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Radon Levels in Hamlin County, South Dakota

EPA puts Hamlin County in Zone 1, its highest radon zone, and only 13 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

    68.8%

    Kingsbury County

    Kingsbury
    68.8%
    Codington
    65.3%

    3 of 5 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2006 to 2015

  • Nearest county

    65.3%

    Codington County, 21 miles

    Codington
    65.3%
    SD
    58.8%

    Share at 4+ pCi/L, 72 tests, 2006 to 2015

  • Ground above low

    100.0%

    1.0 pts above SD

    Hamlin
    100.0%
    SD
    99.0%

    Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential

  • Tests reported

    17

    Too few for a share

    Hamlin
    17
    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 Hamlin 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

Hamlin County, At a glance

Hamlin County at a glance

Predicted: EPA radon zone

EPA Zone 1: highest predicted potential

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

CDC holds 13 reported tests for Hamlin County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 6.3 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Hamlin County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.

What these figures count

Only 13 tests were reported to CDC for Hamlin 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

Hamlin County, Compared

Hamlin County radon figures, compared

Calculated by Radon411

CDC's largest figure for Hamlin County rests on 17 tests over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, 12 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 5.9 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 14.6 pCi/L, with a middle value of 4.8 pCi/L.

Of the counties bordering it, 3 have a figure over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals: Kingsbury County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 68.8%, and Codington County the smallest, 65.3%, with Brookings County at 67.4% between. Farther out, Grant County (40 miles away) at 64.6%, Lake County (45 miles away) at 73.7% and Beadle County (57 miles away) at 63.0% 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 Hamlin 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 Hamlin 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
Davison Countylowest in the state7147.9%3.7 pCi/L
Deuel County, SDborders it2770.4%5.9 pCi/L
Kingsbury County, SDborders it3268.8%8.4 pCi/L
Brookings County, SDborders it32867.4%6.4 pCi/L
Clark County, SDborders it366.7%6.2 pCi/L
Codington County, SDborders it7265.3%6.0 pCi/L
The nearest South Dakota counties to Hamlin County with 30 or more tests, 2006 to 2015, laboratory
CountyDistanceTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Codington County21 mi7265.3%6.0 pCi/L
Kingsbury County26 mi3268.8%8.4 pCi/L
Brookings County29 mi32867.4%6.4 pCi/L
Grant County40 mi8264.6%6.0 pCi/L
Lake County45 mi3873.7%8.3 pCi/L
Beadle County57 mi4663.0%5.6 pCi/L
Minnehaha County72 mi1,52259.5%5.0 pCi/L
Davison County84 mi7147.9%3.7 pCi/L
Hamlin 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 20171376.9%6.3 pCi/L14.6 pCi/L58.5%+3.6 points
2007 to 20161573.3%5.9 pCi/L14.6 pCi/L57.4%+2.7 points
2006 to 20151770.6%4.8 pCi/L14.6 pCi/L58.8%+1.8 points
2005 to 20141668.8%4.7 pCi/L14.6 pCi/L59.6%First on file

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

Hamlin County, Geology

The ground under Hamlin County

Predicted

USGS's geologic map puts all of Hamlin County's mapped land in one class: high radon potential. The map puts 54.6% of Hamlin County in the area it calls Missouri Coteau/James River Lowland/Coteau des Prairies and 45.4% in Loess-Covered Drift Plains. USGS gives the first a radon index of 14 and the second 13, both in the high band (12 to 17).

USGS's geologic areas under Hamlin 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.High1454.6%
Loess-Covered Drift PlainsPre-Illinoian and Illinoian glacial deposits, and loess.High1345.4%

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

Hamlin County beside the ground around it

Hamlin County has more high-potential ground than South Dakota as a whole: 100% of its land against 56.7%. Of the 5 counties that border it, none has as large a share of high-potential ground; Brookings County comes nearest at 100%.

Share of land by USGS radon potential: Hamlin County, the 5 counties bordering it and South Dakota
AreaEPA zoneLow potentialModerate potentialHigh potential
Hamlin CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Deuel CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Kingsbury CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Codington CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Brookings CountyZone 1NoneNone100%
Clark 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

Hamlin County, Questions

Questions about radon in Hamlin County

Are radon levels high in Hamlin County?

Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 76.9% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Hamlin County, South Dakota were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 6.3 pCi/L. Of the counties bordering it, 3 have a figure over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals: Kingsbury County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 68.8%, and Codington County the smallest, 65.3%, with Brookings County at 67.4% between.

Which counties border Hamlin County?

Hamlin County borders 5 counties: Deuel County, Kingsbury County, Codington County, Brookings County and Clark County.

Products

Hamlin County, Products

Testing a home in Hamlin County

No CDC figure names Hamlin County; the nearest county with one, Codington County (21 miles away), reported 65.3% 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 Hamlin 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

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

Explore

Hamlin County, Bordering counties

Counties bordering Hamlin County

Calculated by Radon411

Hamlin County, Cities and towns

Cities and towns in Hamlin County

Hamlin County is growing: the Census Bureau puts it at 6,900 residents on July 1, 2025, up 11.8% from 6,169 in 2020. That works out to 14 people per square mile of land. No town dominates: Estelline, the largest, has 792 residents, 11.5% of the total. Together its 6 incorporated places hold 47.2% of those residents; the other 52.8% live outside any of them. Reported testing is thin here: 17 tests over 2006 to 2015, or 2.5 for every 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), where South Dakota as a whole comes to 5.2.

From Estelline to Hazel, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Hamlin County's.

The cities and towns in Hamlin County by residents, July 1, 2025
PlaceResidentsSince 2020Share of residents
Estelline792+6.3%11.5%
Castlewood739+5.6%10.7%
Lake Norden651+16.3%9.4%
Bryant488+4.3%7.1%
Hayti482+25.8%7.0%
Hazel105+1.9%1.5%

6 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).

Hamlin County, Homes

Homes in Hamlin County

Hamlin County is a place of houses on their own lots: 89% of its 2,831 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 1970 (1979 for South Dakota), and 43% date from before 1960. Owners live in 82% of the occupied homes (South Dakota: 69%), so for most households a test and a fix are their own to order.

Homes in Hamlin County, South Dakota, 2019 to 2023
HomesHamlin CountySouth Dakota
Housing units2,831402,364
Detached houses89%67%
In buildings of 5 or more3%16%
Mobile homes4%8%
Built before 196043%29%
Built since 200025%28%
Middle year built19701979
Owner-occupied82%69%

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