Noise Levels in Cotuit, MA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
52 dBA
Average noise across Cotuit
Quiet office to normal conversation
857
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
23% of Cotuit residents
67 dBA
Loudest residential point
Highway traffic 50 ft away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Cotuit 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 857 Cotuit residents, or 22.7%, live above that level. By land area, 24.2% of Cotuit is above 55 dBA.
75.8% below 55 dBA
24.2% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Cotuit compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Cotuit
Average noise levels for Cotuit residents, grouped by direction from the center of Cotuit. Central Cotuit carries the highest population-weighted average; Eastern Cotuit carries the lowest. Just 16% of residents in Eastern Cotuit live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in Central Cotuit.
Central Cotuit
54.0 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Cotuit
49.6 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northern Cotuit
52.4 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southern Cotuit
51.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Cotuit
51.4 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Central Cotuit sounds about 36% louder than Eastern Cotuit to the human ear, a 4.4 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 67 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
67 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
165 ft
54 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
46 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
660 ft
38 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 62% of Cotuit sits under tree canopy (much heavier than most cities) and roughly 11% 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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How Noise Is Distributed Across Cotuit
The bar chart below shows the share of Cotuit residents in each noise band. About 84% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 1% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Cotuit Compares
Cotuit sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Cotuit's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Osterville, West Barnstable, Forestdale, and Falmouth.
Average noise level (dBA)
Cotuit's 51.6 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Massachusetts as a whole averages 54.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Cotuit because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 22.7% of Cotuit 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, 24.2% of Cotuit's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Massachusetts average of 40.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Cotuit
- 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 62% of Cotuit is under tree cover (much 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.
