Noise Levels in 87116, NM | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
53 dBA
Average noise across 87116
Quiet office to normal conversation
1,197
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
30% of 87116 residents
62 dBA
Loudest residential point
Busy restaurant
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 87116 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 1,197 87116 residents, or 30.2%, live above that level. By land area, 30.9% of 87116 is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for 87116 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 87116. Western 87116 carries the highest population-weighted average; Central 87116 carries the lowest. Just 27% of residents in Central 87116 live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in Western 87116.
Central 87116
52.9 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
27% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 87116
53.3 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
30% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern 87116
53.8 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
17% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 87116
54.6 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
42% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 87116 sounds about 13% louder than Central 87116 to the human ear, a 1.7 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 Perimeter Cir SE do you need to be?
Perimeter Cir SE 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 0% of 87116 sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most 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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Airport Noise
Albuquerque International Sunport (ABQ) sits southwest of 87116. 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 55 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of 87116, 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 87116
The bar chart below shows the share of 87116 residents in each noise band. About 81% 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 87116 Compares
87116 sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how 87116's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 87068, 87008, 87043, and 87042.
Average noise level (dBA)
87116's 53.4 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. New Mexico as a whole averages 51.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than 87116 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 30.2% of 87116 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, 30.9% of 87116's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a New Mexico average of 19.5% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to 87116
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 Perimeter Cir SE 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 0% of 87116 is under tree cover (much lighter than most 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. Albuquerque International Sunport'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.
