This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Cartwright 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 3,102 Cartwright residents, or 35.2%, live above that level. By land area, 35.8% of Cartwright is above 55 dBA.
See how noise in Cartwright compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Cartwright
Average noise levels for Cartwright residents, grouped by direction from the center of Cartwright. The highest population-weighted average is in eastern Cartwright; the lowest is in western Cartwright, where just 16% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in the loudest section.
Eastern Cartwright
44% of people above 55 dBA
Southeastern Cartwright
46% of people above 55 dBA
Central Cartwright
42% of people above 55 dBA
Southwestern Cartwright
29% of people above 55 dBA
Western Cartwright
16% of people above 55 dBA
To the human ear, noise in eastern Cartwright sounds about 91% louder than in western Cartwright, a 9.3 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.
Airport Noise
Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX) sits east of Cartwright. 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 Cartwright, particularly to the west, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Cartwright
The bar chart below shows the share of Cartwright residents in each noise band. About 67% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 16% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Cartwright Compares
Cartwright sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Cartwright's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with West Phoenix, Ironwood Terrace, Downtown Glendale, and Downtown Tempe.
Average noise level (dBA)
Cartwright's 54.5 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Arizona as a whole averages 53.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Cartwright because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 35.2% of Cartwright 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, 35.8% of Cartwright's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Arizona average of 28.3% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Cartwright
- 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 07~~EARLL~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DR~~~~~~ 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 0% of Cartwright is under tree cover (much 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. Phoenix Sky Harbor International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the east. Neighborhoods to the west of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
Sources & Methodology
The BestNeighborhood noise model is calibrated against nearly one million federal ground-truth measurements across four states. Road noise is computed from segment-level federal traffic data and propagated outward using physics-based acoustic decay, with attenuation rates that depend on the surrounding land cover.
Federal datasets used:
FHWA Highway Performance Monitoring System: road geometry, traffic counts, lane configuration
U.S. DoT Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Transportation Noise Map: aviation and rail noise, road calibration ground truth
USGS / MRLC National Land Cover Database: land cover and impervious surface coverage
USDA Forest Service Tree Canopy Cover: vegetation density for sound propagation
U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line: block-level geography and population
U.S. EPA Levels Document: 55 dBA outdoor reference level
All inputs are published federal datasets. Block-level noise is computed by combining road, rail, and aviation sound sources in the energy domain, the same physics used in professional environmental noise assessments. Read the full methodology.