Noise Levels in Brady Gardens, San Antonio, TX | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
56 dBA
Average noise across Brady Gardens
Quiet office to normal conversation
872
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
37% of Brady Gardens residents
81 dBA
Loudest residential point
Food blender at arm’s length
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Brady Gardens 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 872 Brady Gardens residents, or 36.7%, live above that level. By land area, 80.6% of Brady Gardens is above 55 dBA.
19.4% below 55 dBA
80.6% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Brady Gardens compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Brady Gardens
Average noise levels for Brady Gardens residents, grouped by direction from the center of Brady Gardens. The highest population-weighted average is in northwestern Brady Gardens; the lowest is in eastern Brady Gardens, where just 50% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in the loudest section.
Northwestern Brady Gardens
71.9 dBA · Loud
City bus interior
Western Brady Gardens
71.9 dBA · Loud
City bus interior
Southwestern Brady Gardens
64.3 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Central Brady Gardens
61.3 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Eastern Brady Gardens
55.5 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
To the human ear, noise in northwestern Brady Gardens sounds about 212% louder than in eastern Brady Gardens, a 16.4 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 Hwy 90 do you need to be?
US Hwy 90 produces an estimated 79 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
79 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
64 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
56 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
660 ft
48 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
39 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 5% of Brady Gardens sits under tree canopy (lighter than most neighborhoods) and roughly 51% 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 Brady Gardens. 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.
Airport Noise
San Antonio International (SAT) sits northeast of Brady Gardens. 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 65 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Brady Gardens, 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 Brady Gardens
The bar chart below shows the share of Brady Gardens residents in each noise band. About 65% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 9% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Brady Gardens Compares
Brady Gardens sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Brady Gardens's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Avenida Guadalupe, Columbia Heights, Loma Park, and Denver Heights.
Average noise level (dBA)
Brady Gardens's 56.0 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 Brady Gardens because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 36.7% of Brady Gardens 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, 80.6% of Brady Gardens'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 Brady Gardens
- 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 Hwy 90 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 5% of Brady Gardens is under tree cover (lighter than most neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is medium-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. San Antonio International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the northeast. Neighborhoods to the southwest of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
