Noise Levels in Fairlee, MD | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
44 dBA
Average noise across Fairlee
Quiet suburban street at night
12
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
2% of Fairlee residents
61 dBA
Loudest residential point
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Fairlee 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 12 Fairlee residents, or 2.5%, live above that level. By land area, 1.8% of Fairlee is above 55 dBA.
98.2% below 55 dBA
1.8% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Fairlee compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Fairlee
Average noise levels for Fairlee residents, grouped by direction from the center of Fairlee. Northern Fairlee carries the highest population-weighted average; Southern Fairlee carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Southern Fairlee live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Northern Fairlee.
Eastern Fairlee
45.1 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Northern Fairlee
46.4 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southern Fairlee
40.3 dBA · Quiet
Soft rainfall
Western Fairlee
42.6 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Northern Fairlee sounds about 53% louder than Southern Fairlee to the human ear, a 6.1 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 far back from do you need to be?
produces an estimated 61 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
61 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
165 ft
47 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
40 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 1% of Fairlee sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most cities) and roughly 0% 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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Airport Noise
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI) sits west of Fairlee. The U.S. Department of Transportation measures aviation noise around this airport directly, and the model uses those federal measurements rather than synthetic predictions.
Blocks under the approach and departure paths carry combined road-plus-aviation noise, with some exceeding 75 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Fairlee, particularly to the east, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Fairlee
The bar chart below shows the share of Fairlee residents in each noise band. About 100% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 0% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Fairlee Compares
Fairlee sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Fairlee's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Pomona, Hazelmoor, Roberts, and Georgetown.
Average noise level (dBA)
Fairlee's 44.0 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Maryland as a whole averages 52.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Fairlee because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 2.5% of Fairlee 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, 1.8% of Fairlee'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 Fairlee
- 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 1% of Fairlee 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.
- Airport noise is directional. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the west. Neighborhoods to the east of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
