% are detached houses, against 57% across North Dakota; 16% are in buildings of five or more homes. The homes are older than North Dakota's as a whole: half were built before 1966 (1981 for North Dakota), and 43% date from before 1960. 74% of occupied homes are lived in by their owner (North Dakota: 63%); in the rest a tenant can run a test, but a fix is the landlord's to make.
| Homes | Adams County | North Dakota |
|---|---|---|
| Housing units | 1,336 | 374,866 |
| Detached houses | 74% | 57% |
| In buildings of 5 or more | 16% | 25% |
| Mobile homes | 6% | 7% |
| Built before 1960 | 43% | 24% |
| Built since 2000 | 14% | 31% |
| Middle year built | 1966 | 1981 |
| Owner-occupied | 74% | 63% |
Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019 to 2023: estimates from a sample of homes, looser for a small place. Shares by Radon411.