Noise Levels in Clarendon, TX | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
54 dBA
Average noise across Clarendon
Quiet office to normal conversation
253
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
22% of Clarendon residents
110 dBA
Loudest residential point
Power saw
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Clarendon 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 253 Clarendon residents, or 22.2%, live above that level. By land area, 26.8% of Clarendon is above 55 dBA.
73.2% below 55 dBA
26.8% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Clarendon compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Clarendon
Average noise levels for Clarendon residents, grouped by direction from the center of Clarendon. Central Clarendon carries the highest population-weighted average; Western Clarendon carries the lowest. Just 12% of residents in Western Clarendon live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in Central Clarendon.
Central Clarendon
63.7 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Eastern Clarendon
53.8 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern Clarendon
53.4 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southern Clarendon
47.7 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Western Clarendon
46.2 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Central Clarendon sounds about 236% louder than Western Clarendon to the human ear, a 17.5 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 110 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 city bus interior.
At source
110 dBA
Power saw
330 ft
88 dBA
Lawnmower at 1 m
660 ft
80 dBA
City bus interior
¼ mile
71 dBA
City bus interior
½ mile
63 dBA
Busy restaurant
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 0% of Clarendon sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most cities) and roughly 26% 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 Clarendon. 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 Clarendon
The bar chart below shows the share of Clarendon residents in each noise band. About 60% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 19% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Clarendon Compares
Clarendon sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Clarendon's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Memphis, Claude, Panhandle, and Shamrock.
Average noise level (dBA)
Clarendon's 53.8 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Texas as a whole averages 50.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Clarendon because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 22.2% of Clarendon 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, 26.8% of Clarendon's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Texas average of 22.8% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Clarendon
- 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 0% of Clarendon is under tree cover (much lighter than most cities), 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.
