Township, York County

Radon Mitigation in East Manchester Township, PA

Updated September 30, 2026

East Manchester Township runs from the edge of York's northern suburbs out toward the Susquehanna, and it surrounds the boroughs of Manchester and Mount Wolf. It is almost entirely owner-occupied (96%), mostly single-family, and one home in ten is a mobile home. Its main ZIP code, 17347, has a median of 5.1 pCi/L, above the county's 4.3.

What the PA DEP test records show for East Manchester Township

ZIP codes don't follow township lines, so the 2 ZIP codes below also take in some homes just outside East Manchester Township.

• ZIP 17347 (about 62% of East Manchester Township's land): median 5.1 pCi/L across 1,258 tests, 19.5% at 20 or higher, top reading 304. Basement median 5.3, first floor 2.7.
• ZIP 17345 (about 35% of East Manchester Township's land): median 3.2 pCi/L across 983 tests, 4.6% at 20 or higher, top reading 696. Basement median 3.2, first floor 2.2.

The spread inside East Manchester Township runs from 41% of tests high in 17345 to 58.1% in 17347.

Look past the median to the high end. One test in 8 here came in at 20 pCi/L or more, five times the action level, and the highest reading on record is 696 pCi/L. Neighboring houses can differ by a factor of ten, so none of this tells you what your house is. It tells you the odds are high enough that a $15 to $30 test kit is worth buying.

Tests people chose to run, not a random survey. Details on the York County radon levels page.

Basement readings versus first-floor readings

In ZIP 17347, basement tests have a median of 5.3 pCi/L, while tests taken on the first floor have a median of 2.7 pCi/L (78 first-floor tests). The gap is smaller than in most of the county, which means readings upstairs here are not much of a relief from the basement number.

This matters for what you test. The PA DEP and EPA guidance is to test the lowest level you use or could use as living space. If the basement is finished, or might be someday, test it there. A finished rec room at 5.3 pCi/L is a different decision from an unfinished storage basement you rarely stand in.

Radon results by decade in ZIP 17347

The share peaked in the 2000s at 63.3% and sits at 49% for tests since 2020. A drop that size is mostly about who is testing, not the ground. More recent tests come from home sales and from retests after a system went in, and both pull the share down. The rock under East Manchester Township has not changed. 196 tests have been logged in 17347 since 2020, so people here are still testing.

The ground under East Manchester Township

East Manchester sits in northern York County, north of the York Valley and short of the Triassic lowland that covers the county's northern edge. Results here fall between those two areas.

The two ZIP codes here tell different stories. 17347 (Mount Wolf) comes in at 58% of tests at or above the action level, while 17345 (Manchester) comes in at 41%. That gap across a few miles is a good example of why a neighbor's result tells you little about your own house.

Housing in East Manchester Township and what it means for a system

Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024:

10.8% of homes in East Manchester Township are mobile or manufactured homes, well above the county's 4.1%. Those sit over a crawlspace or skirted pad rather than a basement, and the fix is different: a sealed membrane over the soil with suction under it. See crawlspace radon for what that involves.

34.8% of the homes here were built in 2000 or later, one of the higher shares in the county. New construction is not radon-proof. A tight modern house can hold radon in as well as it holds heat in. Some builders rough in a passive vent pipe during construction, which makes a later active system cheaper, so check for a capped pipe in the basement. More on that in radon in new construction.

Cost-wise, a basement house here is the standard $800 to $1,500 job, while a mobile home or crawlspace house usually runs $1,500 to $3,000 because of the membrane work. Full ranges on the cost page.

Where we work in East Manchester Township

That covers the area around Manchester borough and the area around Mount Wolf borough. Route 921 and Route 24 run through the township. Public schools here are part of the Northeastern York School District. John Rudy County Park, with the historic Bixler Farmstead, is here, and so is one of Starbucks' few coffee-roasting plants.

Installers must hold a PA DEP radon mitigation certification (how to check), and permit questions go to the township office at emanchestertwp.com.

Common questions

Is radon a problem in East Manchester Township?

Yes. PA DEP has 2,241 tests on record from the ZIP codes covering East Manchester Township, and 50.6% of them came back at or above the EPA's 4.0 pCi/L action level. 13% were at 20 pCi/L or more. The county-wide rate is 52.5%.

What is the average radon level in ZIP 17347?

The median of 1,258 PA DEP tests in ZIP 17347 is 5.1 pCi/L and the mean is 14.2 pCi/L. A mean that far above the median means a long tail of very high readings, topping out at 304 pCi/L.

Nearby

Manchester Township 51.3%, Newberry Township 41.8%, Springettsbury Township 54.1%, Hellam Township 53.7%. Share of PA DEP tests at or above 4.0 pCi/L, against 50.6% here.