Lead Poisoning Stats by State

Lead poisoning can cause multiple developmental issues in children, including lower IQ, decreased attention span, and other neurological problems. Any problems that occur due to lead poisoning are permanent and irreversible.

Symptoms of lead poisoning include:

• Constipation
• Irritation
• Loss of appetite
• Stomach pains
• Tiredness
• Memory loss
• Headaches
• Weakness
• Pain/tingling in the hands or/and feet 

Even low levels of lead poisoning can be harmful to children. For babies, this poisoning can cause developmental delays of the nervous system, cause behavioral issues, and intellectual delays.

BBL – Blood Lead Levels

If you believe your child may have lead poisoning, you should take them to see a doctor and request a blood test. In recent years, tests that show less than 10 micrograms per deciliter (μg/dL) were not of concern. 

But now that we know the severe consequences of lead poisoning, doctors now grow concerned and inform parents if their child’s lead levels are above five micrograms per deciliter. 

This change was a recommendation from a committee for the CDC (Center for Disease Control) based on the population of one to five-year-old children at the top 2.5% of all children tested for lead poisoning. 

Most experts feel that children do not need medical treatment unless the blood lead levels (BBL) are above 45 μg/dL. To treat lead poison, your doctor may recommend chelation therapy. 

Lead Surveillance

To keep up with lead poisoning cases and identify children at risk, the CDC provides 35 state health departments funding to use blood lead surveillance systems. 

In exchange for this funding, the state and local grantees have to supply their data to the CDC quarterly. However, for states that do not receive funding, they voluntarily share lead poisoning statistics by state. Numerous states do not receive funding or provide statistical data.

Out of the 29 states that receive grants, 27 of them have laws that require reports from clinical laboratories for all BLLs to be sent to state health departments. There are no such laws in Kentucky or Indiana, which also receive state funding.

States that receive grants and provide statistical reports on childhood lead levels include these 29:

• Colorado
• Delaware
• Arizona
• Connecticut
• Illinois
• Louisiana
• Georgia
• Michigan
• Indiana
• Maryland
• Kentucky
• Massachusetts
• Missouri
• New Jersey
• Mississippi
• Minnesota
• Michigan
• New Hampshire
• Nex Mexico
• North Carolina
• New York State
• Oregon
• Ohio
• Rhode Island
• Oklahoma
• Vermont
• Wisconsin
• Washington
• Tennessee
• West Virginia
• Washington, DC

These states provide annual reports of blood lead testing, follow up data for children with high BLLs, recommended interventions in high-risk locations, and the identification, management, and reduction plans for lead hazards. 

Each of these states handles individual databases and send their de-identified data to the CDC, where it goes into the national database. They collect data from labs (private and public), housing authorities, environmental protection agencies, and education agencies at the state and local levels.

Lead Poisoning by State

This chart displays the number of childhood lead poisonings for children under 72 months of age (1-5-year-olds), broken down by each state. This chart will show:

• Total Population of Children < 72 Months of Age        
• Number of Children Tested < 72 Months of Age        
• Percentage of Children Tested < 72 Months of Age
• Children with Confirmed BLLs ≥ 5 µg/dL        
• Children with Confirmed BLLs ≥ 10 µg/dL 

We’ve provided data for the 29 states that receive CDC funding and some states that offer voluntary statistics. Some states will have N/A, which means there are no records kept for lead poisoning cases. In these cases, reach out to your local or state health department.

State	Total Population	Number Tested	Percentage tested	Confirmed BLLs≥ 5 µg/dL	Confirmed BLLs ≥ 10 µg/dL
Alabama	352,950	36,394	10.3%	382	120
Alaska	62,956	4,831	2.7%	146	31
Arizona	525,734	61,223	11.6%	164	43
Arkansas	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
California	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Colorado	406,560	26,782	6.6%	260	64
Connecticut	227,495	74,401	32.7%	1,610	488
Delaware	66,924	7,827	11.7%	104	19
D.C	50,280	17,668	35.1%	128	35
Florida	1,295,134	177,753	13.7%	2,946	306
Georgia	802,436	106,010	13.2%	501	133
Hawaii	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Idaho	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Illinois	948,658	110,461	11.6%	3,313	1,261
Indiana	506,397	49,859	9.8%	821	260
Iowa	238,018	47,155	19.8%	3,045	300
Kansas	243,692	24,228	9.9%	538	138
Kentucky	330,743	10,719	3.2%	80	23
Louisiana	371,818	19,022	5.1%	181	83
Maine	78,691	13,146	16.7%	318	78
Maryland	441,409	132,024	29.9%	1,532	341
Massachusetts	437,094	208,880	47.8%	2,857	618
Michigan	695,457	145,209	20.9%	2,415	644
Minnesota	422,543	92,558	21.9%	556	148
Mississippi	231,770	40,191	17.3%	200	50
Missouri	450,038	83,780	18.6%	1,619	444
Montana	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nebraska	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nevada	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
New Hampshire	78,826	17,507	22.2%	358	102
New Jersey	636,231	172,523	27.1%	3,634	831
New Mexico	159,135	11,822	7.4%	71	9
New York	1,405,074	210,567	15%	5,923	1,764
North Carolina	732,144	109,910	15%	751	209
North Dakota	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ohio	839,932	160,031	19.1%	4,702	1,436
Oklahoma	318,998	52,454	16.4%	538	141
Oregon	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pennsylvania	858,963	144,351	16.8%	7,447	1,736
Rhode Island	65,906	25,352	38.5%	815	175
South Carolina	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
South Dakota	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Tennessee	485,490	85,083	17.5%	349	99
Texas	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Utah	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Vermont	36,431	9,761	26.8%	157	61
Virginia	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Washington	536,873	23,880	4.4%	185	48
West Virginia	121,783	18,133	14.9%	201	54
Wisconsin	409,803	89,25	21.8%	1,994	672
Wyoming	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

States that Don’t Report to the CDC

Despite the dangers of lead poisoning in children, some states do not share their lead test results with the CDC, making it difficult to determine the actual number of early childhood lead poisoning cases. 

Lead testing is not a legal requirement for most states, so many children are left undiagnosed, resulting in inaccurate results on the number of children that experience lead poisoning. 

It’s believed that 70% of poisoned children will not get tested or treated for lead poison, particularly in the western and southern states.

Currently, twelve states do not participate in sharing their data. These are:

• Arkansas
• California
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• North Dakota
• Oregon
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Texas
• Utah
• Virginia
• Wyoming

10 Best States for Low Lead Poisoning Levels

Out of all the states that report blood lead poisoning levels, these ten states have the lowest reported numbers of children with BLL above 5 µg/dL.

1. Arizona (0.3% ≥5 µg/dL, and 0.1% ≥10 µg/dL)
2. Tennessee (0.4%≥5 µg/d, and 0.1%≥10 µg/dL
3. New Mexico (0.5%≥5 µg/dL and 0.1%≥10 µg/dL)
4. Mississippi (0.5%≥5 µg/d, and 0.5%≥10 µg/dL)
5. Minnesota (0.6%≥5 µg/dL, and 0.2%≥10 µg/dL)
6. District of Columbia (0.7%≥5 µg/dL, and 0.2%≥10 µg/dL)
7. North Carolina (0.7%≥5 µg/d, and 0.2%≥10 µg/dL)
8. Kentucky (0.7%≥5 µg/d, and 0.2%≥10 µg/dL)
9. Washington (0.8%≥5 µg/d, and 0.2%≥10 µg/dL)
10. Alabama (1.0%Kentucky (0.7%≥5 µg/d, and 0.3%≥10 µg/dL)

10 Worst States for Low Lead Poisoning Levels

Here are the top ten states with the highest lead levels among children under six years of age.

1. Pennsylvania (5.2%≥5 µg/d, and 1.2%≥10 µg/dL)
2. Rhode Island (3.2%≥5 µg/d, and 0.7%≥10 µg/dL)
3. Illinois (3.0%≥5 µg/d, and 1.1%≥10 µg/dL)
4. Ohio (2.9%≥5 µg/d, and 0.9%≥10 µg/dL)
5. New York – excluding NYC (2.8%≥5 µg/d, and 0.8%≥10 µg/dL)
6. Wisconsin (2.2%≥5 µg/d, and 0.8%≥10 µg/dL)
7. Connecticut (2.2%≥5 µg/d, and 0.7%≥10 µg/dL)
8. New Jersey (2.1%≥5 µg/d, and 0.5%≥10 µg/dL)
9. New Hampshire (2.0%≥5 µg/d, and 0.6%≥10 µg/dL)
10. Missouri (1.9%≥5 µg/d, and 0.5%≥10 µg/dL)

Causes of Lead Poisoning

There are different causes of lead poisoning, such as: 

Lead Paint

At one point, the primary cause of lead poisoning occurred due to lead-based paint. Once experts realized the dangers, manufacturers stopped producing lead paint, which helped lower lead poisoning statistics.

Lead Gasoline

Gasoline also used to contain lead. But now, gasoline is lead-free, or unleaded, if we’re going by what you see at the pump. The next time you stop at a gas station to fill up, say a silent thank you to the experts who made it safe for you to pump gas without getting poisoned.

Water Pipes

Another common source of lead poisoning that is still an ongoing problem in the US right up to 2021 is water pipes. Before 1980, most of the United States’ water systems used lead piping for our drinking water.

Thankfully, many places have replaced these hazardous lines with suitable, safe alternatives. But there are over six million lead pipes still being used around the country, putting over 10 million Americans at risk. 

Cases of Lead in Public Water Systems

An expose completed by USA Today discovered 2,000 public water systems throughout the US that contain higher lead levels than recommended. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) limits how much lead a system can have without being harmful. 

This limit is 15 parts per billion. Out of those 2,000 systems, 350 of these provide water to daycares and elementary schools. There are records of schools in Portland, Oregon having to shut off their water fountains due to high lead levels. 

And one school in Pennsylvania faced a lawsuit for not treating high lead levels in the drinking water for months on end. 

Most Americans were unaware of the lead poisoning crisis due to poisonous water pipes. But that all changed when a public water infrastructure system failed in Flint, Michigan. Suddenly, lead pipes were in the news, and all levels of the government, from local to federal, were in hot water. 

Who’s At Risk?

Low-income neighborhoods and older homes built before the 1950s have higher risks of causing lead poisoning. Many of these houses are in the Midwest and Northeast of the country, explaining the higher number of lead poisoning cases in children in these areas. It’s believed there are high numbers in the south as well but that a large number of these go unreported.

You may be wondering why lead pipes are still used in some parts of the country, despite the knowledge of the dangers of lead poisoning. 

The answer is simple – money. Civil engineers have determined that it would cost over one trillion dollars to bring all of America’s drinking water systems up to code. That figure is the total amount over 25 years.  

In Closing

If you live in an older house or a state with verified contaminated water sources, you may want to talk to your child’s doctor about having your child’s lead levels tested. All it takes is a simple prick on the finger. Many doctors recommend a lead test between the age of one and two to be safe.

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