Noise Levels in 02633, MA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
53 dBA
Average noise across 02633
Quiet office to normal conversation
1,158
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
28% of 02633 residents
68 dBA
Loudest residential point
Highway traffic 50 ft away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 02633 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 1,158 02633 residents, or 28.5%, live above that level. By land area, 28.3% of 02633 is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for 02633 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 02633. Central 02633 carries the highest population-weighted average; Southern 02633 carries the lowest. Just 18% of residents in Southern 02633 live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in Central 02633.
Central 02633
56.4 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
37% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 02633
54.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
38% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 02633
52.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
24% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern 02633
50.4 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
18% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 02633
52.9 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
26% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Central 02633 sounds about 52% louder than Southern 02633 to the human ear, a 6.0 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 68 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 soft rainfall.
At source
68 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
165 ft
56 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
49 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
42 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 45% of 02633 sits under tree canopy (heavier than most zip codes) and roughly 23% 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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How Noise Is Distributed Across 02633
The bar chart below shows the share of 02633 residents in each noise band. About 72% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 2% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How 02633 Compares
02633 sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how 02633's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 02638, 02639, 02653, and 02660.
Average noise level (dBA)
02633's 53.2 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 02633 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 28.5% of 02633 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, 28.3% of 02633'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 02633
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 45% of 02633 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.
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.
