Elevated blood lead levels in children is endemic in Syracuse, particularly across the city’s poorest neighborhoods and refugee communities. A big reason for this, is the aging housing stock not being properly maintained. Currently, there are 209 open cases of lead violations cited by the county health department:
Figure 1: Open lead violations as of 12/18/19. Hover points for street address. Source: data.syrgov.net
Unresolved lead violation cases are concentrated in the Southside and Northside sectors of the city, and about half of these cases have been open since 2018 or earlier (some go back as far as 2013). See this dashboard for details on each open case.
| Case Status | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Needs Review | 42 | ||||||
| Open | 10 | 17 | 22 | 10 | 20 | 29 | 59 |
Figure 2: Geographic concentration of open lead violations
In 2018, 10% of children tested had elevated blood lead - defined as five or greater micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (>=5 mcg/dL). This burden, however, is not experienced equally across neighborhoods. There is a lot of variability across the 55 census-tracts in Syracuse, ranging from zero to as high as 25% of children tested having elevated blood lead.
Figure 3: Distribution of tract-level percentages of children under-6 with elevated levels of blood lead (>=5 mcg/dL)
Figure 4: Map of tract-level percentages of children under-6 with elevated levels of blood lead (>=5 mcg/dL)
Data sources: