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
Locations and reports
Radon Levels in Hand County, South Dakota
EPA puts Hand County in Zone 1, its highest radon zone, and only 11 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
63.0%
Beadle County
- Beadle
- 63.0%
1 of 6 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2006 to 2015
Nearest county
63.0%
Beadle County, 37 miles
- Beadle
- 63.0%
- SD
- 58.8%
Share at 4+ pCi/L, 46 tests, 2006 to 2015
Ground above low
100.0%
1.0 pts above SD
- Hand
- 100.0%
- SD
- 99.0%
Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential
Tests reported
12
Too few for a share
- Hand
- 12
- Needed
- 30
2005 to 2014, 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 Hand 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
Hand County, At a glance
Hand County at a glance
Predicted: EPA radon zone
EPA Zone 1: highest predicted potential
EPA puts all of Hand 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 Hand County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CDC holds 11 reported tests for Hand County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 4.8 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Hand County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.
What these figures count
Only 11 tests were reported to CDC for Hand 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).
Hand County, Compared
Hand County radon figures, compared
Calculated by Radon411CDC's largest figure for Hand County rests on 12 tests over the 2005 to 2014 laboratory totals, 9 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 8.3 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 14.8 pCi/L, with a middle value of 4.8 pCi/L.
Beadle County, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, reported 63.0% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L. Farther out, Hughes County (50 miles away) at 66.7%, Brule County (57 miles away) at 62.5% and Edmunds County (61 miles away) at 61.8% 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 Hand 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.
Hand County, Geology
The ground under Hand County
PredictedUSGS's geologic map puts all of Hand 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).
| Area | The rock, in USGS's words | Potential | Radon index | Share of land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri Coteau/James River Lowland/Coteau des Prairies | Glacial drift derived largely from Cretaceous marine shale. | High | 14 | 100% |
Names, descriptions and indexes: U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Radon Potential Map (2025). Shares: Radon411, from the map cut to the boundary.
Hand County beside the ground around it
Hand County has more high-potential ground than South Dakota as a whole: 100% of its land against 56.7%. Of the 6 counties that border it, none has as large a share of high-potential ground; Beadle County comes nearest at 100%.
The map rates the ground, not the air in any home.
Local help
Hand County, Local resources
Radon testing and mitigation in Hand County
- South Dakota's radon programDepartment of Agriculture and Natural ResourcesSouth Dakota's radon program offers free or discounted test kits, and answers questions about testing and mitigation in South Dakota.Visit the program’s page(opens in a new tab)
- Free and low-cost kitsThe program says:
The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) will provide 500 free Radon test kits to South Dakota Residents.
- Compare kits
- Professionals in South Dakota5 professionals are listed in South Dakota.
What South Dakota's program says
- Phone
- 1-800-438-3367
What it means
Hand County, Questions
Questions about radon in Hand County
Are radon levels high in Hand County?
Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 81.8% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Hand County, South Dakota were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 4.8 pCi/L. Beadle County, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, reported 63.0% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L.
Which counties border Hand County?
Hand County borders 6 counties: Buffalo County, Hyde County, Jerauld County, Beadle County, Faulk County and Spink County.
Products
Hand County, Products
Testing a home in Hand County
No CDC figure names Hand County; the nearest county with one, Beadle County (37 miles away), reported 63.0% 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 Hand 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
Monitor
RadonEye RD200 plug-in continuous radon monitor
- C-NRPP 2024/25: Approved
- Plug-in
- Bluetooth
- Alarm
- Screen, app
Method: Ion chamber
First reading: Within 10 minutes
Short-term kit
Radon Short Term Test Kit short-term charcoal radon test kit, lab fee included
- Lab fee included
Method: Charcoal
In home: 2 to 7 days
- See every kit and monitor Test kits and monitors
Test kits and monitors: 1 of 3
Hand County is in EPA Zone 1, the highest predicted radon potential. Best radon monitors for Zone 1 counties like Hand County
Explore
Hand County, Bordering counties
Counties bordering Hand County
Calculated by Radon411- Radon levels in Buffalo CountyEPA zone 1
100.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 10.9 pCi/L · 1 test
- Radon levels in Faulk CountyEPA zone 1
100.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 32.2 pCi/L · 1 test
- Radon levels in Hyde CountyEPA zone 1
80.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 4.9 pCi/L · 5 tests
- Radon levels in Jerauld CountyEPA zone 1
72.7%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 8.2 pCi/L · 22 tests
- Radon levels in Beadle CountyEPA zone 1
63.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 5.6 pCi/L · 46 tests
- Radon levels in Spink CountyEPA zone 1
58.8%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 4.9 pCi/L · 17 tests
Hand County, Cities and towns
Cities and towns in Hand County
About 3,121 people live in Hand County by the Census Bureau's estimate for July 1, 2025, 23 fewer than in 2020 (−0.7%). Spread over its land, that is 2.2 people to the square mile. Its largest town, Miller, has 1,313 residents, 42.1% of the total. CDC's 12 reported tests for 2005 to 2014 work out to 3.8 per 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), close to South Dakota's 4.5.
From Miller to Ree Heights, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Hand County's.
| Place | Residents | Since 2020 | Share of residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miller | 1,313 | −2.3% | 42.1% |
| Wessingtonextends beyond Hand County | 201 | +2.6% | Counted whole |
| St. Lawrence | 162 | −1.8% | 5.2% |
| Ree Heights | 59 | Level | 1.9% |
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). A place that extends beyond Hand County is counted whole, so it has no share.
Hand County, Homes
Homes in Hand County
Hand County is a place of houses on their own lots: 80% of its 1,698 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 1962 (1979 for South Dakota), and 48% date from before 1960. 64% of occupied homes are lived in by their owner (South Dakota: 69%); in the rest a tenant can run a test, but a fix is the landlord's to make.
| Homes | Hand County | South Dakota |
|---|---|---|
| Housing units | 1,698 | 402,364 |
| Detached houses | 80% | 67% |
| In buildings of 5 or more | 6% | 16% |
| Mobile homes | 7% | 8% |
| Built before 1960 | 48% | 29% |
| Built since 2000 | 11% | 28% |
| Middle year built | 1962 | 1979 |
| Owner-occupied | 64% | 69% |
Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019 to 2023: estimates from a sample of homes, looser for a small place. Shares by Radon411.