State of Home Safety 2026

1. Executive Summary

The United States earns a grade of C for residential home safety in 2026, with a national average score of 67 out of 100. This assessment is based on analysis of 41,344 ZIP codes across all 51 states and the District of Columbia, drawing on 63 federal and state data sources covering 17 environmental risk categories.

No state achieved an A grade. 20 states earned a B; the remaining 31 received a C. At the ZIP code level, 10,053 communities (24.3%) scored a D or F.

Key Findings

• National average Home Safety Score: 67/100 (Grade C)
• 10053 ZIP codes (24.3%) received a D or F grade
• 23,861 anomalies detected across 42,680 ZIP codes
• 1,154 ZIP codes show accelerating infrastructure decay
• Median hidden annual cost of environmental risk: $1,020 per household
• 2,466 ZIP codes scored 70+ on lead exposure risk
• 1022 PFAS contamination clusters identified
• 3,512 ZIP codes face high or very high wildfire risk

2. State-by-State Rankings

States are ranked by average Home Safety Score, a weighted composite of 17 risk verticals computed for every residential ZIP code in the state.

Top 10 Safest States

Bottom 10 States

Grade Distribution (ZIP Codes)

3. Water Quality Findings

34 out of 51 states have a majority of ZIP codes with at least one recorded drinking water violation. The national average violation rate across states is 55.7%.

Lead Exposure

Of the 32,959 ZIP codes assessed for lead risk, 2,466 scored 70 or above on the lead exposure index (scale 0–100). The national average lead score is 50. Lead risk is determined by water lead levels, pre-1986 housing stock, service line probability, and CDC blood lead surveillance data.

PFAS (Forever Chemicals)

12,863 ZIP codes have PFAS-related data from EPA ECHO and Superfund records. ZipCheckup's anomaly detection identified 1,022 PFAS contamination clusters — groups of geographically adjacent ZIP codes with concurrent PFAS exceedances, suggesting shared contamination sources such as industrial sites, military bases, or wastewater facilities.

Silent Danger Zones

616 ZIP codes have elevated contaminant levels or health-based violations with zero corresponding enforcement actions. These "silent danger" zones represent gaps in regulatory follow-through — areas where residents face documented water quality issues that remain unaddressed by federal or state enforcement.

Enforcement Activity

5,084 ZIP codes experienced enforcement spikes — sudden increases in EPA or state enforcement actions. This may indicate newly discovered contamination, overdue regulatory attention, or worsening infrastructure conditions.

4. Infrastructure & Natural Hazard Findings

Infrastructure Decay

Water and utility infrastructure was assessed for 38,549 ZIP codes. The median infrastructure age is 48 years; the average is 53 years. 17,030 ZIP codes have infrastructure older than 50 years.

1,154 ZIP codes are classified as accelerating decay — meaning failure probability is increasing faster than linear age-based models predict. These communities face elevated risk of pipe breaks, service disruptions, and contamination from corroding infrastructure.

Flood Risk

FEMA NFIP data covers 26,172 ZIP codes with recorded flood insurance claims. Total historical claims: 2,663,849, with $88,253,960,587 paid out. The average claim payment is $33,130. 3,412 ZIP codes have 100 or more recorded claims.

Wildfire & Smoke

Wildfire risk data covers 42,675 ZIP codes. 3,512 are classified as high or very high wildfire risk by FEMA NRI.

Smoke exposure — measured by a composite of AQI data, wildfire proximity, and county fire history — affects far more communities: 33,283 ZIP codes score 8–10 on the smoke risk index, indicating chronic or recurring elevated particulate exposure.

Housing Age & Lead Correlation

Housing vintage is a critical factor in lead exposure risk. The national breakdown:

5. The Hidden Cost of Where You Live

ZipCheckup's Compound Risk Portfolio model estimates the additional annual cost a household incurs from environmental hazards above the national median baseline. This includes estimated expenses for water filtration, flood insurance premiums, wildfire mitigation, radon testing, lead abatement, and other hazard-specific measures across 13 risk verticals.

Risk Tier Distribution

1,158 ZIP codes are classified as critical — meaning estimated additional annual costs exceed the national 99th percentile. Residents in these areas face the greatest financial burden from environmental hazards, often compounded by lower median incomes.

6. Anomalies & Outliers

ZipCheckup's automated anomaly detection flagged 23,861 anomalies across 42,680 ZIP codes. Anomalies are patterns that deviate from expected norms — they may indicate unreported contamination, regulatory gaps, or unusual risk concentrations.

Anomaly Types

Notable Anomalies

7. Methodology & Data Sources

This report is generated from ZipCheckup's production data pipeline, which aggregates and normalizes data from 63 federal and state sources. At the time of generation, 23 sources were classified as fresh (updated within their expected frequency).

Scoring Model

Weighted composite of 17 risk verticals. Each ZIP receives 0-100 score. Grades: A (80-100), B (65-79), C (50-64), D (35-49), F (0-34).

17 Risk Verticals

Data Frequency

Daily (violations, alerts, AQI), weekly (ECHO, CCR), monthly (EPA, Census, BLS)

Open Data

All underlying data is available under CC BY 4.0:

• GitHub
• HuggingFace
• Kaggle

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Citation

ZipCheckup. "State of Home Safety 2026." Published April 3, 2026. https://zipcheckup.com/reports/state-of-home-safety-2026/. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Media Contact

For data requests, interviews, or high-resolution graphics: [email protected]

Report generated from ZipCheckup production data on April 3, 2026. Data vintage: 2026-04-03. Methodology details at zipcheckup.com/about.