Monroe County Children's Lead Levels Fell 27% in 2025 — Progress Worth Understanding

Eighty-two fewer Monroe County children had elevated blood lead levels in 2025 than in 2024. Monroe County's annual testing results, released this week, put the count at 217 — down from 299, a 27% decline in Monroe County childhood lead poisoning cases. Those are 82 children in Rochester neighborhoods, in the same communities where most of this county's oldest housing stands. The public health staff and community organizations that kept this work going deserve to see that confirmed.

What 82 Fewer Children With Elevated Lead Levels Actually Means

What 82 Fewer Children With Elevated Lead Levels Actually Means

The county counts children whose blood lead exceeded its 5 micrograms per deciliter threshold. 14,556 Monroe County children were tested in 2025 — more than in prior years. The 27% drop isn't an artifact of reduced screening.

The 217 is a floor, not a full count. The CDC's national reference value for elevated blood lead is 3.5 µg/dL, not 5. Children with levels between 3.5 and 5 µg/dL are not counted in Monroe County's 217. Health experts agree that no level of lead in a child's blood is safe.

Within the 217, severity matters. Monroe County's data shows 155 children at 5–9.9 µg/dL, 30 at 10–14.9, 17 at 15–19.9, and 15 with exposures at or above 20 µg/dL. The headline is a 27% improvement. Sixty-two children in Monroe County had blood lead levels above 10 this year.

Monroe County's Lead Problem Starts With Its Houses

Monroe County's Lead Problem Starts With Its Houses

The housing stock is the hazard. Seventy percent of Monroe County's houses were built before 1978, when the federal government banned residential lead paint. 57.4% predate New York State's 1970 ban. The majority of homes where Monroe County children grow up were built when lead paint was standard.

Deteriorating paint and lead-contaminated dust in older Rochester-area homes are the sources county health staff most commonly identify when investigating a child's elevated blood lead. The pathway is well understood: paint chips and weathers into dust, children touch surfaces and put their hands to their mouths, and exposure accumulates. The structural problem is that this hazard is concentrated in the neighborhoods where the county's most vulnerable children live.

The Work That Has Been Moving Monroe County Lead Numbers

The Work That Has Been Moving Monroe County Lead Numbers

The long-run trend is worth naming. The share of Monroe County children with blood lead levels between 5 and 10 µg/dL fell from 9.16% to 2.12% between 2009 and 2020 — eleven years of reduction that required sustained policy, enforcement, and local effort to produce.

Monroe County's Lead Poisoning Prevention Program provides medical case management, educational outreach, and home investigations for every child who exceeds the threshold. When a case opens, county health staff investigate the home and issue remediation orders to property owners, requiring EPA-compliant abatement. The 2025 numbers reflect what it looks like when that infrastructure stays funded and staffed.

Federal Cuts Arrived Just as Monroe County Children Were Making Progress

Federal Cuts Arrived Just as Monroe County Children Were Making Progress

In 2025, the federal government cut the entire CDC Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. The Rochester Beacon reported that the cuts threatened the funding local coalition work had relied on for support and coordination.

"To date, we have not seen any plans to reinstate the CDC's Childhood Lead Poisoning program. If these cuts are permanent, it will mean fewer resources to keep Monroe County children safe from lead exposure."

— Mel Callan, chair, Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning, June 2025

The Monroe County Legislature unanimously approved $310,000 for the city's lead prevention program in February 2024 — local investment that now carries more of the load. The Coalition to Prevent Lead Poisoning noted that around 250 Monroe County children were poisoned by lead each year over the five years before this report. 217 is below that average. It is still 217 children this year working through case management, home investigations, and remediation orders.