Noise Levels in Brimfield, IN | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
50 dBA
Average noise across Brimfield
Quiet office
80
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
24% of Brimfield residents
78 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Brimfield 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 80 Brimfield residents, or 23.7%, live above that level. By land area, 43.5% of Brimfield is above 55 dBA.
56.5% below 55 dBA
43.5% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Brimfield compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Brimfield
Average noise levels for Brimfield residents, grouped by direction from the center of Brimfield. Northern Brimfield carries the highest population-weighted average; Eastern Brimfield carries the lowest. Just 2% of residents in Eastern Brimfield live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Northern Brimfield.
Eastern Brimfield
43.8 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Northern Brimfield
59.0 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southern Brimfield
48.9 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Western Brimfield
47.0 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northern Brimfield sounds about 187% louder than Eastern Brimfield to the human ear, a 15.2 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 N 100 E do you need to be?
N 100 E produces an estimated 61 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
61 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
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 13% of Brimfield sits under tree canopy (lighter 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 Brimfield. 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 Brimfield
The bar chart below shows the share of Brimfield residents in each noise band. About 81% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 19% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Brimfield Compares
Brimfield sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Brimfield's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Merriam, Burr Oak, Helmer, and Swan.
Average noise level (dBA)
Brimfield's 50.5 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Indiana as a whole averages 53.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Brimfield because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 23.7% of Brimfield residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's more than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 43.5% of Brimfield's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Indiana average of 37.8% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Brimfield
- 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 N 100 E 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 13% of Brimfield is under tree cover (lighter than most cities), and the dominant land cover is pasture / hay. 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.
