Noise Levels in Castlewood Park, Lexington, KY | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
53 dBA
Average noise across Castlewood Park
Quiet office to normal conversation
1,185
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
30% of Castlewood Park residents
69 dBA
Loudest residential point
Highway traffic 50 ft away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Castlewood Park 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 1,185 Castlewood Park residents, or 30.4%, live above that level. By land area, 37.6% of Castlewood Park is above 55 dBA.
62.4% below 55 dBA
37.6% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Castlewood Park compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Castlewood Park
Average noise levels for Castlewood Park residents, grouped by direction from the center of Castlewood Park. The highest population-weighted average is in southeastern Castlewood Park; the lowest is in western Castlewood Park, where just 24% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, roughly the same as the share in the loudest section.
Southeastern Castlewood Park
58.0 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southern Castlewood Park
57.3 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northern Castlewood Park
54.2 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northwestern Castlewood Park
53.9 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Castlewood Park
53.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
To the human ear, noise in southeastern Castlewood Park sounds about 35% louder than in western Castlewood Park, a 4.3 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 do you need to be?
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
54 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
45 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
660 ft
37 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 23% of Castlewood Park sits under tree canopy (heavier than most neighborhoods) and roughly 39% 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.
-->
Rail Noise
Active freight rail runs through parts of Castlewood Park. 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
Blue Grass (LEX) sits west of Castlewood Park. 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 Castlewood Park, particularly to the east, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Castlewood Park
The bar chart below shows the share of Castlewood Park residents in each noise band. About 77% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 3% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Castlewood Park Compares
Castlewood Park sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Castlewood Park's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Eastland Park-Dixie Plantation, Mount Vernon-Hollywood-Montclair, Virginia Ave, and Garden Springs.
Average noise level (dBA)
Castlewood Park's 53.0 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Kentucky as a whole averages 50.5 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Castlewood Park because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 30.4% of Castlewood Park 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, 37.6% of Castlewood Park's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Kentucky average of 23.2% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Castlewood Park
- 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 23% of Castlewood Park is under tree cover (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. Blue Grass's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the west. Neighborhoods to the east of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
