Radon Mitigation in Red Lion, PA
Updated
PA DEP has 5,341 home radon tests on record from the ZIP code that cover Red Lion (17356). 60.9% came back at or above the EPA's 4.0 pCi/L action level, against 52.5% for York County as a whole. That puts Red Lion clearly above the county as a whole. A standard system here typically costs $800 to $1,500. The only way to know about one house is to test it.
Red Lion is one of the oldest-built towns in the county. Almost half its homes predate 1940, and more than a third are attached. It also has one of the higher radon rates: ZIP 17356 has more than 5,300 PA DEP tests on record with a median of 6.1 pCi/L, and 61% came back at or above the action level. The gap between basement and first-floor readings here is one of the widest in the county.
What the PA DEP test records show for Red Lion
ZIP 17356 covers essentially all of Red Lion, so these numbers are about as local as public radon data gets.
| ZIP | Tests | Median pCi/L | 4+ pCi/L | 10+ | 20+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17356 | 5,341 | 6.1 | 60.9% | 36.3% | 19.7% |
| York County | 98,845 | 4.3 | 52.5% | 26.8% | 13.1% |
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 488 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 17356, basement tests have a median of 7.7 pCi/L, while tests taken on the first floor have a median of 1.4 pCi/L (668 first-floor tests). The basement number runs 5.5 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.
It also explains why two neighbors can get very different results. One tested a finished basement, the other tested a first-floor bedroom. For a decision about mitigation, the test that counts is the one from the lowest level anyone spends time in.
Radon results by decade in ZIP 17356
| Decade tested | Tests | Median pCi/L | 4+ pCi/L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 643 | 7.2 | 70.8% |
| 2000s | 1,079 | 8 | 67.7% |
| 2010s | 2,723 | 5.7 | 58.4% |
| 2020s | 882 | 4.5 | 53.2% |
The share peaked in the 1990s at 70.8% and sits at 53.2% 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 Red Lion has not changed. 882 tests have been logged in 17356 since 2020, so people here are still testing.
The ground under Red Lion
Red Lion is in the Piedmont Upland of southeastern York County, on schist and related metamorphic rock rather than the limestone under York City.
USGS found the highest radon in Pennsylvania groundwater in the Piedmont's schists, gneisses and quartzites, and the southern half of York County consistently tests higher than the northern Triassic lowland. Red Lion sits squarely in that higher band.
Housing in Red Lion and what it means for a system
Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024:
| Red Lion | York County | |
|---|---|---|
| Homes (housing units) | 2,817 | 189,857 |
| Median year built | 1941 | 1976 |
| Built before 1940 | 48.8% | 18.3% |
| Built before 1980 | 77.6% | 54.8% |
| Built 2000 or later | 3.3% | 20.6% |
| Single-family detached | 30.2% | 64.3% |
| Attached (rowhome, townhouse) | 36.1% | 17.1% |
| Mobile homes | 3.4% | 4.1% |
| Owner-occupied | 63.5% | 76.3% |
48.8% of the homes in Red Lion were built before 1940, against 18.3% county-wide. Houses that old usually sit on stone or early block foundations with no vapor barrier and plenty of joints, which gives soil gas more ways in. They are still very fixable. The installer just spends more time sealing, and sometimes needs a second suction point, which is why these jobs tend to land toward the upper end of the cost range.
About 36.1% of homes here are attached: rowhomes, twins and townhouses. A shared wall does not stop radon, and neither does a neighbor's system, so each unit needs its own test. The tricky part is pipe routing, since there is often no side yard to run the vent up. Our rowhome radon guide covers how installers handle it.
Cost-wise, an attached home in Red Lion is usually still a single suction point, so $800 to $1,500 is the normal range, but a long interior pipe run to get above the roof line can push it higher. Full ranges on the cost page.
Where we work in Red Lion
Routes 24 and 74 cross in the middle of town. Public schools here are part of the Red Lion Area School District. Red Lion was once a cigar-making center, producing about a tenth of all cigars made in the United States, and later built a long-running furniture industry.
Installers must hold a PA DEP radon mitigation certification (how to check), and permit questions go to the borough office at redlionpa.org.
Common questions
Is radon a problem in Red Lion?
Yes. PA DEP has 5,341 tests on record from the ZIP code covering Red Lion, and 60.9% of them came back at or above the EPA's 4.0 pCi/L action level. 19.7% were at 20 pCi/L or more. The county-wide rate is 52.5%.
What is the average radon level in ZIP 17356?
The median of 5,341 PA DEP tests in ZIP 17356 is 6.1 pCi/L and the mean is 13.8 pCi/L. A mean that far above the median means a long tail of very high readings, topping out at 488 pCi/L.
Nearby
Windsor Township 57.2%, Dallastown 65.7%, York Township 57%. Share of PA DEP tests at or above 4.0 pCi/L, against 60.9% here.
Have a test result from Red Lion?
Send us the number and the foundation type, or call and read it out.
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