Canadian homes at or above the guideline
0
%Share of single-detached, semi-detached and row properties in Canada with radon at or above 200 Bq/m³ in the 2024 Cross-Canada Radon Survey.
- Date
- 2024-10-01
- Sample
- 69,478 long-term tests
How much radon is in Canadian homes, and where is it highest?
Radon levels in Canada by region, community and building type, where they are highest, why 2024 differs from 2012, and what a city average cannot tell you.
Photo: Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons.
Nearly one in five single detached, semi detached and row homes in Canada has radon at or above 200 Bq/m³. That figure comes from the 2024 Cross-Canada Radon Survey (Version 1.1). The share changes by region, by community size and by type of building. No average can tell you the level in your own home. See every province, city and census division figure, with its source.
Nearly one in five Canadian homes is at or above the guideline
The 2024 survey found 17.8% of single detached, semi detached and row properties at or above 200 Bq/m³. About 4.6 million of the 25.7 million people in these types of homes live in one at or above that level. The survey pooled 69,478 long-term tests, each longer than 90 days. Of these, 99.7% were done from 2009 to 2024.
Properties at or above 100 Bq/m³
42
%Share of single-detached, semi-detached and row properties in Canada at or above the World Health Organization reference level of 100 Bq/m³ in the 2024 Cross-Canada Radon Survey: 17.8% at or above 200 and a further 24.2% from 100 to 199.
- Date
- 2024-10-01
- Sample
- Not applicable
A further 24.2% of these homes are between 100 and 199 Bq/m³. Together, 42% are at or above 100 Bq/m³, the reference level of the World Health Organization. The weighted national average, a geometric mean, is 84.7 Bq/m³. See what the 100 and 200 levels mean for your home.
Atlantic Canada, the Prairies, the North and the BC Interior have the most high homes
In Atlantic Canada, one in three single detached, semi detached and row homes is at or above 200 Bq/m³, the largest share of any region. The Pacific Interior and Yukon has the highest average. The survey gives five regions, each with its share of these homes at or above 200 Bq/m³ and its average in Bq/m³:
- Atlantic: 33.3%, average 116.8
- Pacific Interior and Yukon: 31.6%, average 126.9
- Prairies and Northwest Territories: 20.0%, average 113.6
- Central (Ontario and Quebec): 16.4%, average 76.9
- Pacific Coastal BC: 1.3%, average 20.4
By province, Manitoba has the highest average, at 168.6 Bq/m³. That figure is not weighted, like several other provincial figures. In Nova Scotia, a weighted 36.8% of these homes are at or above 200 Bq/m³. Nunavut has no data.
The survey names eighteen municipalities where a quarter to half of these homes were at or above 200 Bq/m³, listed here from west to east:
- Whitehorse
- Nelson
- Kelowna
- Prince George
- Vernon
- Penticton
- Trail
- High River
- Okotoks
- Strathmore
- Regina
- Brandon
- Winnipeg
- Thunder Bay
- Kingston
- Sherbrooke
- Bathurst
- Halifax
Find your province’s and city’s page.
Rural homes and single-detached houses are more likely to be high
If you live in a rural community, one with under 30,000 people, the survey found a higher share of high homes in communities like yours. In rural communities, 23.8% of single detached, semi detached and row homes are at or above 200 Bq/m³. In urban communities the share is 17.4%. The rural average is 99.9 Bq/m³, against 86.3 in urban areas.
Radon by community type
Rural 23.8%, urban 17.4%
Share of properties at or above 200 Bq/m³ by community type in the 2024 Cross-Canada Radon Survey, with geometric means of 99.9 Bq/m³ (rural) and 86.3 Bq/m³ (urban). The survey counts a community of 30,000 people or more as urban and one of 1 to 29,999 as rural.
- Date
- 2024-10-01
- Sample
- Not applicable
Single detached houses run higher than attached ones. Of single detached homes, 20.4% are at or above 200 Bq/m³, against 11.1% of semi detached and 7.9% of row homes. Data for multifamily buildings are still preliminary.
Results also drop on higher floors. Tests below ground had a geometric mean of 89.9 Bq/m³, ground level 68.8 and above ground 54.4. See why rural and detached homes run higher.
The 2024 survey found more than double the 2012 share above the guideline
The 2012 survey found 6.9% of homes at or above 200 Bq/m³. The 2024 survey found 17.8% of single detached, semi detached and row properties, and calls this a nearly 2.5-fold increase. The two surveys did not collect their tests the same way.
The 2024 survey report says the 2012 survey reached homeowners only, by random phone dialing. It says the 2024 survey pooled tests from programs and convenience samples, then reweighted them to the 2021 Census. In 2024, 68% of tests were below ground, against 31% in 2012. In its preface to the 2024 survey, Health Canada says researchers have seen a trend toward higher radon in many parts of Canada. See what each radon map shows.
No area of Canada is radon free, and a regional average cannot tell you your home’s level
The 2024 survey says no area of Canada is radon free. In 245 of 293 census divisions, at least one home tested at or above 200 Bq/m³. Toronto’s average was 43.0 Bq/m³, and one home there tested at 1,013 Bq/m³.
Highest reading in Toronto
1,013
Bq/m³Highest reading the 2024 survey recorded in Toronto, a city with a weighted average of 43.0 Bq/m³. In Vancouver, average 17.1, the highest was 624 Bq/m³.
- Date
- 2024-10-01
- Sample
- Not applicable
Vancouver averaged 17.1 Bq/m³ and had a home at 624 Bq/m³. The highest reading in the survey was 32,321 Bq/m³, in Thunder Bay. The survey says its results should not be used to judge your own risk or to decide whether to test your home. See how to test your own home.