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Radon Levels in Fayette County, West Virginia

EPA puts Fayette County in Zone 2, its middle radon zone, and only 20 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

How to test this homeFind a certified tester

  • Highest bordering

    52.3%

    Greenbrier County

    Greenbrier
    52.3%
    Raleigh
    16.7%

    3 of 6 neighbours have 30+ tests, 2008 to 2017

  • Nearest county

    16.7%

    Raleigh County, 20 miles

    Raleigh
    16.7%
    WV
    37.5%

    Share at 4+ pCi/L, 42 tests, 2008 to 2017

  • Ground above low

    67.5%

    18.5 pts below WV

    Fayette
    67.5%
    WV
    86.0%

    Share of land USGS rates moderate or high potential

  • Tests reported

    21

    Too few for a share

    Fayette
    21
    Needed
    30

    2006 to 2015, 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 Fayette 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

Fayette County, At a glance

Fayette County at a glance

Predicted: EPA radon zone

EPA Zone 2: moderate predicted potential

Fayette 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 67% of the county's area

Predicted: EPA Map of Radon Zones

Measured: tests reported to CDC

Radon tests reported for Fayette County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory

CDC holds 20 reported tests for Fayette 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). Fayette County beside the counties around it is how this page reads it.

What these figures count

Only 20 tests were reported to CDC for Fayette 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).

How to read these figures

Fayette County, Compared

Fayette County radon figures, compared

Calculated by Radon411

CDC's largest figure for Fayette County rests on 21 tests over the 2006 to 2015 laboratory totals, 1 of them at or above 4 pCi/L, so each test moves its share by 4.8 points and no rank or comparison is drawn from it. Results reached as high as 5.4 pCi/L, with a middle value of 0.9 pCi/L.

Of the counties bordering it, 3 have a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals: Greenbrier County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 52.3%, and Raleigh County the smallest, 16.7%, with Kanawha County at 20.6% between. Farther out, Mercer County (43 miles away) at 33.7%, Putnam County (56 miles away) at 23.1% and Cabell County (69 miles away) at 16.6% have figures too. Pooled across 55 West Virginia counties, 37.5% of reported tests reached that level; across every county in the country with a figure, 35.7%.

Statewide for the same period, Morgan County reported the highest share (58.1%) and Grant County the lowest (9.8%). EPA's 1993 map puts Fayette County in Zone 2, its middle label: a predicted county average between 2 and 4 pCi/L. USGS geology rates 67% of the county's land moderate radon potential.

West Virginia, the United States and the counties around Fayette County, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
AreaTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
West Virginia, pooled55 counties, pooled10,06137.5%Not pooled
United States, pooled2,661 counties, pooled2,013,54435.7%Not pooled
Morgan Countyhighest in the state24158.1%5.8 pCi/L
Grant Countylowest in the state1649.8%1.1 pCi/L
Greenbrier County, WVborders it17652.3%4.5 pCi/L
Nicholas County, WVborders it1330.8%2.6 pCi/L
Kanawha County, WVborders it24720.6%2.2 pCi/L
Raleigh County, WVborders it4216.7%1.4 pCi/L
Summers County, WVborders it1513.3%1.5 pCi/L
Clay County, WVborders it10.0%0.1 pCi/L
The nearest West Virginia counties to Fayette County with 30 or more tests, 2008 to 2017, laboratory
CountyDistanceTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedian
Raleigh County20 mi4216.7%1.4 pCi/L
Kanawha County32 mi24720.6%2.2 pCi/L
Greenbrier County35 mi17652.3%4.5 pCi/L
Mercer County43 mi10133.7%2.1 pCi/L
Putnam County56 mi5223.1%1.5 pCi/L
Cabell County69 mi14516.6%2.0 pCi/L
Randolph County83 mi3336.4%2.5 pCi/L
Wood County85 mi90515.9%1.8 pCi/L
Fayette County ten-year laboratory totals, against West Virginia's pooled share
PeriodTestsAt or above 4 pCi/LMedianHighestWest Virginia, pooledChange from the row before
2008 to 2017200.0%0.8 pCi/L1.9 pCi/L37.5%Level
2007 to 2016190.0%0.7 pCi/L1.9 pCi/L37.3%−4.8 points
2006 to 2015214.8%0.9 pCi/L5.4 pCi/L37.7%Level
2005 to 2014214.8%0.9 pCi/L5.4 pCi/L37.3%First on file

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

Fayette County, Geology

The ground under Fayette County

Predicted

USGS's geologic map splits Fayette County: 67.5% of its land is moderate radon potential and 32.5% low. The map puts 54.4% of Fayette County in the area it calls Eastern Allegheny Plateau and Mtns and 32.5% in Cumberland Plateau, with 2 smaller areas beside them. USGS gives the first a radon index of 10, in the moderate band (9 to 11), and the second 8, in the low band (5 to 8).

USGS's geologic areas under Fayette County
AreaThe rock, in USGS's wordsPotentialRadon indexShare of land
Eastern Allegheny Plateau and MtnsDevonian-Pennsylvanian shale, siltstone, sandstone, minor limestone and coalModerate1054.4%
Cumberland PlateauPennsylvanian sandstone, siltstone, shale, and coalLow832.5%
Southern Appalachian Valley and RidgeOrdovician-Mississippian shale, siltstone, sandstone, limestone.Moderate1112.1%
Central Allegheny PlateauPermian and Pennsylvanian shale, siltstone, sandstone, minor limestone.Moderate100.9%

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

Fayette County beside the ground around it

Across West Virginia 18.7% of the land is rated high; none of Fayette County's is. Of the 6 counties that border it, 1 has more high-potential ground, Greenbrier County the most at 23.5%.

Share of land by USGS radon potential: Fayette County, the 6 counties bordering it and West Virginia
AreaEPA zoneLow potentialModerate potentialHigh potential
Fayette CountyZone 232.5%67.5%None
Raleigh CountyZone 243.4%56.6%None
Nicholas CountyZone 210.3%89.7%None
Clay CountyZone 21.7%98.3%None
Kanawha CountyZone 329.4%70.6%None
Summers CountyZone 1None100%None
Greenbrier CountyZone 1None76.5%23.5%
West Virginia55 counties, pooled by land areaVaries14.0%67.3%18.7%

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

Local help

Fayette County, Local resources

Radon testing and mitigation in Fayette County

What West Virginia's program says
Phone
304-352-5039
Email
Radon@wv.gov
Licensing of radon professionals
Complete listings of professionals licensed to perform Asbestos, Lead, Radon and Clandestine Drug Laboratory Remediation activities in West Virginia.

What it means

Fayette County, Questions

Questions about radon in Fayette County

Are radon levels high in Fayette County?

Over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals, 0.0% of the radon tests reported to CDC for Fayette County, West Virginia were at or above 4 pCi/L, and the median reported pre-mitigation result was 0.8 pCi/L. Of the counties bordering it, 3 have a figure over the 2008 to 2017 laboratory totals: Greenbrier County reported the largest share at or above 4 pCi/L, 52.3%, and Raleigh County the smallest, 16.7%, with Kanawha County at 20.6% between.

Which counties border Fayette County?

Fayette County borders 6 counties: Raleigh County, Nicholas County, Clay County, Kanawha County, Summers County and Greenbrier County.

Products

Fayette County, Products

Testing a home in Fayette County

No CDC figure names Fayette County; the nearest county with one, Raleigh County (20 miles away), reported 16.7% 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 Fayette County; a long-term test tells the year-round average.

Test kits and monitors3

See every kit and monitor

Best radon monitors for Fayette County homes, compared

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Fayette County, Bordering counties

Counties bordering Fayette County

Calculated by Radon411

Fayette County, Cities and towns

Cities and towns in Fayette County

Fayette County has been losing residents: from 40,442 in 2020 to 38,165 on July 1, 2025, a fall of 5.6% by the Census Bureau's estimates. That works out to 58 people per square mile of land. No town dominates: Oak Hill, the largest, has 7,629 residents, 20.0% of the total. Reported testing is thin here: 21 tests over 2006 to 2015, or 0.6 for every 1,000 residents (2025 estimate), where West Virginia as a whole comes to 5.3.

From Oak Hill to Thurmond, CDC publishes no figure by town: each reads Fayette County's.

The cities and towns in Fayette County by residents, July 1, 2025
PlaceResidentsSince 2020Share of residents
Oak Hill7,629−6.4%20.0%
Fayetteville2,721−5.8%7.1%
Ansted1,273−5.6%3.3%
Mount Hope1,234−7.0%3.2%
Montgomeryextends beyond Fayette County1,186−5.9%Counted whole
Smithersextends beyond Fayette County694−7.0%Counted whole
Gauley Bridge514−6.7%1.3%
Meadow Bridge307−6.1%0.8%
Pax117−6.4%0.3%
Thurmond6LevelUnder 0.1%

10 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). A place that extends beyond Fayette County is counted whole, so it has no share.

Fayette County, Homes

Homes in Fayette County

Fayette County is a place of houses on their own lots: 77% of its 19,134 homes are detached single-family houses, against 71% across West Virginia. Half of its homes were built before 1972, close to West Virginia's 1976: 39% date from before 1960 and 15% from 2000 or later. Owners live in 76% of the occupied homes (West Virginia: 74%), so for most households a test and a fix are their own to order.

Homes in Fayette County, West Virginia, 2019 to 2023
HomesFayette CountyWest Virginia
Housing units19,134859,653
Detached houses77%71%
In buildings of 5 or more5%8%
Mobile homes15%14%
Built before 196039%33%
Built since 200015%18%
Middle year built19721976
Owner-occupied76%74%

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