Noise Levels in Durham, CA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
45 dBA
Average noise across Durham
Quiet suburban street at night
250
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
6% of Durham residents
82 dBA
Loudest residential point
Food blender at arm’s length
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Durham 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 250 Durham residents, or 6.0%, live above that level. By land area, 14.7% of Durham is above 55 dBA.
85.3% below 55 dBA
14.7% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Durham compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Durham
Average noise levels for Durham residents, grouped by direction from the center of Durham. The highest population-weighted average is in southeastern Durham; the lowest is in western Durham, where just 1% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in the loudest section.
Southeastern Durham
67.9 dBA · Loud
Highway traffic 50 ft away
Southern Durham
59.3 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southwestern Durham
52.7 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northwestern Durham
45.4 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Western Durham
42.4 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
To the human ear, noise in southeastern Durham sounds about 486% louder than in western Durham, a 25.5 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 State Rte 99 do you need to be?
State Rte 99 produces an estimated 66 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
66 dBA
Busy restaurant
165 ft
53 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
46 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
39 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 4% of Durham sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most cities) and roughly 8% 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 Durham. 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 Durham
The bar chart below shows the share of Durham residents in each noise band. About 88% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 6% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Durham Compares
Durham sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Durham's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Paradise, South Oroville, Palermo, and Biggs.
Average noise level (dBA)
Durham's 45.3 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. California as a whole averages 54.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Durham because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 6.0% of Durham 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, 14.7% of Durham'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 Durham
- 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 State Rte 99 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 4% of Durham is under tree cover (much lighter than most cities), and the dominant land cover is cultivated cropland. 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.
