Noise Levels in Brentwood, Los Angeles, CA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
53 dBA
Average noise across Brentwood
Quiet office to normal conversation
6,021
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
27% of Brentwood residents
89 dBA
Loudest residential point
Lawnmower at 1 m
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Brentwood 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 6,021 Brentwood residents, or 27.1%, live above that level. By land area, 43.3% of Brentwood is above 55 dBA.
56.7% below 55 dBA
43.3% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Brentwood compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Brentwood
Average noise levels for Brentwood residents, grouped by direction from the center of Brentwood. The highest population-weighted average is in eastern Brentwood; the lowest is in northwestern Brentwood, where just 5% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in the loudest section.
Eastern Brentwood
69.3 dBA · Loud
Highway traffic 50 ft away
Northeastern Brentwood
66.0 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Southwestern Brentwood
56.9 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Western Brentwood
48.6 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northwestern Brentwood
45.7 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
To the human ear, noise in eastern Brentwood sounds about 413% louder than in northwestern Brentwood, a 23.6 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 San Diego Fwy do you need to be?
San Diego Fwy produces an estimated 80 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
80 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
65 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 20% of Brentwood sits under tree canopy (heavier than most neighborhoods) and roughly 36% 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
Los Angeles International (LAX) sits southeast of Brentwood. 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 Brentwood, particularly to the northwest, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Brentwood
The bar chart below shows the share of Brentwood residents in each noise band. About 68% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 11% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Brentwood Compares
Brentwood sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Brentwood's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Crenshaw, Portar Ranch, Historic Filipinotown, and Jefferson Park.
Average noise level (dBA)
Brentwood's 52.7 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. California as a whole averages 54.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Brentwood because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 27.1% of Brentwood 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, 43.3% of Brentwood's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a California average of 36.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Brentwood
- 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 San Diego Fwy 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 20% of Brentwood is under tree cover (heavier than most 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. Los Angeles International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the southeast. Neighborhoods to the northwest of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
