Borough, York County

Radon Mitigation in Jacobus, PA

Updated September 30, 2026

Jacobus is a borough in York County with about 2,177 residents and 735 homes, median year built 1972. It is surrounded by Springfield Township. Richard M. Nixon County Park, a 187-acre wildlife park, sits just outside the borough. 62.2% of PA DEP radon tests in its ZIP codes came back at or above the action level, above the county's 52.5%.

What the PA DEP test records show for Jacobus

ZIP 17407 covers 95% of Jacobus's land, so these numbers are about as local as public radon data gets.

Look past the median to the high end. One test in 5 here came in at 20 pCi/L or more, five times the action level, and the highest reading on record is 383 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 17407, basement tests have a median of 7.3 pCi/L, while tests taken on the first floor have a median of 2.9 pCi/L (57 first-floor tests). The basement number runs 2.5 times the first-floor number, which is the usual pattern: radon comes up from the soil, so it is strongest at the lowest level and gets diluted as it moves up through the house.

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 7.3 pCi/L is a different decision from an unfinished storage basement you rarely stand in.

Radon results by decade in ZIP 17407

The share peaked in the 2010s at 63.8% and sits at 49.5% 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 Jacobus has not changed. 109 tests have been logged in 17407 since 2020, so people here are still testing.

Housing in Jacobus and what it means for a system

Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024:

Most of the housing in Jacobus went up between the 1940s and the 1970s (63.1% was built before 1980, median year 1972). That era mostly means poured or concrete-block basements. Block walls are hollow, and soil gas can move up through the cores, so a system here sometimes needs block-wall suction alongside the usual sub-slab point.

91.7% of homes in Jacobus are single-family detached. A detached house with a basement is the easiest layout to mitigate: one suction point through the slab, a fan outside or in the garage, and a vent above the roof line. It is the standard sub-slab depressurization job covered step by step on our mitigation process page, and it usually lands in the middle of the cost range.

Cost-wise, most houses in Jacobus are the standard $800 to $1,500 sub-slab job, with block walls or a second suction point pushing toward $2,500. Full ranges on the cost page.

Where we work in Jacobus

Richard M. Nixon County Park, a 187-acre wildlife park, sits just outside the borough.

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

Common questions

Is radon a problem in Jacobus?

Yes. PA DEP has 714 tests on record from the ZIP code covering Jacobus, and 62.2% of them came back at or above the EPA's 4.0 pCi/L action level. 20.6% were at 20 pCi/L or more. The county-wide rate is 52.5%.

What is the average radon level in ZIP 17407?

The median of 714 PA DEP tests in ZIP 17407 is 6.5 pCi/L and the mean is 16.1 pCi/L. A mean that far above the median means a long tail of very high readings, topping out at 383 pCi/L.