Home Safety Rankings 2026 — Worst & Best ZIP Codes

Rank	State	Avg Score
1	HI	100 (A)
2	LA	92 (A)
3	AR	91 (A)
4	VT	90 (A)
5	MS	89 (A)
6	OK	86 (A)
7	WA	86 (A)
8	MI	85 (A)
9	OR	85 (A)
10	NV	84 (B)
11	NY	84 (B)
12	TX	83 (B)
13	DE	81 (B)
14	FL	80 (B)
15	SC	80 (B)

Six of the twenty-five lowest-scoring ZIP codes in the United States sit inside the city limits of Albany, New York. Three more — 91416, 91426, and 91436 — cluster in a single suburb of Los Angeles: Encino, California. Another three are in Dayton, Ohio. And at the very bottom of the list, below 41,000 other ZIP codes, is Lebanon, Nebraska: population 76, ZIP 69036, composite Home Safety Score of 0.

Welcome to the 2026 Home Safety Rankings. We analyzed 41,344 ZIP codes using four federal data sources — EPA drinking water violations, EPA lead testing samples, EPA county-level radon maps, and FEMA National Flood Insurance Program claims — and combined them into a single composite score from 0 to 100. The result is a ranking that answers one question: which U.S. ZIP codes have the most, and fewest, measurable environmental risk factors to the home.

What the data reveals. The geography of America's lowest-scoring ZIP codes is not random. Rural census-designated places in the northern Plains and Mountain West — Lebanon NE, Palco KS, Maxbass ND, Juliaetta ID, Wisner NE, Lance Creek WY — dominate the worst quartile because they rely on small community water systems with narrow compliance margins; a single violation can cascade. At the same time, a parallel cluster of urban ZIPs shows up in the top 25: Havertown PA, Albany NY, Dayton OH, Encino CA. Those appear for a different reason: older housing stock with lead service lines, dense EPA reporting, and documented historical violations that the compliance record never fully forgets.

The top of the list is just as revealing. Twenty-four of the twenty-five safest ZIP codes in the country are split between two states: Washington (sixteen ZIPs) and Alaska (eight). Alaska benefits from low housing density, shallow well infrastructure that avoids lead solder, and a total absence of FEMA flood claims in the largest villages. Western Washington sweeps the urban side of the leaderboard — Seattle, Bremerton, Lakewood, Silverdale, DuPont — because of consistent water system compliance, minimal radon exposure outside the eastern counties, and recent infrastructure investment. Texas leads the country with 2,649 ranked ZIPs, followed by California (2,630), New York (2,186), and Pennsylvania (2,184), giving every major state enough sample depth to produce meaningful within-state comparisons.

How to read this ranking. A composite score is a lens, not a verdict. A ZIP with a score of 40 and one with a score of 85 are not separated by an "unsafe vs. safe" threshold — they are separated by the number of measurable risk factors recorded by federal agencies for that postal delivery area. The score tells you where to look first. If you are shopping for a home, the list below tells you which risk factors a professional home inspector should prioritize in a specific ZIP. If you are already living in one of these areas, it tells you which questions to ask your water utility, your county health department, and your home insurer.

What this ranking does not tell you. It does not measure housing affordability, crime, school quality, commute times, or community amenities. It does not account for the age, condition, or material of the plumbing inside any specific building. It does not replace a water test at your own tap or a radon test in your own basement. And because small-town water systems have less coverage in the federal datasets, rural ZIPs often sit in the extreme tails — both the best and the worst — simply because their data is thinner. A score derived from 3 data components carries different weight than one derived from 4. Both are published here; see the rankings methodology for the full treatment.

The tables below list the twenty-five ZIP codes at the bottom and the twenty-five at the top of the composite Home Safety Score for 2026, followed by a state-level breakdown showing how each state's ZIP count contributes to the national distribution.

41,344 ZIP codes analyzed · Data last refreshed 2026-04-12

41,344 ZIP codes analyzed

11,155 ZIP codes analyzed

25 Worst ZIP Codes

#	ZIP Code	City	State	Safety Score	Grade	Component Coverage
1	43137	Lockbourne	OH	25/100	F	4/4
2	43207	Columbus	OH	25/100	F	4/4
3	15108	Coraopolis	PA	27/100	F	4/4
4	43119	Galloway	OH	28/100	F	4/4
5	80550	Windsor	CO	31/100	F	4/4
6	43123	Grove City	OH	32/100	F	4/4
7	43125	Groveport	OH	32/100	F	4/4
8	02874	Saunderstown	RI	33/100	F	4/4
9	02879	Wakefield	RI	33/100	F	4/4
10	02881	Kingston	RI	33/100	F	4/4
11	02892	West Kingston	RI	33/100	F	4/4
12	06482	Sandy Hook	CT	33/100	F	4/4
13	06488	Southbury	CT	33/100	F	4/4
14	06804	Brookfield	CT	33/100	F	4/4
15	06810	Danbury	CT	33/100	F	4/4
16	06811	Danbury	CT	33/100	F	4/4
17	07005	Boonton	NJ	33/100	F	4/4
18	07734	Keansburg	NJ	33/100	F	4/4
19	07748	Middletown	NJ	33/100	F	4/4
20	07801	Dover	NJ	33/100	F	4/4
21	07828	Budd Lake	NJ	33/100	F	4/4
22	07834	Denville	NJ	33/100	F	4/4
23	07836	Flanders	NJ	33/100	F	4/4
24	07840	Hackettstown	NJ	33/100	F	4/4
25	07853	Long Valley	NJ	33/100	F	4/4

25 Best ZIP Codes

#	ZIP Code	City	State	Safety Score	Grade	Component Coverage
1	98836	Monitor	WA	100/100	A	4/4
2	98644	Seaview	WA	100/100	A	4/4
3	98631	Long Beach	WA	100/100	A	4/4
4	98586	South Bend	WA	100/100	A	4/4
5	98577	Raymond	WA	100/100	A	4/4
6	98467	University Place	WA	100/100	A	4/4
7	98466	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
8	98465	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
9	98443	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
10	98418	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
11	98416	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
12	98409	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
13	98408	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
14	98407	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
15	98406	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
16	98405	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
17	98404	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
18	98403	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
19	98402	Tacoma	WA	100/100	A	4/4
20	98358	Nordland	WA	100/100	A	4/4
21	98354	Milton	WA	100/100	A	4/4
22	98353	Manchester	WA	100/100	A	4/4
23	98340	Hansville	WA	100/100	A	4/4
24	98339	Port Hadlock	WA	100/100	A	4/4
25	98337	Bremerton	WA	100/100	A	4/4

Rankings by State

State	ZIP Codes
California	1,046
Texas	794
Pennsylvania	737
Florida	705
New York	699
Ohio	522
Illinois	454
Massachusetts	397
New Jersey	375
Michigan	303
Washington	289
Missouri	248
North Carolina	246
Arizona	238
Indiana	233
Colorado	221
Tennessee	218
Kentucky	208
Maryland	206
Louisiana	202
Alabama	197
Virginia	196
Connecticut	188
Oklahoma	178
Wisconsin	177

Methodology

The current versioned Home Safety Score combines four independently validated components: EPA SDWIS water-compliance history, PFAS MCL screening, EPA radon zones, and annual EPA Air Quality Index data. Components roll up into three equally weighted domains. A score is published only when every required domain is observed; missing evidence remains unavailable.

Last updated: 2026-08-14.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are these rankings calculated?

Rankings are based on federal agency data including EPA, FEMA, USGS, and PHMSA. Each ZIP code receives a score based on the specific risk factors for this category. See the methodology section above for details.

How often are rankings updated?

Rankings are regenerated quarterly using the latest available data. The date shown reflects the most recent update.

Home Safety Rankings 2026 — Worst & Best ZIP Codes

Average Home Safety Score by State

Top 15 States

Grade Distribution Across All ZIP Codes

States with Lowest Average Safety Scores

25 Worst ZIP Codes

25 Best ZIP Codes

Rankings by State

Methodology

Frequently Asked Questions

How are these rankings calculated?

How often are rankings updated?

Explore More 2026 Rankings

See Also

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