Noise Levels in 99517, AK | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
53 dBA
Average noise across 99517
Quiet office to normal conversation
1,220
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
33% of 99517 residents
60 dBA
Loudest residential point
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across 99517 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 1,220 99517 residents, or 33.1%, live above that level. By land area, 37.4% of 99517 is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for 99517 residents, grouped by direction from the center of 99517. Eastern 99517 carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern 99517 carries the lowest. Just 35% of residents in Northern 99517 live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in Eastern 99517.
Central 99517
54.1 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
34% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 99517
56.2 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
75% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern 99517
51.3 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
35% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern 99517
52.2 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
18% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western 99517
51.3 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
19% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern 99517 sounds about 40% louder than Northern 99517 to the human ear, a 4.9 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 Northern Lights Blvd (anchorage) do you need to be?
Northern Lights Blvd (anchorage) produces an estimated 69 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
69 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
165 ft
56 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
48 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
41 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 99517 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
Ted Stevens Anchorage International (ANC) sits southwest of 99517. 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 50 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of 99517, 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 99517
The bar chart below shows the share of 99517 residents in each noise band. About 73% 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 99517 Compares
99517 sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how 99517's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with 99501, 99518, 99503, and 99506.
Average noise level (dBA)
99517's 52.6 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Alaska as a whole averages 46.7 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than 99517 because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 33.1% of 99517 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, 37.4% of 99517's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Alaska average of 11.4% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to 99517
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 Northern Lights Blvd (anchorage) 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 99517 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. Ted Stevens Anchorage International'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.
