Noise Levels in Buckingham Lake-Crestwood, Albany, NY | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
56 dBA
Average noise across Buckingham Lake-Crestwood
Quiet office to normal conversation
1,971
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
45% of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood residents
75 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Buckingham Lake-Crestwood 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 1,971 Buckingham Lake-Crestwood residents, or 45.4%, live above that level. By land area, 45.7% of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood is above 55 dBA.
54.3% below 55 dBA
45.7% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Buckingham Lake-Crestwood compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood
Average noise levels for Buckingham Lake-Crestwood residents, grouped by direction from the center of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood. The highest population-weighted average is in southwestern Buckingham Lake-Crestwood; the lowest is in northeastern Buckingham Lake-Crestwood, where just 26% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in the loudest section.
Southwestern Buckingham Lake-Crestwood
62.6 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Central Buckingham Lake-Crestwood
57.4 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northern Buckingham Lake-Crestwood
56.6 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northwestern Buckingham Lake-Crestwood
56.5 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northeastern Buckingham Lake-Crestwood
54.5 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
To the human ear, noise in southwestern Buckingham Lake-Crestwood sounds about 75% louder than in northeastern Buckingham Lake-Crestwood, a 8.1 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 75 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
75 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
61 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
52 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
44 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 33% of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood sits under tree canopy (much heavier than most 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.
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Airport Noise
Albany International (ALB) sits north of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood. 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 55 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood, particularly to the south, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Buckingham Lake-Crestwood
The bar chart below shows the share of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood residents in each noise band. About 51% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 14% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Buckingham Lake-Crestwood Compares
Buckingham Lake-Crestwood sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Buckingham Lake-Crestwood's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Arbor Hill, West End, Center Square, and West Hill.
Average noise level (dBA)
Buckingham Lake-Crestwood's 55.8 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. New York as a whole averages 55.4 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Buckingham Lake-Crestwood because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 45.4% of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's fewer than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 45.7% of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a New York average of 30.9% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Buckingham Lake-Crestwood
- 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 33% of Buckingham Lake-Crestwood is under tree cover (much 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. Albany International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the north. Neighborhoods to the south of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
