Noise Levels in Fort Benning, GA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
48 dBA
Average noise across Fort Benning
Quiet office
272
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
10% of Fort Benning residents
80 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Fort Benning 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 272 Fort Benning residents, or 9.6%, live above that level. By land area, 16.9% of Fort Benning is above 55 dBA.
83.1% below 55 dBA
16.9% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Fort Benning compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Fort Benning
Average noise levels for Fort Benning residents, grouped by direction from the center of Fort Benning. Southern Fort Benning carries the highest population-weighted average; Western Fort Benning carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Western Fort Benning live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Southern Fort Benning.
Central Fort Benning
33.6 dBA · Quiet
Whisper
Eastern Fort Benning
47.9 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northern Fort Benning
59.3 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southern Fort Benning
62.2 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Western Fort Benning
23.7 dBA · Quiet
Whisper
Southern Fort Benning sounds about 1342% louder than Western Fort Benning to the human ear, a 38.5 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 520 do you need to be?
State Rte 520 produces an estimated 70 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
70 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
165 ft
57 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
50 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
43 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
36 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 39% of Fort Benning sits under tree canopy (about average for cities) and roughly 29% 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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Rail Noise
Active freight rail runs through parts of Fort Benning. 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 Fort Benning
The bar chart below shows the share of Fort Benning residents in each noise band. About 56% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 14% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Fort Benning Compares
Fort Benning sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Fort Benning's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Cusseta, Buena Vista, Waverly Hall, and Cataula.
Average noise level (dBA)
Fort Benning's 48.4 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Georgia as a whole averages 51.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Fort Benning because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 9.6% of Fort Benning 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, 16.9% of Fort Benning's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Georgia average of 22.6% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Fort Benning
- 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 520 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 39% of Fort Benning is under tree cover (about average for cities), and the dominant land cover is medium-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.
