Noise Levels in 78023, TX | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
50 dBA
Average noise across 78023
Quiet office
2,872
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
14% of 78023 residents
78 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 78023 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 2,872 78023 residents, or 14.0%, live above that level. By land area, 13.3% of 78023 is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for 78023 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 78023. Eastern 78023 carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern 78023 carries the lowest. Just 6% of residents in Northern 78023 live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a third of the share in Eastern 78023.
Central 78023
51.4 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
15% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 78023
53.9 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
22% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 78023
45.7 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
6% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern 78023
50.8 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
15% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 78023
45.8 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
6% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 78023 sounds about 77% louder than Northern 78023 to the human ear, a 8.2 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 16 do you need to be?
State Hwy 16 produces an estimated 55 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
55 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
165 ft
42 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
330 ft
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
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 24% of 78023 sits under tree canopy (about average for zip codes) and roughly 29% 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
San Antonio International (SAT) sits east of 78023. The U.S. Department of Transportation models aviation noise around this airport from federal traffic data, 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 65 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of 78023, 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 78023
The bar chart below shows the share of 78023 residents in each noise band. About 85% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 10% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How 78023 Compares
78023 sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how 78023's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 78238, 78201, 78213, and 78237.
Average noise level (dBA)
78023's 50.0 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 78023 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 14.0% of 78023 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, 13.3% of 78023'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 78023
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 16 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 78023 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.
Airport noise is directional. San Antonio International'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.
