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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now considers a blood lead level in children of 5 micrograms per deciliter and higher to be a “reference level.” This measure is intended to identify children at higher risk and set off communitywide prevention activities.
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when my daughter was a baby and had her first lead test, she came back at 5.5 micrograms per deciliter (just barely over the "reference level"), so we had our home tested for lead.
it turned out the back stairs of our 6-flat had some old lead paint that we were unwittingly tracking into our home ever time we walked up those stairs.
after $5,500 of lead paint abatement, her lead levels subsequently dropped and she's been under 5 on her lead tests ever since. her younger brother who was born after the lead paint removal has never had a lead level over 5, so it appeared to have worked.