Noise Levels in 77014, TX | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
50 dBA
Average noise across 77014
Quiet office
4,899
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
20% of 77014 residents
64 dBA
Loudest residential point
Busy restaurant
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 77014 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 4,899 77014 residents, or 19.8%, live above that level. By land area, 23.2% of 77014 is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for 77014 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 77014. Western 77014 carries the highest population-weighted average; Eastern 77014 carries the lowest. Just 18% of residents in Eastern 77014 live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in Western 77014.
Central 77014
50.0 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
13% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 77014
48.3 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
18% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 77014
49.2 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
2% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern 77014
48.9 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
20% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 77014
51.9 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
28% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 77014 sounds about 28% louder than Eastern 77014 to the human ear, a 3.6 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 do you need to be?
produces an estimated 64 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
64 dBA
Busy restaurant
165 ft
50 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
42 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
660 ft
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 17% of 77014 sits under tree canopy (about average for zip codes) and roughly 54% 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
George Bush Intcntl/Houston (IAH) sits east of 77014. 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 50 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of 77014, particularly to the west, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across 77014
The bar chart below shows the share of 77014 residents in each noise band. About 89% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 1% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How 77014 Compares
77014 sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how 77014's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 77067, 77066, 77086, and 77038.
Average noise level (dBA)
77014's 50.2 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Texas as a whole averages 50.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than 77014 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 19.8% of 77014 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, 23.2% of 77014's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Texas average of 22.8% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to 77014
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 17% of 77014 is under tree cover (about average for zip codes), and the dominant land cover is medium-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. George Bush Intcntl/Houston's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the east. Neighborhoods to the west 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.
