Noise Levels in Fairwood Greens, Fairwood, WA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
51 dBA
Average noise across Fairwood Greens
Quiet office
1,136
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
20% of Fairwood Greens residents
69 dBA
Loudest residential point
Highway traffic 50 ft away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Fairwood Greens 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 1,136 Fairwood Greens residents, or 20.1%, live above that level. By land area, 23.3% of Fairwood Greens is above 55 dBA.
76.7% below 55 dBA
23.3% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Fairwood Greens compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Fairwood Greens
Average noise levels for Fairwood Greens residents, grouped by direction from the center of Fairwood Greens. Eastern Fairwood Greens carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern Fairwood Greens carries the lowest. Just 14% of residents in Northern Fairwood Greens live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in Eastern Fairwood Greens.
Central Fairwood Greens
51.4 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Fairwood Greens
53.3 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern Fairwood Greens
47.4 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southern Fairwood Greens
52.0 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Fairwood Greens
49.6 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Eastern Fairwood Greens sounds about 51% louder than Northern Fairwood Greens to the human ear, a 5.9 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 SE Fairwood Blvd do you need to be?
SE Fairwood Blvd produces an estimated 55 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
55 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
165 ft
42 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
330 ft
35 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 34% of Fairwood Greens sits under tree canopy (much heavier than most neighborhoods) and roughly 30% 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
Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) sits west of Fairwood Greens. 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 Fairwood Greens, 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 Fairwood Greens
The bar chart below shows the share of Fairwood Greens residents in each noise band. About 89% 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 Fairwood Greens Compares
Fairwood Greens sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Fairwood Greens's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Highlands Park, Kennydale, Downtown, and Maple Heights-Lake Desire.
Average noise level (dBA)
Fairwood Greens's 50.9 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Washington as a whole averages 51.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Fairwood Greens because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 20.1% of Fairwood Greens 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, 23.3% of Fairwood Greens's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Washington average of 27.7% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Fairwood Greens
- 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 SE Fairwood Blvd 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 34% of Fairwood Greens is under tree cover (much heavier 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.
- Airport noise is directional. Seattle-Tacoma International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the west. Neighborhoods to the east of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
