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Radon Levels in Essex County, Vermont

EPA puts Essex County in Zone 2, its middle radon zone, and only 10 radon tests from it are on file with CDC (2023). 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

  • Highest bordering

    21.6%

    Orleans County

    Orleans
    21.6%
    Caledonia
    21.1%

    2 of 4 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2023

  • Nearest county

    21.1%

    Caledonia County, 26 miles

    Caledonia
    21.1%
    Vermont
    20.6%

    Share at 4+ pCi/L, 76 tests, 2023

  • Ground above low

    100.0%

    12.2 pts above Vermont

    Essex
    100.0%
    Vermont
    87.8%

    Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential

  • Tests reported

    18

    Too few for a share

    Essex
    18
    Needed
    30

    2021

  • 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 Essex 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

Essex County, At a glance

Essex County at a glance

Predicted: EPA radon zone

EPA Zone 2: moderate predicted potential

Essex 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: Moderate across 100% of the county's area

Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones

Measured: tests reported to CDC

Radon tests reported for Essex County, 2023

Share of reported tests at or above 4 pCi/L, by year, Essex County
Share of reported tests at or above 4 pCi/L, by year, Essex County
YearShare of reported tests at or above 4 pCi/L
201412.5%
201530.0%
201622.2%
201740.0%
201833.3%
201925.0%
202012.5%
202133.3%
20220.0%
202350.0%

2023: 50.0%. Across these years the share ran from 0.0% to 50.0%. Each column counts radon tests reported to CDC that year, not homes.

What these figures count

Only 10 tests were reported to CDC for Essex County over 2023, 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: 2023. Measured data period: 2005 to 2023 (every CDC figure on file).

How to read these figures

Essex County, Compared

Essex County radon figures, compared

Calculated by Radon411

CDC's largest figure for Essex County rests on 18 tests in 2021, 6 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 5.6 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 6.7 pCi/L, with a middle value of 2.5 pCi/L.

Of the counties bordering it, 2 have a figure in 2023: Orleans County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 21.6%, and Caledonia County the smallest, 21.1%. Farther out, Lamoille County (45 miles away) at 22.6%, Washington County (54 miles away) at 26.1% and Franklin County (58 miles away) at 23.4% have figures too. Pooled across 14 Vermont counties, 20.6% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 33.4%.

Statewide for the same period, Bennington County reported the highest share (29.5%) and Chittenden County the lowest (14.6%). EPA's 1993 map puts Essex County in Zone 2, its middle label: a predicted county average between 2 and 4 pCi/L. USGS geology rates 100% of the county's land moderate radon potential.

Vermont, the United States and the counties around Essex County, 2023
AreaTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Vermont, pooled14 counties, pooled1,30020.6%Not pooled
United States, pooled642 counties, pooled128,74033.4%Not pooled
Bennington Countyhighest in the state4429.5%2.0 pCi/L
Chittenden Countylowest in the state39814.6%1.3 pCi/L
Orleans County, VTborders it5121.6%1.7 pCi/L
Caledonia County, VTborders it7621.1%2.0 pCi/L
The nearest Vermont counties to Essex County with 30 or more tests, 2023
CountyDistanceTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Caledonia County26 mi7621.1%2.0 pCi/L
Orleans County26 mi5121.6%1.7 pCi/L
Lamoille County45 mi6222.6%1.8 pCi/L
Washington County54 mi19926.1%2.0 pCi/L
Franklin County58 mi4723.4%1.5 pCi/L
Orange County59 mi5326.4%2.5 pCi/L
Chittenden County69 mi39814.6%1.3 pCi/L
Addison County85 mi8319.3%1.7 pCi/L
Essex County radon tests by year, against Vermont's pooled share
YearTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedianHighestVermont, pooledChange from the row before
20231050.0%3.0 pCi/L7.8 pCi/L20.6%+50.0 points
2022150.0%1.0 pCi/L2.3 pCi/L19.4%−33.3 points
20211833.3%2.5 pCi/L6.7 pCi/L19.2%+20.8 points
2020812.5%1.1 pCi/L4.2 pCi/L16.5%−12.5 points
2019425.0%2.5 pCi/L9.4 pCi/L14.3%−8.3 points
2018333.3%1.3 pCi/L6.6 pCi/L15.8%−6.7 points
20171040.0%3.4 pCi/L10.2 pCi/L16.4%+17.8 points
2016922.2%2.5 pCi/L13.5 pCi/L15.9%−7.8 points
20151030.0%1.2 pCi/L7.4 pCi/L15.5%+17.5 points
2014812.5%1.9 pCi/L9.6 pCi/L18.3%First on file

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

Essex County, Geology

The ground under Essex County

Predicted

USGS's geologic map puts all of Essex County's mapped land in one class: moderate radon potential. 96.6% of it lies in the area the map calls Northeastern Highlands, to which USGS gives a radon index of 11, in the moderate band (9 to 11).

USGS's geologic areas under Essex County
AreaThe rock, in USGS's wordsPotentialRadon indexShare of land
Northeastern HighlandsPaleozoic to Mesozoic igneous rocks intruded into Silurian-Devonian metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks.Moderate1196.6%
Vermont PiedmontPaleozoic metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks that are intruded by igneous plutonic rocks.Moderate112.8%

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

Essex County beside the ground around it

Essex County has more moderate-potential ground than Vermont as a whole: 100% of its land against 87.8%. Of the 4 counties that border it, 2 have more high-potential ground, Grafton County, NH the most at 17.7%.

Share of land by USGS radon potential: Essex County, the 4 counties bordering it and Vermont
AreaEPA zoneLow potentialModerate potentialHigh potential
Essex CountyZone 2None100%None
Coos County, NHZone 2None83.7%16.3%
Caledonia CountyZone 2None100%None
Orleans CountyZone 2None99.7%None
Grafton County, NHZone 23.5%78.8%17.7%
Vermont14 counties, pooled by land areaVaries12.2%87.8%None

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

Local help

Essex County, Local resources

Radon testing and mitigation in Essex County

What Vermont's program says
Phone
802-863-7220

What it means

Essex County, Questions

Questions about radon in Essex County

Are radon levels high in Essex County?

In 2023, 50.0% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Essex County, Vermont were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 3.0 pCi/L. Of the counties bordering it, 2 have a figure in 2023: Orleans County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 21.6%, and Caledonia County the smallest, 21.1%.

Which counties border Essex County?

Essex County borders 4 counties: Coos County, NH, Caledonia County, VT, Orleans County, VT and Grafton County, NH.

Products

Essex County, Products

Testing a home in Essex County

No CDC figure names Essex County; the nearest county with one, Caledonia County (26 miles away), reported 21.1% of its tests at or above 4 pCi/L in 2023, 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 Essex County; a long-term test tells the year-round average.

Test kits and monitors3

See every kit and monitor

Best radon monitors for Essex County homes, compared

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Essex County, Bordering counties

Counties bordering Essex County

Calculated by Radon411

Essex County, Residents

Who lives in Essex County

The Census Bureau estimates 6,051 residents in Essex County for July 1, 2025, 130 more than in 2020 (+2.2%). Spread over its land, that is 9.1 people to the square mile. CDC's 18 reported tests for 2021 work out to 3.0 per 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), close to Vermont's 3.3.

Census lists no incorporated place in Essex County: every home in it reads the county's figures.

Residents: U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for July 1, 2025 (Vintage 2025).

Essex County, Homes

Homes in Essex County

Essex County is a place of houses on their own lots: 83% of its 4,914 homes are detached single-family houses, against 67% across Vermont. Half of its homes were built before 1973, close to Vermont's 1976: 39% date from before 1960 and 20% from 2000 or later. Owners live in 83% of the occupied homes (Vermont: 73%), so for most households a test and a fix are their own to order.

Homes in Essex County, Vermont, 2019 to 2023
HomesEssex CountyVermont
Housing units4,914337,072
Detached houses83%67%
In buildings of 5 or more2%11%
Mobile homes10%6%
Built before 196039%33%
Built since 200020%17%
Middle year built19731976
Owner-occupied83%73%

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