Noise Levels in Delmar, MD | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
49 dBA
Average noise across Delmar
Quiet office
986
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
17% of Delmar residents
71 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Delmar 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 986 Delmar residents, or 17.1%, live above that level. By land area, 21.0% of Delmar is above 55 dBA.
79.0% below 55 dBA
21.0% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Delmar compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Delmar
Average noise levels for Delmar residents, grouped by direction from the center of Delmar. Northern Delmar carries the highest population-weighted average; Western Delmar carries the lowest. Just 9% of residents in Western Delmar live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in Northern Delmar.
Central Delmar
48.7 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Eastern Delmar
47.0 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northern Delmar
52.2 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southern Delmar
49.9 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Western Delmar
44.7 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Northern Delmar sounds about 68% louder than Western Delmar to the human ear, a 7.5 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 Sr54e do you need to be?
Sr54e produces an estimated 60 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
60 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
165 ft
47 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
39 dBA
Soft rainfall
660 ft
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 32% of Delmar sits under tree canopy (about average for cities) and roughly 22% 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 Delmar. 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 Delmar
The bar chart below shows the share of Delmar residents in each noise band. About 85% 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 Delmar Compares
Delmar sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Delmar's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Fruitland, Hebron, Federalsburg, and Westover.
Average noise level (dBA)
Delmar's 48.8 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. Maryland as a whole averages 52.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Delmar because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 17.1% of Delmar residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's more than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 21.0% of Delmar's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Maryland average of 32.9% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Delmar
- 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 Sr54e 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 32% of Delmar is under tree cover (about average for 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.
