Ask when your house was built, and you know more about its lead-paint risk than most inspections will tell you. The US banned residential lead paint in 1978. Homes built before then may contain it; homes built before 1950 almost certainly do, and with much higher lead content. The CDC still counts lead-based paint and its dust among the most common sources of childhood lead exposure in the US.
We now show this on every county report: the share of homes built before 1980 and before 1950 for your area, from Census housing data. Check your ZIP and you will see where your county's housing stock sits. But the county number is context - what matters is your house. Here is how to go from "my area is old" to an actual answer.
Built after 1978: lead paint is essentially off the table. Move on to the other exposures.
Built 1950 to 1978: possible. Lead content in paint declined through this period, and the federal government estimates about a quarter of homes from the later decades contain some lead-based paint.
Built before 1950: assume yes. Paint from this era carried far more lead, and the government estimates the large majority of pre-1950 homes contain it.
The good news that gets lost: intact lead paint under layers of newer paint is generally not an emergency. The hazard is dust - from chipping, peeling, friction surfaces like windows and doors, and above all from renovation done wrong.
For a quick read, DIY lead test swabs (typically about $10 to 30) turn color on contact with lead. Rub one on chipping paint, a windowsill, a doorframe - the friction surfaces that shed dust. Swabs are a screening tool: a positive is worth believing, a negative on one spot does not clear the house.
For certainty - before buying a pre-1978 home or planning a renovation - hire a certified lead inspector with an XRF analyzer, which reads through paint layers without damage. A full inspection typically runs about $300 to 600 and tells you surface by surface where the lead actually is.
Dry-sanding, scraping, or demolishing painted surfaces in a pre-1978 home is how intact paint becomes airborne lead dust that settles into carpet and window troughs for years. This is exactly what the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule exists for: contractors working on pre-1978 homes are required to be Lead-Safe certified and to contain dust. If you are hiring out work, ask for the certification. If you are DIY-ing, wet-sand, use plastic containment, keep kids and anyone pregnant out of the work area, and never use a regular shop vac on the dust.
Kids under six are the reason any of this matters - their developing brains are most vulnerable, and hand-to-mouth behavior makes dust the main pathway (eating paint chips is the cliche, dust is the reality). Blood-lead screening at ages 1 and 2 is standard pediatric practice; ask your pediatrician if it has not come up. At home, wet-wipe windowsills and floors regularly, and put a doormat policy in place - soil around old homes carries lead from decades of exterior paint.
And remember the other lead pathway: your tap water. Lead paint and lead pipes are separate problems that show up in the same era of housing. Your free ZIP report covers the water side - lead test results from your utility - right next to your county's housing-age numbers, and our lead hub covers filters and testing. While you're checking, your report also shows your county's radon zone.
My house was built in 1965 and the paint is in good shape. Should I panic?
No. Intact, undisturbed paint is a managed risk, not an emergency. Watch friction surfaces, test before any renovation, and keep an eye on chipping.
Can I just paint over lead paint?
Painting over intact lead paint (encapsulation) is a recognized interim control - it seals the surface. It is not permanent on friction surfaces like windows, where wear grinds through layers.
What does a professional lead inspection cost?
A certified XRF inspection typically runs about $300 to 600 and reads every painted surface through the layers without damage - worth it before buying or renovating a pre-1978 home.
Is the county percentage on my report my house's risk?
No - it is the share of your county's housing stock built in the lead-paint eras, context for how common the issue is around you. Your house's build year and paint condition are the real variables.