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Radon in Salt Lake City, Utah

EPA puts Salt Lake County, where Salt Lake City is, in Zone 2, its middle radon zone, and 33.1% of its 9,658 reported radon tests (2023) were at or above 4 pCi/L. Homes with elevated levels occur in all three zones, so only a test measures yours.

Data checked By Radon411Methodology

How to test this homeFind a certified tester

  • Share at 4+ pCi/L

    33.1%

    3.0 pts below UT

    Salt Lake
    33.1%
    Utah
    36.1%

    Salt Lake, 15th of 22 in UT, 2023

  • Median result

    2.6pCi/L

    Below action level

    Salt Lake
    2.6 pCi/L
    EPA
    4.0 pCi/L

    Midpoint of Salt Lake's tests, 2023

  • Nearest county

    28.4%

    Davis, 17 miles

    Davis
    28.4%
    Salt Lake
    33.1%

    3,594 tests, 2023

  • EPA radon zone

    Zone 2

    Moderate potential

    1. 1
    2. Zone 2
    3. 3

    1 highest, 3 lowest

    Salt Lake, where Salt Lake City is

  • Tests reported

    9,658

    In Salt Lake

    Salt Lake
    9,658
    Davis
    3,594

    Reported to CDC before any fix, 2023

Read a result for Salt Lake City

Starts at Salt Lake County's median, 2.6 pCi/L

2.6pCi/L

EPA’s own thresholds; the figures are the area’s, never this home’s.

EPA’s reading of 2.6 pCi/L

Between 2 and 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 between 2 and 4 pCi/L. EPA recommends considering a fix when the level is between 2 and 4 pCi/L. Salt Lake County's median reported result, 2023.

Interpret this readingWhat a fix costs

The data

Salt Lake City, What is published

What is published for Salt Lake City

Information:

Every figure for Salt Lake City is a county's

Radon data is published by county, not by city, so for Salt Lake City it is Salt Lake County's: its EPA zone (Zone 2) and the 9,658 tests reported to CDC for 2023. Only a test tells you about one home.

Salt Lake City covers 110 square miles of land, all of it in Salt Lake County. About 218,428 people live there, 1,980 to the square mile.

Salt Lake City, Counties

The county Salt Lake City lies in

Measured

Salt Lake County's EPA zone and the figures CDC publishes for it, 2023.

Salt Lake CountyZone 2Moderate predicted potential

33.1%
Reported tests at or above 4 pCi/L
2.6 pCi/L
Median reported result
9,658 tests
Tests reported to CDC
10
Annual years on file

Salt Lake County ranks 15th of 22 Utah counties with 30 or more tests for that period, 3.0 points below the 36.1% pooled across Utah's counties, 0.3 points below the national pool of 33.4%.

The counties nearest Salt Lake City with a CDC figure for 2023, measured from the middle of the city: Davis County (17 miles, 28.4% of 3,594 tests), Morgan County (29 miles, 59.4% of 207 tests) and Weber County (34 miles, 28.6% of 1,669 tests). Across the 8 nearest, the share at or above 4 pCi/L runs from 28.4% to 59.4%; the farthest of them, Tooele County, is 67 miles away at 51.0%.

No business in the directory gives Salt Lake City as its address; the Utah list covers it. Utah's other cities with a page of their own: Ivins.

The counties around Salt Lake City

By distance from the middle of Salt Lake City; counties with 30 or more tests.

Nearest counties to Salt Lake City with 30 or more tests
CountyDistanceTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Davis County17 mi3,59428.4%2.4 pCi/L
Morgan County29 mi20759.4%5.0 pCi/L
Weber County34 mi1,66928.6%2.1 pCi/L
Utah County47 mi7,83340.6%3.2 pCi/L
Wasatch County51 mi32451.9%4.2 pCi/L
Summit County52 mi41732.6%2.4 pCi/L
Cache County66 mi99453.8%4.4 pCi/L
Tooele County67 mi57351.0%4.1 pCi/L

Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones, by county. Measured: CDC tracking data, by county, 2023.

Salt Lake City, Geology

The ground under Salt Lake City

Predicted

Most of the ground under Salt Lake City is one class on USGS's geologic map: 84.3% of its land is moderate radon potential, with 15.7% high. The map puts 84.3% of Salt Lake City in the area it calls Basin and Range and 15.7% in Wasatch Range. USGS gives the first a radon index of 11, in the moderate band (9 to 11), and the second 14, in the high band (12 to 17).

USGS's geologic areas under Salt Lake City
AreaThe rock, in USGS's wordsPotentialRadon indexShare of land
Basin and RangeQuaternary sedimentary and igneous rocks.Moderate1184.3%
Wasatch RangePrecambrian granite and gneiss and Tertiary igneous rocks that have relatively low uranium concentrations.High1415.7%

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

Salt Lake City beside its county and Utah

Salt Lake County as a whole has more high-potential ground than Salt Lake City: 31.7% of the county against 15.7% of the city. Utah as a whole has more high-potential ground than Salt Lake City: 32.8% of its land, against 15.7% here.

Share of land by USGS radon potential: Salt Lake City, the county it lies in and Utah
AreaEPA zoneLow potentialModerate potentialHigh potential
Salt Lake CityBy countyNone84.3%15.7%
Salt Lake CountyZone 2None68.3%31.7%
Utah29 counties, pooled by land areaVariesNone67.2%32.8%

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

Salt Lake City, Homes

Homes in Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City has 97,318 homes, and many share a building: 40% are in buildings of five or more, 44% are detached houses, against 61% across Salt Lake County. The homes are older than Salt Lake County's as a whole: half were built before 1963 (1985 for Salt Lake County), and 47% date from before 1960. Most occupied homes here are rented: owners live in 47% (Salt Lake County: 67%). A tenant can run a test; a fix is the landlord's to make.

Homes in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, 2019 to 2023
HomesSalt Lake CitySalt Lake CountyUtah
Housing units97,318440,1661,193,082
Detached houses44%61%67%
In buildings of 5 or more40%23%16%
Mobile homes1%2%3%
Built before 196047%19%16%
Built since 200019%30%37%
Middle year built196319851991
Owner-occupied47%67%71%

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

Local help

Salt Lake City, Local resources

Local resources for Salt Lake City

Who to ask in Utah: its radon program, test kits and professionals.

The program's own words on licensing and disclosure are on the Utah page.

What it means

Salt Lake City, Questions

Questions about radon in Salt Lake City

What radon zone is Salt Lake City in?

Salt Lake City has no zone of its own: it shares Salt Lake County's, Zone 2, the map's middle class: a predicted county average of 2 to 4 pCi/L.

What are radon levels in Salt Lake City?

A high result is no surprise around Salt Lake City: 33.1% of 9,658 tests reported from Salt Lake County for 2023 reached 4 pCi/L or more. The median reported result was 2.6 pCi/L.

Should I test my home in Salt Lake City?

Yes. About 3,197 of the 9,658 tests reported from Salt Lake County were at or above 4 pCi/L. That is below Utah's pooled 36.1%, and still not a reason to skip it, and ranks Salt Lake County 15th of the 22 Utah counties with 30 or more tests. No map says which homes those are. How to test a home.

What ground is Salt Lake City built on, as far as radon goes?

84.3% of Salt Lake City sits on what USGS's map calls "Basin and Range", rated moderate for radon potential, radon index 11; another 15.7% is "Wasatch Range", rated high for radon potential, radon index 14. So the ground changes within Salt Lake City itself.

Is radon higher in the counties around Salt Lake City?

Some are and some are not. Against Salt Lake County's 33.1%, 5 of the 8 nearest counties with a figure report more and 3 less, from Davis County (28.4%, 17 miles off) to Morgan County (59.4%, 29 miles off).

The answers use the published figures of Salt Lake County, the county Salt Lake City lies in.

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