Noise Levels in 06855, CT | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
57 dBA
Average noise across 06855
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
3,724
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
49% of 06855 residents
89 dBA
Loudest residential point
Lawnmower at 1 m
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 06855 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 3,724 06855 residents, or 48.9%, live above that level. By land area, 45.2% of 06855 is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for 06855 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 06855. Northern 06855 carries the highest population-weighted average; Eastern 06855 carries the lowest. Just 22% of residents in Eastern 06855 live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a third of the share in Northern 06855.
Central 06855
55.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
53% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 06855
51.9 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
22% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 06855
65.9 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
87% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern 06855
52.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
26% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 06855
57.5 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
52% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 06855 sounds about 164% louder than Eastern 06855 to the human ear, a 14.0 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 89 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 to normal conversation.
At source
89 dBA
Lawnmower at 1 m
165 ft
76 dBA
City bus interior
330 ft
69 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
660 ft
62 dBA
Busy restaurant
¼ mile
54 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
½ mile
47 dBA
Quiet office
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 24% of 06855 sits under tree canopy (about average for zip codes) and roughly 44% 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 06855. 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.
How Noise Is Distributed Across 06855
The bar chart below shows the share of 06855 residents in each noise band. About 42% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 20% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How 06855 Compares
06855 sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how 06855's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 06907, 06870, 06878, and 06612.
Average noise level (dBA)
06855's 56.8 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Connecticut as a whole averages 51.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than 06855 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 48.9% of 06855 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, 45.2% of 06855's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Connecticut average of 27.3% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to 06855
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 24% of 06855 is under tree cover (about average for 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.
