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Radon Levels in Douglas County, South Dakota

EPA puts Douglas County in Zone 1, its highest radon zone, and only 3 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

    47.9%

    Davison County

    Davison
    47.9%

    1 of 4 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2006 to 2015

  • Nearest county

    47.9%

    Davison County, 23 miles

    Davison
    47.9%
    SD
    58.8%

    Share at 4+ pCi/L, 71 tests, 2006 to 2015

  • Ground above low

    100.0%

    1.0 pts above SD

    Douglas
    100.0%
    SD
    99.0%

    Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential

  • Tests reported

    3

    Too few for a share

    Douglas
    3
    Needed
    30

    2008 to 2017, 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 Douglas 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.

The data

Douglas County, At a glance

Douglas County at a glance

Predicted: EPA radon zone

EPA Zone 1: highest predicted potential

EPA puts all of Douglas 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 Douglas County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory

CDC holds 3 reported tests for Douglas County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 1.3 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Douglas County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.

What these figures count

Only 3 tests were reported to CDC for Douglas 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

Douglas County, Compared

Douglas County radon figures, compared

Calculated by Radon411

CDC's largest figure for Douglas County rests on 3 tests over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 0 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 33.3 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 2.7 pCi/L, with a middle value of 1.3 pCi/L.

Davison County, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, reported 47.9% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L. Farther out, Bon Homme County (37 miles away) at 79.5%, Brule County (43 miles away) at 62.5% and Yankton County (56 miles away) at 66.3% have figures too. Pooled across 63 South Dakota counties, 58.8% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 36.3%.

Statewide for the same period, Bon Homme County reported the highest share (79.5%) and Davison County the lowest (47.9%). EPA's 1993 map puts Douglas 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.

South Dakota, the United States and the counties around Douglas County, 2006 to 2015, laboratory
AreaTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
South Dakota, pooled63 counties, pooled4,89358.8%Not pooled
United States, pooled2,669 counties, pooled1,805,52836.3%Not pooled
Bon Homme Countyhighest in the state3979.5%8.1 pCi/L
Pennington Countylowest in the state78651.8%4.3 pCi/L
Hutchinson County, SDborders it2576.0%8.2 pCi/L
Charles Mix County, SDborders it1163.6%6.1 pCi/L
Davison County, SDborders it7147.9%3.7 pCi/L
Aurora County, SDborders it1040.0%2.3 pCi/L
The nearest South Dakota counties to Douglas County with 30 or more tests, 2006 to 2015, laboratory
CountyDistanceTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Davison County23 mi7147.9%3.7 pCi/L
Bon Homme County37 mi3979.5%8.1 pCi/L
Brule County43 mi3262.5%6.3 pCi/L
Yankton County56 mi8066.3%5.4 pCi/L
Turner County62 mi4553.3%4.0 pCi/L
Beadle County71 mi4663.0%5.6 pCi/L
Lake County76 mi3873.7%8.3 pCi/L
Clay County77 mi6056.7%5.0 pCi/L
Douglas County ten-year laboratory totals, against South Dakota's pooled share
PeriodTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedianHighestSouth Dakota, pooledChange from the row before
2008 to 201730.0%1.3 pCi/L2.7 pCi/L58.5%Level
2007 to 201630.0%1.3 pCi/L2.7 pCi/L57.4%Level
2006 to 201530.0%1.3 pCi/L2.7 pCi/L58.8%Level
2005 to 201430.0%1.3 pCi/L2.7 pCi/L59.6%First on file

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

Douglas County, Geology

The ground under Douglas County

Predicted

USGS's geologic map puts all of Douglas County's mapped land in one class: high radon potential. All of it lies in the area the map calls Missouri Coteau/James River Lowland/Coteau des Prairies, to which USGS gives a radon index of 14, in the high band (12 to 17).

USGS's geologic areas under Douglas County
AreaThe rock, in USGS's wordsPotentialRadon indexShare of land
Missouri Coteau/James River Lowland/Coteau des PrairiesGlacial drift derived largely from Cretaceous marine shale.High14100%

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

Douglas County beside the ground around it

Douglas County has more high-potential ground than South Dakota as a whole: 100% of its land against 56.7%. Of the 4 counties that border it, none has as large a share of high-potential ground; Aurora County comes nearest at 100%.

Share of land by USGS radon potential: Douglas County, the 4 counties bordering it and South Dakota
AreaEPA zoneLow potentialModerate potentialHigh potential
Douglas CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Charles Mix CountyZone 1None0.2%99.8%
Hutchinson CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Davison CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Aurora CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
South Dakota66 counties, pooled by land areaVaries1.0%42.3%56.7%

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

What it means

Douglas County, Questions

Questions about radon in Douglas County

Are radon levels high in Douglas County?

Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 0.0% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Douglas County, South Dakota were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 1.3 pCi/L. Davison County, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, reported 47.9% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L.

Which counties border Douglas County?

Douglas County borders 4 counties: Charles Mix County, Hutchinson County, Davison County and Aurora County.

Products

Douglas County, Products

Testing a home in Douglas County

No CDC figure names Douglas County; the nearest county with one, Davison County (23 miles away), reported 47.9% 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 1 the year-round level in Douglas 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

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

Explore

Douglas County, Bordering counties

Counties bordering Douglas County

Calculated by Radon411

Douglas County, Cities and towns

Cities and towns in Douglas County

The Census Bureau estimates 2,888 residents in Douglas County for July 1, 2025, 54 more than in 2020 (+1.9%). Spread over its land, that is 6.7 people to the square mile. Its largest town, Armour, has 725 residents, 25.1% of the total. Together its 3 incorporated places hold 50.0% of those residents; the other 50.0% live outside any of them. Reported testing is thin here: 3 tests over 2008 to 2017, or 1.0 for every 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), where South Dakota as a whole comes to 6.7.

From Armour to Delmont, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Douglas County's.

The cities and towns in Douglas County by residents, July 1, 2025
PlaceResidentsSince 2020Share of residents
Armour725+4.5%25.1%
Corsica564+0.2%19.5%
Delmont154Level5.3%

3 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).

Douglas County, Homes

Homes in Douglas County

Douglas County is a place of houses on their own lots: 90% of its 1,354 homes are detached single-family houses, against 67% across South Dakota. The homes are older than South Dakota's as a whole: half were built before 1957 (1979 for South Dakota), and 52% date from before 1960. Owners live in 78% of the occupied homes (South Dakota: 69%), so for most households a test and a fix are their own to order.

Homes in Douglas County, South Dakota, 2019 to 2023
HomesDouglas CountySouth Dakota
Housing units1,354402,364
Detached houses90%67%
In buildings of 5 or more4%16%
Mobile homes3%8%
Built before 196052%29%
Built since 200018%28%
Middle year built19571979
Owner-occupied78%69%

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