Noise Levels in 96814, HI | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
62 dBA
Average noise across 96814
Busy restaurant
16,203
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
81% of 96814 residents
78 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 96814 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 16,203 96814 residents, or 81.4%, live above that level. By land area, 83.1% of 96814 is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for 96814 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 96814. Northern 96814 carries the highest population-weighted average; Western 96814 carries the lowest. Just 73% of residents in Western 96814 live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, three-quarters of the share in Northern 96814.
Central 96814
61.4 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
82% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 96814
62.1 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
82% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 96814
68.5 dBA · Loud
Highway traffic 50 ft away
100% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern 96814
61.7 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
65% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 96814
59.4 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
73% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 96814 sounds about 88% louder than Western 96814 to the human ear, a 9.1 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 Ala Moana Blvd do you need to be?
Ala Moana Blvd produces an estimated 67 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
67 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
165 ft
54 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
46 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
39 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 96814 sits under tree canopy (about average for zip codes) and roughly 0% 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
Daniel K Inouye International (HNL) sits west of 96814. 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 96814, particularly to the east, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across 96814
The bar chart below shows the share of 96814 residents in each noise band. About 7% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 65% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How 96814 Compares
96814 sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how 96814's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 96826, 96813, 96815, and 96821.
Average noise level (dBA)
96814's 62.4 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Hawaii as a whole averages 54.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than 96814 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 81.4% of 96814 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, 83.1% of 96814's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Hawaii average of 34.4% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to 96814
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 Ala Moana Blvd 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 96814 is under tree cover (about average for zip codes), and the dominant land cover is . 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. Daniel K Inouye International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the west. Neighborhoods to the east 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.
