Noise Levels in Cascade, Anderson, CA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
51 dBA
Average noise across Cascade
Quiet office
3,222
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
24% of Cascade residents
84 dBA
Loudest residential point
Food blender at arm’s length
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Cascade 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 3,222 Cascade residents, or 24.3%, live above that level. By land area, 40.4% of Cascade is above 55 dBA.
59.6% below 55 dBA
40.4% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Cascade compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Cascade
Average noise levels for Cascade residents, grouped by direction from the center of Cascade. The highest population-weighted average is in southern Cascade; the lowest is in southwestern Cascade, where just 28% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, three-quarters of the share in the loudest section.
Southern Cascade
64.2 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Central Cascade
63.5 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Northeastern Cascade
57.1 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southeastern Cascade
54.9 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southwestern Cascade
54.6 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
To the human ear, noise in southern Cascade sounds about 95% louder than in southwestern Cascade, a 9.6 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 I-5 do you need to be?
I-5 produces an estimated 77 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
77 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
63 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
55 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
47 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
38 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 5% of Cascade sits under tree canopy (lighter than most neighborhoods) and roughly 25% 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 Cascade. 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 Cascade
The bar chart below shows the share of Cascade residents in each noise band. About 74% 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 Cascade Compares
Cascade sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Cascade's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Enterprise, Pacheco, Happy Valley, and Columbia.
Average noise level (dBA)
Cascade's 51.0 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. California as a whole averages 54.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Cascade because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 24.3% of Cascade 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, 40.4% of Cascade'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 Cascade
- 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 I-5 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 5% of Cascade is under tree cover (lighter 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.
