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Radon Levels in Van Buren County, Tennessee

EPA puts Van Buren County in Zone 2, its middle radon zone, and only 9 radon tests from it are on file with CDC (2022). 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

    49.0%

    White County

    White
    49.0%
    Cumberland
    8.7%

    5 of 5 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2008 to 2017

  • Nearest county

    24.3%

    Bledsoe County, 16 miles

    Bledsoe
    24.3%
    Tennessee
    33.3%

    Share at 4+ pCi/L, 37 tests, 2008 to 2017

  • Ground above low

    37.6%

    31.9 pts below Tennessee

    Van Buren
    37.6%
    Tennessee
    69.5%

    Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential

  • Tests reported

    22

    Too few for a share

    Van Buren
    22
    Needed
    30

    2008 to 2017, laboratory

  • EPA radon zone

    Zone 2

    Moderate potential

    1. 1
    2. Zone 2
    3. 3

    1 highest, 3 lowest

    EPA predicts 2 to 4 pCi/L indoors

Read a result for Van Buren 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

Van Buren County, At a glance

Van Buren County at a glance

Predicted: EPA radon zone

EPA Zone 2: moderate predicted potential

Van Buren County is a county: EPA's forecast for it as a whole is an average indoor of 2 to 4 pCi/L (75 to 150 Bq/m³). It describes no single address, and homes above EPA's are found in every zone, this one included.

USGS geologic potential: Low across 62% of the county's area

Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones

Measured: tests reported to CDC

Radon tests reported for Van Buren County, 2022

CDC holds 9 reported tests for Van Buren County in 2022, with a median of 2.2 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Van Buren County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.

What these figures count

Only 9 tests were reported to CDC for Van Buren County over 2022, 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: 2022. Measured data period: 2005 to 2022 (every CDC figure on file).

How to read these figures

Van Buren County, Compared

Van Buren County radon figures, compared

Calculated by Radon411

CDC's largest figure for Van Buren County rests on 22 tests over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 9 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 4.5 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 46.4 pCi/L, with a middle value of 2.1 pCi/L.

Of the counties bordering it, 5 have a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals: White County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 49.0%, and Cumberland County the smallest, 8.7%, with Warren County at 36.9%, Bledsoe County at 24.3% and Sequatchie County at 20.7% between. Farther out, DeKalb County (29 miles away) at 30.5%, Rhea County (30 miles away) at 26.7% and Putnam County (31 miles away) at 36.0% have figures too. Pooled across 95 Tennessee counties, 33.3% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 35.7%.

Statewide for the same period, Jefferson County reported the highest share (56.8%) and Chester County the lowest (0.0%). EPA's 1993 map puts Van Buren County in Zone 2, its middle label: a predicted county average between 2 and 4 pCi/L. USGS geology rates 62% of the county's land low radon potential.

Tennessee, the United States and the counties around Van Buren County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
AreaTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Tennessee, pooled95 counties, pooled31,06633.3%Not pooled
United States, pooled2,661 counties, pooled2,013,54435.7%Not pooled
Jefferson Countyhighest in the state14656.8%4.7 pCi/L
Chester Countylowest in the state440.0%1.1 pCi/L
White County, TNborders it14749.0%3.9 pCi/L
Warren County, TNborders it14936.9%3.0 pCi/L
Bledsoe County, TNborders it3724.3%2.1 pCi/L
Sequatchie County, TNborders it5820.7%1.9 pCi/L
Cumberland County, TNborders it1728.7%1.3 pCi/L
The nearest Tennessee counties to Van Buren County with 30 or more tests, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CountyDistanceTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Bledsoe County16 mi3724.3%2.1 pCi/L
White County16 mi14749.0%3.9 pCi/L
Warren County18 mi14936.9%3.0 pCi/L
Sequatchie County23 mi5820.7%1.9 pCi/L
DeKalb County29 mi5930.5%3.1 pCi/L
Rhea County30 mi4526.7%2.4 pCi/L
Putnam County31 mi33636.0%2.6 pCi/L
Cumberland County31 mi1728.7%1.3 pCi/L
Van Buren County ten-year laboratory totals, against Tennessee's pooled share
PeriodTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedianHighestTennessee, pooledChange from the row before
2008 to 20172240.9%2.1 pCi/L46.4 pCi/L33.3%Level
2007 to 20162240.9%2.1 pCi/L46.4 pCi/L33.4%−9.1 points
2006 to 20151650.0%3.5 pCi/L46.4 pCi/L33.4%−11.5 points
2005 to 20141361.5%9.0 pCi/L46.4 pCi/L33.2%First on file

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

Van Buren County, Geology

The ground under Van Buren County

Predicted

USGS's geologic map splits Van Buren County: 62.4% of its land is low radon potential and 37.6% moderate. The map puts 62.4% of Van Buren County in the area it calls Appalachian Plateau and 37.6% in Highland Rim. USGS gives the first a radon index of 8, in the low band (5 to 8), and the second 11, in the moderate band (9 to 11).

USGS's geologic areas under Van Buren County
AreaThe rock, in USGS's wordsPotentialRadon indexShare of land
Appalachian PlateauSandstone and shale.Low862.4%
Highland RimPaleozoic sedimentary rocks (limestone, shale, chert, and dolostone).Moderate1137.6%

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

Van Buren County beside the ground around it

Across Tennessee 47.2% of the land is rated high; none of Van Buren County's is. Of the 5 counties that border it, 2 have more moderate-potential ground, Warren County the most at 95.3%.

Share of land by USGS radon potential: Van Buren County, the 5 counties bordering it and Tennessee
AreaEPA zoneLow potentialModerate potentialHigh potential
Van Buren CountyZone 262.4%37.6%None
Bledsoe CountyZone 3100%NoneNone
Warren CountyZone 24.7%95.3%None
White CountyZone 214.1%85.9%None
Sequatchie CountyZone 3100%NoneNone
Cumberland CountyZone 3100%NoneNone
Tennessee95 counties, pooled by land areaVaries30.5%22.3%47.2%

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

Local help

Van Buren County, Local resources

Radon testing and mitigation in Van Buren County

What Tennessee's program says
Phone
1-800-232-1139
Email
TDEC.Radon@tn.gov

What it means

Van Buren County, Questions

Questions about radon in Van Buren County

Are radon levels high in Van Buren County?

In 2022, 0.0% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Van Buren County, Tennessee were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 2.2 pCi/L. Of the counties bordering it, 5 have a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals: White County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 49.0%, and Cumberland County the smallest, 8.7%, with Warren County at 36.9%, Bledsoe County at 24.3% and Sequatchie County at 20.7% between.

Which counties border Van Buren County?

Van Buren County borders 5 counties: Bledsoe County, Warren County, White County, Sequatchie County and Cumberland County.

Products

Van Buren County, Products

Testing a home in Van Buren County

No CDC figure names Van Buren County; the nearest county with one, Bledsoe County (16 miles away), reported 24.3% 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 2 a short-term kit (2 to 90 days) is the quick first check in Van Buren County; a long-term test tells the year-round average.

Test kits and monitors3

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Best radon monitors for Van Buren County homes, compared

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Van Buren County, Bordering counties

Counties bordering Van Buren County

Calculated by Radon411

Van Buren County, Cities and towns

Cities and towns in Van Buren County

Van Buren County is growing: the Census Bureau puts it at 6,874 residents on July 1, 2025, up 11.3% from 6,174 in 2020. That works out to 25 people per square mile of land. Spencer, its one incorporated place, has 1,636 residents, 23.8% of the total. CDC's 22 reported tests for 2008 to 2017 work out to 3.2 per 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), close to Tennessee's 4.2.

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

Spencer, Van Buren County: residents on July 1, 2025
PlaceResidentsSince 2020Share of residents
Spencer1,636+12.2%23.8%

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).

Van Buren County, Homes

Homes in Van Buren County

Of Van Buren County's 2,915 homes, 73% are detached houses, against 68% across Tennessee; 22% are mobile homes. Half of its homes were built before 1979, close to Tennessee's 1986: 14% date from before 1960 and 26% from 2000 or later. Owners live in 85% of the occupied homes (Tennessee: 67%), so for most households a test and a fix are their own to order.

Homes in Van Buren County, Tennessee, 2019 to 2023
HomesVan Buren CountyTennessee
Housing units2,9153,095,472
Detached houses73%68%
In buildings of 5 or moreunder 1%14%
Mobile homes22%8%
Built before 196014%18%
Built since 200026%29%
Middle year built19791986
Owner-occupied85%67%

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