Noise Levels in Acres Home, Houston, TX | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
52 dBA
Average noise across Acres Home
Quiet office to normal conversation
3,365
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
35% of Acres Home residents
64 dBA
Loudest residential point
Busy restaurant
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Acres Home 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 3,365 Acres Home residents, or 35.3%, live above that level. By land area, 29.8% of Acres Home is above 55 dBA.
70.2% below 55 dBA
29.8% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Acres Home compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Acres Home
Average noise levels for Acres Home residents, grouped by direction from the center of Acres Home. The highest population-weighted average is in eastern Acres Home; the lowest is in southwestern Acres Home, where just 17% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in the loudest section.
Eastern Acres Home
55.6 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southeastern Acres Home
54.4 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Acres Home
53.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southern Acres Home
50.6 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Southwestern Acres Home
50.4 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
To the human ear, noise in eastern Acres Home sounds about 43% louder than in southwestern Acres Home, a 5.2 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 64 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
64 dBA
Busy restaurant
165 ft
49 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
41 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
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 17% of Acres Home sits under tree canopy (about average for neighborhoods) and roughly 38% 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.
-->
Airport Noise
George Bush Intcntl/Houston (IAH) sits northeast of Acres Home. 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 75 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Acres Home, particularly to the southwest, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Acres Home
The bar chart below shows the share of Acres Home residents in each noise band. About 61% 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 Acres Home Compares
Acres Home sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Acres Home's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Willowbrook, Rice Military, Airline, and East Little York-Homestead.
Average noise level (dBA)
Acres Home's 52.4 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. Texas as a whole averages 50.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Acres Home because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 35.3% of Acres Home 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, 29.8% of Acres Home'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 Acres Home
- 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 17% of Acres Home is under tree cover (about average for neighborhoods), 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. George Bush Intcntl/Houston's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the northeast. Neighborhoods to the southwest of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
