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Radon Levels in Oliver County, North Dakota

EPA puts Oliver County in Zone 1, its highest radon zone, and only 12 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

    63.5%

    Mercer County

    Mercer
    63.5%
    Burleigh
    51.1%

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

  • Nearest county

    63.5%

    Mercer County, 27 miles

    Mercer
    63.5%
    ND
    59.3%

    Share at 4+ pCi/L, 85 tests, 2008 to 2017

  • Ground above low

    100.0%

    Level with ND

    Oliver
    100.0%
    ND
    100.0%

    Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential

  • Tests reported

    15

    Too few for a share

    Oliver
    15
    Needed
    30

    2006 to 2015, laboratory

  • EPA radon zone

    Zone 1

    Highest potential

    1. Zone 1
    2. 2
    3. 3

    1 highest, 3 lowest

    EPA predicts over 4 pCi/L indoors

Read a result for Oliver 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

Oliver County, At a glance

Oliver County at a glance

Predicted: EPA radon zone

EPA Zone 1: highest predicted potential

EPA puts all of Oliver County in and predicts an average indoor of greater than 4 pCi/L (greater than 150 Bq/m³) across the county. That is one forecast for the whole county, not a reading of any address in it; homes above EPA's turn up in all three zones.

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 Oliver County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory

CDC holds 12 reported tests for Oliver County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 6.0 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Oliver County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.

What these figures count

Only 12 tests were reported to CDC for Oliver 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

Oliver County, Compared

Oliver County radon figures, compared

Calculated by Radon411

CDC's largest figure for Oliver County rests on 15 tests over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, 8 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 6.7 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 26.3 pCi/L, with a middle value of 4.2 pCi/L.

Of the counties bordering it, 4 have a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals: Mercer County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 63.5%, and Burleigh County the smallest, 51.1%, with McLean County at 63.2% and Morton County at 53.4% between. Farther out, Dunn County (62 miles away) at 74.3%, Stark County (66 miles away) at 62.4% and Ward County (77 miles away) at 43.0% 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 Oliver 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.

North Dakota, the United States and the counties around Oliver County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
AreaTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
North Dakota, pooled53 counties, pooled6,60759.3%Not pooled
United States, pooled2,661 counties, pooled2,013,54435.7%Not pooled
Pembina Countyhighest in the state5782.5%9.3 pCi/L
Williams Countylowest in the state20433.8%2.9 pCi/L
Mercer County, NDborders it8563.5%5.7 pCi/L
McLean County, NDborders it9563.2%5.6 pCi/L
Morton County, NDborders it26853.4%4.2 pCi/L
Burleigh County, NDborders it1,55851.1%4.0 pCi/L
The nearest North Dakota counties to Oliver County with 30 or more tests, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CountyDistanceTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Mercer County27 mi8563.5%5.7 pCi/L
Morton County28 mi26853.4%4.2 pCi/L
McLean County34 mi9563.2%5.6 pCi/L
Burleigh County42 mi1,55851.1%4.0 pCi/L
Dunn County62 mi3574.3%7.1 pCi/L
Stark County66 mi38662.4%5.1 pCi/L
Ward County77 mi44643.0%3.3 pCi/L
Wells County85 mi8148.1%3.8 pCi/L
Oliver County ten-year laboratory totals, against North Dakota's pooled share
PeriodTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedianHighestNorth Dakota, pooledChange from the row before
2008 to 20171266.7%6.0 pCi/L26.3 pCi/L59.3%−6.0 points
2007 to 20161172.7%6.0 pCi/L26.3 pCi/L58.7%+19.4 points
2006 to 20151553.3%4.2 pCi/L26.3 pCi/L56.3%+7.1 points
2005 to 20141346.2%3.6 pCi/L26.3 pCi/L54.0%First on file

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

Oliver County, Geology

The ground under Oliver County

Predicted

USGS's geologic map puts all of Oliver County's mapped land in one class: high radon potential. All of it lies in the area the map calls Great Plains (Glaciated), to which USGS gives a radon index of 13, in the high band (12 to 17).

USGS's geologic areas under Oliver County
AreaThe rock, in USGS's wordsPotentialRadon indexShare of land
Great Plains (Glaciated)Glacial deposits derived from Cretaceous shales containing higher than average amounts of uranium.High13100%

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

Oliver County beside the ground around it

On high-potential ground Oliver County is close to North Dakota as a whole: 100% of its land against 98.9%. Of the 4 counties that border it, none has as large a share of high-potential ground; Burleigh County comes nearest at 100%.

Share of land by USGS radon potential: Oliver County, the 4 counties bordering it and North Dakota
AreaEPA zoneLow potentialModerate potentialHigh potential
Oliver CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Mercer CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
McLean CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Morton CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Burleigh CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
North Dakota53 counties, pooled by land areaVariesNone1.1%98.9%

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

Local help

Oliver County, Local resources

Radon testing and mitigation in Oliver County

What North Dakota's program says
Phone
701-328-5166
Email
jOtto@nd.gov

What it means

Oliver County, Questions

Questions about radon in Oliver County

Are radon levels high in Oliver County?

Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 66.7% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Oliver County, North Dakota were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 6.0 pCi/L. Of the counties bordering it, 4 have a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals: Mercer County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 63.5%, and Burleigh County the smallest, 51.1%, with McLean County at 63.2% and Morton County at 53.4% between.

Which counties border Oliver County?

Oliver County borders 4 counties: Mercer County, McLean County, Morton County and Burleigh County.

Products

Oliver County, Products

Testing a home in Oliver County

No CDC figure names Oliver County; the nearest county with one, Mercer County (27 miles away), reported 63.5% 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 Oliver 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

Oliver County is in EPA Zone 1, the highest predicted radon potential. Best radon monitors for Zone 1 counties like Oliver County

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Oliver County, Bordering counties

Counties bordering Oliver County

Calculated by Radon411

Oliver County, Cities and towns

Cities and towns in Oliver County

The Census Bureau estimates 1,898 residents in Oliver County for July 1, 2025, 32 more than in 2020 (+1.7%). Spread over its land, that is 2.6 people to the square mile. Center, its one incorporated place, has 583 residents, 30.7% of the total. CDC's 15 reported tests for 2006 to 2015 work out to 7.9 per 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), close to North Dakota's 8.4.

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

Center, Oliver County: residents on July 1, 2025
PlaceResidentsSince 2020Share of residents
Center583+0.2%30.7%

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).

Oliver County, Homes

Homes in Oliver County

Oliver County is a place of houses on their own lots: 83% of its 912 homes are detached single-family houses, against 57% across North Dakota. Half of its homes were built before 1975, close to North Dakota's 1981: 28% date from before 1960 and 17% from 2000 or later. Owners live in 93% of the occupied homes (North Dakota: 63%), so for most households a test and a fix are their own to order.

Homes in Oliver County, North Dakota, 2019 to 2023
HomesOliver CountyNorth Dakota
Housing units912374,866
Detached houses83%57%
In buildings of 5 or more1%25%
Mobile homes13%7%
Built before 196028%24%
Built since 200017%31%
Middle year built19751981
Owner-occupied93%63%

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