Lead Indicator:
Childhood blood lead testing
Measure
: Housing Age
In the US, the main source of childhood lead poisoning is lead-based paint and lead-contaminated dust found in older homes and buildings. Twenty-four million housing units in the United States have peeling or chipping lead-based paint and high levels of lead-contaminated house dust from remodeling. More than 4 million of these homes are occupied by young children. Despite the ban on lead-based paints in 1978, homes and other buildings built before 1978 (and especially those built before 1950) may contain lead-based paint.
Children are at a higher risk for exposure to lead than adults.
The normal behavior of children - crawling, exploring, teething, putting objects in their mouth - puts them into contact with any lead that is present in their environment through eating lead-based paint chips, chewing on objects painted with lead-based paint, or swallowing house dust or soil that contains lead. Research has shown that lead poisoning and elevated blood lead levels are more frequent in children who grow up in poverty or live in houses build before 1950.
In Oregon’s rural areas, there is a link between living in pre-1950 housing and poverty, but it is not strong. Information from the census does not show the same link for Oregon’s more populated areas. So, while although poverty and pre-1950 housing may not make good estimates of the risk of being exposed to lead in Oregon, these are the best tools available nationally to make an estimation at present.
The housing age measure includes the number of housing units built before 1950 and the percentage of pre-1950 housing out of all housing units by state, county and zip code. The data are based on the 2000 census.
Table 1:
Percentage and count of housing units built before 1950, by state and county
Map 1:
Percentage of housing units built before 1950, by county
Map 2:
Percentage of housing units built before 1950, by ZIP code
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Table 1:
Percentage and count of housing units built before 1950, by state and county
| |
% |
(count) |
|
Oregon |
20.61 |
(299,403)
|
| Baker |
37.6 |
(3,156) |
| Benton |
15.7 |
(5,033) |
| Clackamas |
13.7 |
(18,830) |
| Clatsop |
37.9 |
(7,463) |
| Columbia |
24.7 |
(4,339) |
| Coos |
22.9 |
(6,689) |
| Crook |
13.4 |
(1,108) |
| Curry |
7.8 |
(885) |
| Deschutes |
7.5 |
(4,102) |
| Douglas |
18.0 |
(7,800) |
| Gilliam |
47.7 |
(497) |
| Grant |
29.2 |
(1,171) |
| Harney |
26.8 |
(948) |
| Hood River |
27.8 |
(2,176) |
| Jackson |
14.9 |
(11,306) |
| Jefferson |
6.2 |
(517) |
| Josephine |
13.5 |
(4,478) |
| Klamath |
26.5 |
(7,659) |
| Lake |
27.6 |
(1,103) |
| Lane |
16.3 |
(22,595) |
| Lincoln |
16.6 |
(4,457) |
| Linn |
20.4 |
(8,691) |
| Malheur |
24.5 |
(2,757) |
| Marion |
15.7 |
(17,026) |
| Morrow |
18.8 |
(806) |
| Multnomah |
39.0 |
(112,407) |
| Polk |
18.3 |
(4,467) |
| Sherman |
40.3 |
(377) |
| Tillamook |
23.9 |
(3,801) |
| Umatilla |
25.2 |
(6,978) |
| Union |
36.4 |
(3,864) |
| Wallowa |
36.2 |
(1,413) |
| Wasco |
28.1 |
(2,990) |
| Washington |
6.3 |
(11,239) |
| Wheeler |
40.1 |
(338) |
| Yamhill |
19.6 |
(5,937) |
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Map 1:
Percentage of housing units built before 1950, by county
Each of the three shades on the map represent one third of all counties, with darker shades indicating higher percentages of housing units built before 1950.
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Map 2:
Percentage of housing units built before 1950, by ZIP code
Each of the three shades on the map represent one third of all ZIP codes, with darker shades indicating higher percentages of housing units built before 1950. Striped areas are ZIP codes for which no data were available.
Note:
Large geographical areas are not equivalent to large populations. ZIP code area varies with population density.
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