This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Elmwood Area 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 1,613 Elmwood Area residents, or 46.7%, live above that level. By land area, 50.5% of Elmwood Area is above 55 dBA.
See how noise in Elmwood Area compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Elmwood Area
Average noise levels for Elmwood Area residents, grouped by direction from the center of Elmwood Area. The highest population-weighted average is in western Elmwood Area; the lowest is in northeastern Elmwood Area, where just 39% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, roughly the same as the share in the loudest section.
Western Elmwood Area
33% of people above 55 dBA
Northwestern Elmwood Area
40% of people above 55 dBA
Eastern Elmwood Area
48% of people above 55 dBA
Northern Elmwood Area
46% of people above 55 dBA
Northeastern Elmwood Area
39% of people above 55 dBA
To the human ear, noise in western Elmwood Area sounds about 88% louder than in northeastern Elmwood Area, a 9.1 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 Noise Is Distributed Across Elmwood Area
The bar chart below shows the share of Elmwood Area residents in each noise band. About 49% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 24% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Elmwood Area Compares
Elmwood Area sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Elmwood Area's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Abilene Heights Area, Westwood Richland, Chimney Rock Area, and Far Southside.
Average noise level (dBA)
Elmwood Area's 55.1 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 Elmwood Area because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 46.7% of Elmwood Area 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, 50.5% of Elmwood Area'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 Elmwood Area
- 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 US Hwy 84 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 3% of Elmwood Area is under tree cover (much lighter 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.
Sources & Methodology
The BestNeighborhood noise model is calibrated against nearly one million federal ground-truth measurements across four states. Road noise is computed from segment-level federal traffic data and propagated outward using physics-based acoustic decay, with attenuation rates that depend on the surrounding land cover.
Federal datasets used:
FHWA Highway Performance Monitoring System: road geometry, traffic counts, lane configuration
U.S. DoT Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Transportation Noise Map: aviation and rail noise, road calibration ground truth
USGS / MRLC National Land Cover Database: land cover and impervious surface coverage
USDA Forest Service Tree Canopy Cover: vegetation density for sound propagation
U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line: block-level geography and population
U.S. EPA Levels Document: 55 dBA outdoor reference level
All inputs are published federal datasets. Block-level noise is computed by combining road, rail, and aviation sound sources in the energy domain, the same physics used in professional environmental noise assessments. Read the full methodology.