Noise Levels in Butler, NJ | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
48 dBA
Average noise across Butler
Quiet office
821
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
13% of Butler residents
72 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Butler 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 821 Butler residents, or 12.9%, live above that level. By land area, 19.3% of Butler is above 55 dBA.
80.7% below 55 dBA
19.3% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Butler compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Butler
Average noise levels for Butler residents, grouped by direction from the center of Butler. Western Butler carries the highest population-weighted average; Central Butler carries the lowest. Just 10% of residents in Central Butler live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, three-quarters of the share in Western Butler.
Central Butler
45.2 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Eastern Butler
45.4 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Northern Butler
48.9 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southern Butler
50.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Western Butler
51.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Butler sounds about 55% louder than Central Butler to the human ear, a 6.3 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 Nj 23 do you need to be?
Nj 23 produces an estimated 69 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
69 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
165 ft
57 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
50 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
44 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
37 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 48% of Butler sits under tree canopy (heavier than most cities) and roughly 27% 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 Butler. 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
Newark Liberty International (EWR) sits southeast of Butler. 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 Butler, 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 Butler
The bar chart below shows the share of Butler residents in each noise band. About 78% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 7% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Butler Compares
Butler sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Butler's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Riverdale, Bloomingdale, Kinnelon, and Lake Hiawatha.
Average noise level (dBA)
Butler's 48.1 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. New Jersey as a whole averages 49.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Butler because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 12.9% of Butler 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, 19.3% of Butler's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a New Jersey average of 25.2% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Butler
- 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 Nj 23 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 48% of Butler is under tree cover (heavier than most cities), and the dominant land cover is low-density developed open space. 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. Newark Liberty International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the southeast. Neighborhoods to the northwest of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
