Radon Mitigation in Spring Garden Township, PA
Updated
PA DEP has 8,348 home radon tests on record from the ZIP code that cover Spring Garden Township (17403). 55.2% came back at or above the EPA's 4.0 pCi/L action level, against 52.5% for York County as a whole. Roughly in line with York County overall, where about half of all tests come back high. A standard system here typically costs $800 to $1,500. The only way to know about one house is to test it.
Spring Garden Township sits just south of York City, and almost all of it falls inside a single ZIP code, 17403. That makes its numbers unusually clean. More than 8,000 PA DEP tests have been logged in 17403, and 55% of them came back at or above the action level. It is one of the most established suburbs in the county: three quarters of its homes were built before 1980, and most are single-family houses with full basements.
What the PA DEP test records show for Spring Garden Township
ZIP 17403 covers essentially all of Spring Garden Township, so these numbers are about as local as public radon data gets.
| ZIP | Tests | Median pCi/L | 4+ pCi/L | 10+ | 20+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17403 | 8,348 | 4.7 | 55.2% | 29.6% | 15.2% |
| York County | 98,845 | 4.3 | 52.5% | 26.8% | 13.1% |
The share that matters most is the 20+ column. 15.2% of tests here came in at 20 pCi/L or more, five times the action level. The single highest reading on record in these ZIP codes is 437 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 17403, basement tests have a median of 5.3 pCi/L, while tests taken on the first floor have a median of 2.8 pCi/L (1,077 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.
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 17403
| Decade tested | Tests | Median pCi/L | 4+ pCi/L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 100 | 9.6 | 74% |
| 1990s | 1,427 | 5.3 | 59.8% |
| 2000s | 2,084 | 5.3 | 58.7% |
| 2010s | 3,304 | 4.6 | 54.1% |
| 2020s | 1,433 | 3.5 | 46.5% |
The share peaked in the 1980s at 74% and sits at 46.5% 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 Spring Garden Township has not changed. 1,433 tests have been logged in 17403 since 2020, so people here are still testing.
The ground under Spring Garden Township
Spring Garden sits on the York Valley carbonate belt, the limestone and dolomite lowland that PA DCNR maps as the Piedmont Lowland section. The rock carries radium, and dissolution along joints gives soil gas an easy route up to foundations.
Housing in Spring Garden Township and what it means for a system
Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024:
| Spring Garden Township | York County | |
|---|---|---|
| Homes (housing units) | 4,596 | 189,857 |
| Median year built | 1957 | 1976 |
| Built before 1940 | 15% | 18.3% |
| Built before 1980 | 76% | 54.8% |
| Built 2000 or later | 12.4% | 20.6% |
| Single-family detached | 74.1% | 64.3% |
| Attached (rowhome, townhouse) | 18.7% | 17.1% |
| Mobile homes | 0.5% | 4.1% |
| Owner-occupied | 85.1% | 76.3% |
Most of the housing in Spring Garden Township went up between the 1940s and the 1970s (76% was built before 1980, median year 1957). 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.
74.1% of homes in Spring Garden Township 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 Spring Garden Township 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 Spring Garden Township
That covers Grantley and Valley View. Interstate 83 and the Queen Street corridor (Route 74) run through the township. Public schools here are part of the Central York School District. The township was incorporated in 1821, and it is home to York International, the HVAC maker now part of Johnson Controls.
Installers must hold a PA DEP radon mitigation certification (how to check), and permit questions go to the township office at www.springgardentwp.org.
Common questions
Is radon a problem in Spring Garden Township?
Yes. PA DEP has 8,348 tests on record from the ZIP code covering Spring Garden Township, and 55.2% of them came back at or above the EPA's 4.0 pCi/L action level. 15.2% were at 20 pCi/L or more. The county-wide rate is 52.5%.
What is the average radon level in ZIP 17403?
The median of 8,348 PA DEP tests in ZIP 17403 is 4.7 pCi/L and the mean is 11.4 pCi/L. A mean that far above the median means a long tail of very high readings, topping out at 437 pCi/L.
Nearby
York City 51.9%, Springettsbury Township 54.1%, York Township 57%, Dallastown 65.7%. Share of PA DEP tests at or above 4.0 pCi/L, against 55.2% here.
Have a test result from Spring Garden Township?
Send us the number and the foundation type, or call and read it out.
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