Noise Levels in Belville, NC | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
53 dBA
Average noise across Belville
Quiet office to normal conversation
512
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
19% of Belville residents
74 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Belville 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 512 Belville residents, or 18.6%, live above that level. By land area, 32.0% of Belville is above 55 dBA.
68.0% below 55 dBA
32.0% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Belville compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Belville
Average noise levels for Belville residents, grouped by direction from the center of Belville. Western Belville carries the highest population-weighted average; Southern Belville carries the lowest. Just 5% of residents in Southern Belville live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Western Belville.
Eastern Belville
51.0 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Northern Belville
58.7 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southern Belville
47.4 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Western Belville
58.8 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Western Belville sounds about 120% louder than Southern Belville to the human ear, a 11.4 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 US-17 do you need to be?
US-17 produces an estimated 74 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
74 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
61 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
54 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
46 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
39 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 18% of Belville sits under tree canopy (lighter than most cities) and roughly 29% 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
Wilmington International (ILM) sits northeast of Belville. 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 45 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Belville, 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 Belville
The bar chart below shows the share of Belville residents in each noise band. About 69% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 3% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Belville Compares
Belville sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Belville's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Northwest, Wrightsville Beach, Navassa, and Kure Beach.
Average noise level (dBA)
Belville's 53.2 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. North Carolina as a whole averages 49.7 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Belville because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 18.6% of Belville 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, 32.0% of Belville's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a North Carolina average of 22.6% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Belville
- 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 US-17 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 18% of Belville is under tree cover (lighter than most cities), 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. Wilmington International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the northeast. Neighborhoods to the southwest of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
