The number of children in Cleveland with some level of lead poisoning continues to decline, according to a report released Monday by the Cleveland Department of Public Health.
Of children under six tested, the percentage found to have some level of lead poisoning has declined steadily since 2023. About 18 percent of tests came back positive that year. The number fell to about 16 percent in 2024 and dropped to just over 14.5 percent by the end of last year.
"We're not resting until no child is poisoned by lead in the city of Cleveland," said CDPH Director, Dr. Dave Margolius. "What we'd like to see is year over year improvement until that number gets down to zero percent."
The trend is a small victory in city-wide efforts to address childhood lead poisoning, Margolius said, but it highlights a need for more targeted efforts.
"The work is to continue and improve the rate of testing, continue to improve the rates of homes — especially rental properties — that are tested and continue to work to improve these homes so that we won't have children who are testing positive for lead," he said.
The health department expects the downward trend to continue in 2026, Margolius said.
The sale of lead paint was banned in the 1978 but continues to present a risk in much of Cleveland's aging housing stock. Childhood exposure to lead at an early age can lead to lifelong health issues and cognitive decline.
Even with the steady decline, more than 11-hundred kids under the age of six were found to have some level of lead poisoning in 2025.
Lead advocates have highlighted a need for increased testing to better understand how many of Cleveland's children are living with the effects of lead poisoning.
"The only way you can determine poisoning is to test," Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing board president Yvonka Hall said at a press conference in February. "You don't know what the numbers are because you're not testing enough children. So, yeah, it would look like it's gone down when you're not testing."
Overall, the number of children under the age of six tested fell slightly from 33% in 2024 to 32% in 2025.
But CDPH and its partners have targeted children at the highest risk, those under the age of two, Margolius said. In 2025, 66% percent of children under two were tested at least once.
"The human brain grows fastest between the ages of zero and three. That's when it's growing the quickest and when it is most fragile," Margolius said. "When lead is in the blood at that age it causes irreversible brain damage learning disabilities and attention problems and so That's why it's so important to protect our babies, especially between the age of zero and three."
In March, the Cleveland lost out on $3.3 million in grant funding to remediate lead-contaminated homes after not spending the funds before the state's deadline. Additionally, a letter from Senior Advisor for Lead Accountability and former Cleveland City Councilmember Rebecca Maurer identified more than 780 unanswered voicemails from residents seeking lead remediation from Cleveland's lead-safe repair programs.
Moving forward, CDPH and its partners are working to ensure these errors aren't repeated, Margolius said.
"We're really grateful for Rebecca Maurer joining the administration and bringing new energy and commitment to this work and really identifying opportunities for improvement," he said. "The team has really rallied around her leadership to get the government funds spent quicker so that we can be in a good position to apply for more funds when the next cycle opens up."
