Noise Levels in 02762, MA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
51 dBA
Average noise across 02762
Quiet office to normal conversation
1,849
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
20% of 02762 residents
82 dBA
Loudest residential point
Food blender at arm’s length
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 02762 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 1,849 02762 residents, or 20.2%, live above that level. By land area, 27.6% of 02762 is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for 02762 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 02762. Central 02762 carries the highest population-weighted average; Western 02762 carries the lowest. Just 14% of residents in Western 02762 live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, three-quarters of the share in Central 02762.
Central 02762
54.6 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
18% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 02762
52.1 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
20% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 02762
51.2 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
14% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern 02762
53.3 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
32% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 02762
49.0 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
14% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Central 02762 sounds about 47% louder than Western 02762 to the human ear, a 5.6 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 I-495 do you need to be?
I-495 produces an estimated 77 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 suburban street at night.
At source
77 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
65 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
58 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
660 ft
52 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
¼ mile
45 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
½ mile
38 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 50% of 02762 sits under tree canopy (much heavier than most zip codes) and roughly 26% 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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Airport Noise
General Edward Lawrence Logan International (BOS) sits northeast of 02762. 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 02762, particularly to the southwest, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across 02762
The bar chart below shows the share of 02762 residents in each noise band. About 87% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 0% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How 02762 Compares
02762 sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how 02762's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 02375, 02093, 01504, and 02056.
Average noise level (dBA)
02762's 51.4 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Massachusetts as a whole averages 54.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than 02762 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 20.2% of 02762 residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's more than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 27.6% of 02762'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 02762
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 I-495 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 50% of 02762 is under tree cover (much heavier than most zip codes), and the dominant land cover is low-density developed open space. 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 northeast. Neighborhoods to the southwest 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.
