This is a map of lead-paint risk taken all the way down to individual homes, here in North Philadelphia. Each dot is a real property from the City of Philadelphia's own assessment records, colored by the decade it was built. Older homes are far more likely to contain lead paint, so the age of a building is a strong first guess at where the hazards are. We built this from Philadelphia's open data, just as we did for New York and Detroit from theirs. A lead program could take this map, match it against the addresses of the families it already serves, and get back a clear list of which homes to check first.
| Address | Built | Lead-paint likelihood |
|---|---|---|
| 2252-54 N Broad St | 1860 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 2510-18 W Sedgley Ave | 1866 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 2701-07 W Cumberland St | 1879 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 2101 W Clearfield St | 1884 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 2239 N Broad St | 1890 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 1409-13 W Dauphin St | 1890 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 2401-13 N 18Th St | 1895 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 2543-49 W Lehigh Ave | 1898 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 2913-21 W Cumberland St | 1899 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 2100-20 W Allegheny Ave | 1900 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 2214-16 N 29Th St | 1900 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 2248-50 N 29Th St | 1900 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 3213-19 W Cumberland St | 1900 | 90% (pre-1940) |
| 1900-14 W York St | 1904 | 90% (pre-1940) |
This map shows you where to look first, not which homes definitely have lead. To confirm the hazard in a specific home, you need a field test. FluoroSpec is a low-cost lead-detection kit that does exactly that: you spray a small amount of a reagent (methylammonium bromide) on a painted surface, and under a UV flashlight it glows bright green wherever there is lead paint or lead dust.
