Village, Boone County, Illinois
Radon Testing in Poplar Grove, IL
Updated
IEMA has 351 radon test results on record for Poplar Grove. 58.1% came back at or above the EPA's action level of 4.0 pCi/L. That is well above the Boone County rate of 49.8%. A standard test runs $150 to $300. The only way to know about one specific house is to test it.
About 3,923 people live in Poplar Grove, a Boone County village with roughly 1,399 housing units and a median year built of 2002. It sits near Belvidere, Capron and Cherry Valley. It's a rural Boone County village between Belvidere and the county line.
What IEMA's radon test records show
Look past the median to the tail: 3.7% of Poplar Grove tests were 20 pCi/L or more, five times the action level. The top reading on record is 28 pCi/L. The average result in Poplar Grove is 6.06 pCi/L, against 5.22 for Boone County overall. IEMA's own dataset covers tests licensed measurement professionals submitted from 2003 through July 2019, keeping only the highest reading on record per address. That means it is not a random sample and not year-by-year, but it is the closest thing to primary local radon data that Illinois publishes.
| Tests | Avg pCi/L | 4+ pCi/L | 10+ | 20+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poplar Grove | 351 | 6.06 | 58.1% | 16.5% | 3.7% |
| Boone County | 1,628 | 5.22 | 49.8% | 12.4% | 2.1% |
Source: IEMA radon test records, Illinois Emergency Management Agency.
The ground under Poplar Grove
East of Winnebago County, Boone County shares the same underlying bedrock: Ordovician and Silurian dolomite and limestone, buried under glacial till left by the last Ice Age. That geology puts Boone County in the EPA's Radon Zone 1 too, the agency's highest-potential classification.
Housing in Poplar Grove
Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-year estimates.
| Homes (housing units) | 1,399 | 20,291 in Boone County |
| Median year built | 2002 | 1986 countywide |
| Built before 1980 | 16% | 54.2% countywide |
| Attached (rowhome, townhouse) | 7.8% | 5.4% countywide |
| Mobile homes | 7.2% | 6% countywide |
| Renter-occupied | 7.4% | 18.2% countywide |
62.5% of the homes here were built in 2000 or later, one of the higher shares in the county. New construction is not automatically low-radon: a tight, modern house can hold the gas in as well as it holds heat in, and testing after the home is closed up is the only way to know. See our new construction radon testing page. 7.2% of homes here are mobile or manufactured homes. Those sit over a crawlspace or skirted pad rather than a basement, which changes how a mitigation system is built if one is ever needed.
What we do in Poplar Grove
Radon testing, Buying or selling a home, and New construction.
Common questions
Is radon a problem in Poplar Grove?
Yes. Out of 351 IEMA-recorded tests taken in Poplar Grove, 58.1% came in at 4.0 pCi/L or higher, the EPA's action level. That fits Boone County's overall Zone 1 rating, the agency's highest-potential class.
What is the highest radon reading on record near Poplar Grove?
28 pCi/L, out of 351 IEMA-recorded tests. That is an outlier, not typical, but it shows why testing rather than guessing matters: neighboring houses can differ by a wide margin.
Does a new home in Poplar Grove still need radon testing?
Yes, and it matters here: 62.5% of Poplar Grove's homes went up in 2000 or later. New construction sits on the same ground as an old house, so age alone doesn't tell you the number. Test after the house is closed up.
Nearby
Belvidere (47.9% of tests at 4+ pCi/L), Capron (68.6% of tests at 4+ pCi/L), Cherry Valley (50.2% of tests at 4+ pCi/L).
Need radon testing booked in Poplar Grove?
Tell us why you're testing and any deadline you're working against. You get a fixed price and a straight answer back.