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 Perkins County, South Dakota
EPA puts Perkins 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
54.5%
Meade County
- Meade
- 54.5%
1 of 7 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2006 to 2015
Nearest county
54.5%
Meade County, 65 miles
- Meade
- 54.5%
- SD
- 58.8%
Share at 4+ pCi/L, 112 tests, 2006 to 2015
Ground above low
100.0%
1.0 pts above SD
- Perkins
- 100.0%
- SD
- 99.0%
Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential
Tests reported
16
Too few for a share
- Perkins
- 16
- 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 Perkins 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
Perkins County, At a glance
Perkins County at a glance
Predicted: EPA radon zone
EPA Zone 1: highest predicted potential
EPA puts all of Perkins County in
USGS geologic potential: High across 54% of the county's area
Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones
Measured: tests reported to CDC
Radon tests reported for Perkins County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CDC holds 13 reported tests for Perkins County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 8.1 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Perkins County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.
What these figures count
Only 13 tests were reported to CDC for Perkins 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).
Perkins County, Compared
Perkins County radon figures, compared
Calculated by Radon411CDC's largest figure for Perkins County rests on 16 tests over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, 10 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 6.3 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 12.8 pCi/L, with a middle value of 7.9 pCi/L.
Meade County, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, reported 54.5% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L. Farther out, Lawrence County (101 miles away) at 60.5%, Pennington County (104 miles away) at 51.8% and Custer County (134 miles away) at 68.3% 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 Perkins County in Zone 1, the map's highest label: a predicted county average above 4 pCi/L. USGS geology rates 54% of the county's land high radon potential.
Pooled shares: Radon411's sum of CDC's county counts for one period.
Perkins County, Geology
The ground under Perkins County
PredictedUSGS's geologic map splits Perkins County: 53.8% of its land is high radon potential and 46.2% moderate. The map puts 53.7% of Perkins County in the area it calls Great Plains (Unglaciated) and 46.2% in Pierre Hills. USGS gives the first a radon index of 14, in the high band (12 to 17), and the second 10, in the moderate band (9 to 11).
| Area | The rock, in USGS's words | Potential | Radon index | Share of land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Plains (Unglaciated) | Early Tertiary sandstones. Some units host uranium deposits. | High | 14 | 53.7% |
| Pierre Hills | Pierre Shale and Fox Hills sandstone. | Moderate | 10 | 46.2% |
Names, descriptions and indexes: U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Radon Potential Map (2025). Shares: Radon411, from the map cut to the boundary.
Perkins County beside the ground around it
On high-potential ground Perkins County is close to South Dakota as a whole: 53.8% of its land against 56.7%. Of the 7 counties that border it, 3 have more high-potential ground, Adams County, ND the most at 100%.
The map rates the ground, not the air in any home.
Local help
Perkins County, Local resources
Radon testing and mitigation in Perkins 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
Perkins County, Questions
Questions about radon in Perkins County
Are radon levels high in Perkins County?
Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 76.9% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Perkins County, South Dakota were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 8.1 pCi/L. Meade County, the one bordering county with a figure over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, reported 54.5% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L.
Which counties border Perkins County?
Perkins County borders 7 counties: Adams County, ND, Harding County, SD, Corson County, SD, Ziebach County, SD, Butte County, SD, Meade County, SD and Sioux County, ND.
Products
Perkins County, Products
Testing a home in Perkins County
No CDC figure names Perkins County; the nearest county with one, Meade County (65 miles away), reported 54.5% 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 Perkins 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
MonitorX-Sense
XR0A-iR Wi-Fi battery radon detector with a screen
- C-NRPP 2024/25: Not included
- Battery
- Wi-Fi
- Screen, app
Method: Alpha spectrometry
First reading: Within 24 hours
Short-term kitKidde
442020 short-term charcoal radon test kit
- Lab fee included
Method: Charcoal
In home: 3 days
- See every kit and monitor Test kits and monitors
Test kits and monitors: 1 of 3
Perkins County is in EPA Zone 1, the highest predicted radon potential. Best radon monitors for Zone 1 counties like Perkins County
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Perkins County, Bordering counties
Counties bordering Perkins County
Calculated by Radon411- Radon levels in Harding County, SDEPA zone 2
100.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 7.9 pCi/L · 2 tests
- Radon levels in Ziebach County, SDEPA zone 2
100.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 11.6 pCi/L · 3 tests
- 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 Adams County, NDEPA zone 1
77.8%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 8.0 pCi/L · 27 tests
- Radon levels in Meade County, SDEPA zone 2
54.5%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 4.1 pCi/L · 112 tests
- Radon levels in Corson County, SDEPA zone 1
50.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 8.0 pCi/L · 2 tests
- Radon levels in Butte County, SDEPA zone 2
45.8%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 3.3 pCi/L · 24 tests
Perkins County, Cities and towns
Cities and towns in Perkins County
The Census Bureau estimates 2,853 residents in Perkins County for July 1, 2025, 24 more than in 2020 (+0.8%). Spread over its land, that is 1.0 people to the square mile. Its largest town, Lemmon, has 1,158 residents, 40.6% of the total. Together its 2 incorporated places hold 51.4% of those residents; the other 48.6% live outside any of them. CDC's 16 reported tests for 2006 to 2015 work out to 5.6 per 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), close to South Dakota's 5.2.
From Lemmon to Bison, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Perkins County's.
| Place | Residents | Since 2020 | Share of residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lemmon | 1,158 | +0.3% | 40.6% |
| Bison | 308 | +1.3% | 10.8% |
2 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).
Perkins County, Homes
Homes in Perkins County
Of Perkins County's 1,729 homes, 73% are detached houses, against 67% across South Dakota; 19% are mobile homes. The homes are older than South Dakota's as a whole: half were built before 1963 (1979 for South Dakota), and 47% date from before 1960. Owners live in 79% of the occupied homes (South Dakota: 69%), so for most households a test and a fix are their own to order.
| Homes | Perkins County | South Dakota |
|---|---|---|
| Housing units | 1,729 | 402,364 |
| Detached houses | 73% | 67% |
| In buildings of 5 or more | 6% | 16% |
| Mobile homes | 19% | 8% |
| Built before 1960 | 47% | 29% |
| Built since 2000 | 10% | 28% |
| Middle year built | 1963 | 1979 |
| Owner-occupied | 79% | 69% |
Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019 to 2023: estimates from a sample of homes, looser for a small place. Shares by Radon411.