Noise Levels in 21015, MD | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
50 dBA
Average noise across 21015
Quiet office
4,420
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
15% of 21015 residents
82 dBA
Loudest residential point
Food blender at arm’s length
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 21015 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 4,420 21015 residents, or 14.8%, live above that level. By land area, 23.8% of 21015 is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for 21015 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 21015. Western 21015 carries the highest population-weighted average; Central 21015 carries the lowest. Just 8% of residents in Central 21015 live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a third of the share in Western 21015.
Central 21015
50.0 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
8% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 21015
50.1 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
15% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 21015
50.1 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
14% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern 21015
50.2 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
15% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 21015
53.1 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
35% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 21015 sounds about 24% louder than Central 21015 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 I-95 do you need to be?
I-95 produces an estimated 78 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
78 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
66 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
330 ft
59 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
660 ft
52 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
¼ mile
46 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
½ mile
39 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 42% of 21015 sits under tree canopy (heavier than most zip codes) and roughly 22% 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
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI) sits southwest of 21015. 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 21015, particularly to the northeast, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across 21015
The bar chart below shows the share of 21015 residents in each noise band. About 90% 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 21015 Compares
21015 sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how 21015's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 21009, 21014, 21040, and 21001.
Average noise level (dBA)
21015's 50.2 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Maryland as a whole averages 52.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than 21015 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 14.8% of 21015 residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's fewer than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 23.8% of 21015's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Maryland average of 32.9% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to 21015
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-95 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 42% of 21015 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. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the southwest. Neighborhoods to the northeast 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.
