Noise Levels in Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village, Vancouver, WA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
52 dBA
Average noise across Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village
Quiet office to normal conversation
748
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
26% of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village residents
66 dBA
Loudest residential point
Highway traffic 50 ft away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village 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 748 Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village residents, or 25.5%, live above that level. By land area, 25.6% of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village is above 55 dBA.
74.4% below 55 dBA
25.6% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village
Average noise levels for Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village residents, grouped by direction from the center of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village. Southern Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village carries the highest population-weighted average; Central Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Central Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Southern Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village.
Central Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village
36.6 dBA · Quiet
Soft rainfall
Eastern Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village
51.9 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village
51.6 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southern Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village
55.6 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village
50.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Southern Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village sounds about 273% louder than Central Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village to the human ear, a 19.0 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 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
Highway traffic 50 ft away
165 ft
54 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 15% of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village sits under tree canopy (about average for neighborhoods) and roughly 41% 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
Portland International (PDX) sits southwest of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village. The U.S. Department of Transportation models aviation noise around this airport from federal traffic data, 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 65 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village, particularly to the northeast, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village
The bar chart below shows the share of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village residents in each noise band. About 70% 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 Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village Compares
Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Kevanna Park, North Sifton-Orchards Area, old-evergreen-highway-vancouver-wa, and Marrion.
Average noise level (dBA)
Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village's 52.2 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Washington as a whole averages 51.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 25.5% of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village 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, 25.6% of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village'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 Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village
- 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 15% of Fisher-Mill Plain-Fisher's Village is under tree cover (about average for neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is low-density developed open space. 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. Portland International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the southwest. Neighborhoods to the northeast of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
