Noise Levels in 02302, MA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
54 dBA
Average noise across 02302
Quiet office to normal conversation
11,259
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
34% of 02302 residents
82 dBA
Loudest residential point
Food blender at arm’s length
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 02302 at 100-meter resolution, combining road, aviation, and rail sources. Green areas measure below 45 dBA. Orange and red exceed the EPA's 55 dBA outdoor threshold linked to long-term health effects. Use the layer toggles to view each source on its own or all together.
Overall
Road
Rail
Aviation
Click the map to explore
35 dBa55 dBa (EPA limit)90+ dBa
3545557090
Quietest (dBA)Loudest
Colorblind friendlyoff
What the numbers sound like
30 dBAWhisper
40 dBASoft rainfall
45 dBAQuiet suburban street at night
50 dBAQuiet office
55 dBAEPA outdoor threshold: light traffic 100 ft away
60 dBANormal conversation an arm's length away
65 dBABusy restaurant
70 dBAHighway traffic 50 ft away
80 dBACity bus interior
Population Above the EPA Outdoor Threshold
The EPA's 55 dBA outdoor reference level is a common benchmark for residential noise exposure, especially for activity interference, annoyance, and long-term community noise concerns. About 11,259 02302 residents, or 34.1%, live above that level. By land area, 37.1% of 02302 is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for 02302 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 02302. Western 02302 carries the highest population-weighted average; Eastern 02302 carries the lowest. Just 30% of residents in Eastern 02302 live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in Western 02302.
Central 02302
55.0 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
40% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 02302
52.7 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
30% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 02302
53.3 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
31% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern 02302
54.1 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
33% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 02302
55.8 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
54% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 02302 sounds about 24% louder than Eastern 02302 to the human ear, a 3.1 dBA gap. Every 10 dBA roughly doubles perceived loudness. Within any of these directions, two homes a quarter mile apart can still differ by 10 or more dBA depending on how close they sit to a major highway.
How far back from do you need to be?
produces an estimated 82 dBA at its loudest centerline points. Noise drops logarithmically with distance, with the exact rate depending on what's between you and the road. Tree cover, walls, terrain, and pavement type all matter. At roughly a quarter mile back, traffic fades into the noise level of a quiet office.
At source
82 dBA
Food blender at arm’s length
165 ft
69 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
330 ft
62 dBA
Busy restaurant
660 ft
55 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
¼ mile
48 dBA
Quiet office
½ mile
41 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 43% of 02302 sits under tree canopy (heavier than most zip codes) and roughly 29% is impervious surface like pavement and rooftops. Both are folded into the per-place decay rate above. Heavier canopy pulls noise down faster with distance; impervious surfaces slow the drop.
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Rail Noise
Active freight rail runs through parts of 02302. For most blocks the rail-only contribution is small. Combined road-plus-rail noise rarely exceeds road noise on its own. The exceptions are the handful of blocks within roughly a quarter mile of the right-of-way during pass-through hours.
Use the Rail toggle on the map above to isolate rail's contribution from road and aviation.
Airport Noise
General Edward Lawrence Logan International (BOS) sits north of 02302. The U.S. Department of Transportation measures aviation noise around this airport directly, and the model uses those federal measurements rather than synthetic predictions.
Blocks under the approach and departure paths carry combined road-plus-aviation noise, with some exceeding 75 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of 02302, particularly to the south, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across 02302
The bar chart below shows the share of 02302 residents in each noise band. About 65% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 6% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How 02302 Compares
02302 sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how 02302's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 02368, 02184, 02072, and 02324.
Average noise level (dBA)
02302's 53.8 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Massachusetts as a whole averages 54.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than 02302 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 34.1% of 02302 residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's in the middle of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 37.1% of 02302's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Massachusetts average of 40.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to 02302
Distance from highways matters more than the neighborhood name. Two homes in the same zip code can differ by 20 dBA if one sits 100 meters from and the other 500 meters away. The model captures this at 100-meter resolution, so noise exposure changes block by block.
Tree canopy can help reduce modeled noise exposure. Roughly 43% of 02302 is under tree cover (heavier than most zip codes), and the dominant land cover is low-intensity developed land. Both are measured from federal USDA Forest Service and USGS satellite imagery at 30-meter resolution. Streets with 60% or higher canopy show 3 to 5 dBA lower noise than comparable streets with bare ground or pavement, which is why the per-place decay rate above already accounts for it.
Airport noise is directional. General Edward Lawrence Logan International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the north. Neighborhoods to the south of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
Sources & Methodology
The BestNeighborhood noise model is calibrated against nearly one million federal ground-truth measurements across four states. Road noise is computed from segment-level federal traffic data and propagated outward using physics-based acoustic decay, with attenuation rates that depend on the surrounding land cover.
All inputs are published federal datasets. Block-level noise is computed by combining road, rail, and aviation sound sources in the energy domain, the same physics used in professional environmental noise assessments. Read the full methodology.
