Short-term kit
RA400 short-term liquid scintillation radon test kit, lab fee included
- Lab fee included
Method: Liquid scintillation
In home: 48 to 96 hours
Locations and reports
Radon Levels in Hidalgo County, Texas
EPA puts Hidalgo County in Zone 3, its lowest radon zone, and only 17 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
Nearest county
0.0%
Nueces County, 98 miles
- Nueces
- 0.0%
- Texas
- 10.4%
Share at 4+ pCi/L, 45 tests, 2007 to 2016
Ground above low
None
27.3 pts below Texas
- Hidalgo
- 0.0%
- Texas
- 27.3%
Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential
Tests reported
17
Too few for a share
- Hidalgo
- 17
- Needed
- 30
2008 to 2017, laboratory
EPA radon zone
Zone 3
Lower potential
- 1
- 2
- Zone 3
1 highest, 3 lowest
EPA predicts under 2 pCi/L indoors
Read a result for Hidalgo 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
Hidalgo County, At a glance
Hidalgo County at a glance
Predicted: EPA radon zone
EPA Zone 3: lower predicted potential
USGS geologic potential: Low across 100% of the county's area
Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones
Measured: tests reported to CDC
Radon tests reported for Hidalgo County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CDC holds 17 reported tests for Hidalgo County over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, with a median of 0.8 pCi/L: too few to describe a county (Radon411 reads a share from 30 tests up). Hidalgo County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.
What these figures count
Only 17 tests were reported to CDC for Hidalgo 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).
Hidalgo County, Compared
Hidalgo County radon figures, compared
Calculated by Radon411CDC's largest figure for Hidalgo County rests on 17 tests over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 0 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 1.4 pCi/L, with a middle value of 0.8 pCi/L.
The nearest counties with a figure are Nueces County (98 miles away) at 0.0%, Bexar County (211 miles away) at 6.6% and Brazoria County (255 miles away) at 6.3%. Pooled across 140 Texas counties, 10.4% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 35.8%.
Statewide for the same period, Randall County reported the highest share (71.4%) and Nueces County the lowest (0.0%). EPA's 1993 map puts Hidalgo County in Zone 3, its lowest label: a predicted county average under 2 pCi/L. USGS geology rates 100% of the county's land low radon potential.
Pooled shares: Radon411's sum of CDC's county counts for one period.
Hidalgo County, Geology
The ground under Hidalgo County
PredictedUSGS's geologic map puts all of Hidalgo County's mapped land in one class: low radon potential. All of it lies in the area the map calls South Texas Plain, to which USGS gives a radon index of 7, in the low band (5 to 8).
| Area | The rock, in USGS's words | Potential | Radon index | Share of land |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Texas Plain | Cretaceous through Quaternary marine sandstone, shale, chalk, limestone, siltstone, clay, and lignite. | Low | 7 | 99.8% |
Names, descriptions and indexes: U.S. Geological Survey, Geologic Radon Potential Map (2025). Shares: Radon411, from the map cut to the boundary.
Hidalgo County beside the ground around it
Across Texas 0.5% of the land is rated high; none of Hidalgo County's is. None of the 5 counties that border it has any moderate-potential ground either.
The map rates the ground, not the air in any home.
Local help
Hidalgo County, Local resources
Radon testing and mitigation in Hidalgo County
- Texas Radon GroupTexas Radon Group, run by Texas Tech University, does not license radon professionals and offers free or discounted test kits, and answers questions about testing and mitigation in Texas.Visit the program’s page(opens in a new tab)
- Free and low-cost kitsThe program says:
The Texas Radon Group offers free radon test kits for Texas individuals who qualify.
- Compare kits
- Professionals in Texas7 professionals are listed in Texas.
What Texas's program says
- Licensing of radon professionals
There are no radon certification requirements for the State of Texas at this time, but the National Radon Proficiency Program lists radon testers and mitigators within Texas that have passed a rigorous national certification program.
What it means
Hidalgo County, Questions
Questions about radon in Hidalgo County
Are radon levels high in Hidalgo County?
Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 0.0% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Hidalgo County, Texas were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 0.8 pCi/L. Of the 8 nearest counties with a figure, within 295 miles, the share of tests at or above 4 pCi/L runs from 0.0% to 9.3%.
Which counties border Hidalgo County?
Hidalgo County borders 5 counties: Willacy County, Brooks County, Starr County, Cameron County and Kenedy County.
Products
Hidalgo County, Products
Testing a home in Hidalgo County
No CDC figure names Hidalgo County; the nearest county with one, Nueces County (98 miles away), reported 0.0% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L over the 2007 to 2016 laboratory totals, the only reading nearby until a test of this home. Zone 3 is the lowest label, yet homes at or above 4 pCi/L occur in every zone: a short-term kit (2 to 90 days) is the quick first check in Hidalgo County.
Test kits and monitors3
See every kit and monitor
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
Monitor
Hello Radon C battery radon monitor with an e-ink screen
- C-NRPP 2024/25: Not included
- Battery
- Screen
Method: Alpha spectrometry
First reading: Within 24 hours
- See every kit and monitor Test kits and monitors
Test kits and monitors: 1 of 3
Explore
Hidalgo County, Bordering counties
Counties bordering Hidalgo County
Calculated by Radon411- Radon levels in Starr CountyEPA zone 3
0.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 1.2 pCi/L · 1 test
- Radon levels in Cameron CountyEPA zone 3
0.0%at or above 4 pCi/L
Median 0.7 pCi/L · 27 tests
- Radon levels in Willacy CountyEPA zone 3
No CDC figure for 2007 to 2016; its page reads it against its own neighbours.
- Radon levels in Brooks CountyEPA zone 3
No CDC figure for 2007 to 2016; its page reads it against its own neighbours.
- Radon levels in Kenedy CountyEPA zone 3
No CDC figure for 2007 to 2016; its page reads it against its own neighbours.
Hidalgo County, Cities and towns
Cities and towns in Hidalgo County
Hidalgo County is growing: the Census Bureau puts it at 921,549 residents on July 1, 2025, up 5.6% from 872,753 in 2020. That works out to 587 people per square mile of land. No town dominates: McAllen, the largest, has 150,640 residents, 16.3% of the total. Together its 22 incorporated places hold 71.6% of those residents; the other 28.4% live outside any of them. Reported testing is thin here: 17 tests over 2008 to 2017, or under 0.1 for every 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), where Texas as a whole comes to 0.1.
From McAllen to Progreso Lakes, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Hidalgo County's.
| Place | Residents | Since 2020 | Share of residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| McAllen | 150,640 | +5.8% | 16.3% |
| Edinburg | 110,700 | +9.9% | 12.0% |
| Mission | 88,992 | +3.7% | 9.7% |
| Pharr | 80,830 | +1.2% | 8.8% |
| Weslaco | 44,203 | +8.8% | 4.8% |
| San Juan | 37,868 | +7.1% | 4.1% |
| Alton | 24,138 | +31.5% | 2.6% |
| Alamo | 20,625 | +4.9% | 2.2% |
| Mercedes | 17,915 | +10.1% | 1.9% |
| Donna | 16,698 | −0.6% | 1.8% |
| Palmview | 15,878 | +0.3% | 1.7% |
| Hidalgo | 15,376 | +9.8% | 1.7% |
- Penitas
- Elsa
- La Joya
- Progreso
- Sullivan City
- La Villa
- Edcouch
- Palmhurst
- Granjeno
- Progreso Lakes
22 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).
Hidalgo County, Homes
Homes in Hidalgo County
Of Hidalgo County's 302,173 homes, 65% are detached houses, against 65% across Texas; 15% are mobile homes. Much of Hidalgo County is recent building: 47% of its homes have gone up since 2000 and the middle year built is 1999, against 1990 for Texas. 68% of occupied homes are lived in by their owner (Texas: 63%); in the rest a tenant can run a test, but a fix is the landlord's to make.
| Homes | Hidalgo County | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Housing units | 302,173 | 11,890,808 |
| Detached houses | 65% | 65% |
| In buildings of 5 or more | 8% | 21% |
| Mobile homes | 15% | 7% |
| Built before 1960 | 4% | 13% |
| Built since 2000 | 47% | 37% |
| Middle year built | 1999 | 1990 |
| Owner-occupied | 68% | 63% |
Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2019 to 2023: estimates from a sample of homes, looser for a small place. Shares by Radon411.