Noise Levels in 77445, TX | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
44 dBA
Average noise across 77445
Quiet suburban street at night
975
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
10% of 77445 residents
82 dBA
Loudest residential point
Food blender at arm’s length
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 77445 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.
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 975 77445 residents, or 10.4%, live above that level. By land area, 21.0% of 77445 is above 55 dBA.
79.0% below 55 dBA
21.0% above 55 dBA
See how noise in 77445 compares to similar-sized zip codes.
Noise by Part of 77445
Average noise levels for 77445 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 77445. The highest population-weighted average is in northwestern 77445; the lowest is in southern 77445, where just 1% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in the loudest section.
Northwestern 77445
55.5 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern 77445
52.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern 77445
48.6 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southwestern 77445
42.8 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Southern 77445
42.7 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
To the human ear, noise in northwestern 77445 sounds about 143% louder than in southern 77445, a 12.8 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 State Hwy 6 do you need to be?
State Hwy 6 produces an estimated 74 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
74 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
62 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
56 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
49 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
42 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 16% of 77445 sits under tree canopy (about average for zip codes) and roughly 11% 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 77445. 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 77445
The bar chart below shows the share of 77445 residents in each noise band. About 90% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 3% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How 77445 Compares
77445 sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how 77445's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 77446, 77484, 77418, and 77868.
Average noise level (dBA)
77445's 44.5 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Texas as a whole averages 50.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than 77445 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 10.4% of 77445 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, 21.0% of 77445'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 77445
- 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 State Hwy 6 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 16% of 77445 is under tree cover (about average for zip codes), and the dominant land cover is pasture / hay. 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.
