Noise Levels in Accomac, VA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
48 dBA
Average noise across Accomac
Quiet office
138
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
11% of Accomac residents
69 dBA
Loudest residential point
Highway traffic 50 ft away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Accomac 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 138 Accomac residents, or 11.0%, live above that level. By land area, 15.9% of Accomac is above 55 dBA.
84.1% below 55 dBA
15.9% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Accomac compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Accomac
Average noise levels for Accomac residents, grouped by direction from the center of Accomac. Central Accomac carries the highest population-weighted average; Southern Accomac carries the lowest. Just 4% of residents in Southern Accomac live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a third of the share in Central Accomac.
Central Accomac
50.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Eastern Accomac
45.1 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Northern Accomac
47.2 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southern Accomac
44.3 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Western Accomac
50.1 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Central Accomac sounds about 54% louder than Southern Accomac to the human ear, a 6.2 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 do you need to be?
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
57 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
50 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
44 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
37 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 46% of Accomac sits under tree canopy (heavier than most cities) and roughly 7% 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 Accomac. 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 Accomac
The bar chart below shows the share of Accomac residents in each noise band. About 96% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 1% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Accomac Compares
Accomac sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Accomac's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Onley, Greenbush, Belle Haven, and Bloxom.
Average noise level (dBA)
Accomac's 47.7 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Virginia as a whole averages 52.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Accomac because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 11.0% of Accomac 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, 15.9% of Accomac's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Virginia average of 30.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Accomac
- 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 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 46% of Accomac is under tree cover (heavier than most cities), and the dominant land cover is cultivated cropland. 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.
