Noise Levels in Fort Lewis, WA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
50 dBA
Average noise across Fort Lewis
Quiet office
2,210
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
26% of Fort Lewis residents
81 dBA
Loudest residential point
Food blender at arm’s length
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Fort Lewis 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 2,210 Fort Lewis residents, or 25.6%, live above that level. By land area, 14.3% of Fort Lewis is above 55 dBA.
85.7% below 55 dBA
14.3% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Fort Lewis compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Fort Lewis
Average noise levels for Fort Lewis residents, grouped by direction from the center of Fort Lewis. The highest population-weighted average is in northeastern Fort Lewis; the lowest is in southern Fort Lewis, where just 0% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in the loudest section.
Northeastern Fort Lewis
56.4 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Western Fort Lewis
55.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Fort Lewis
46.2 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southwestern Fort Lewis
41.5 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Southern Fort Lewis
23.3 dBA · Quiet
Whisper
To the human ear, noise in northeastern Fort Lewis sounds about 892% louder than in southern Fort Lewis, a 33.1 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 I-5 do you need to be?
I-5 produces an estimated 78 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
78 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
63 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
55 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
46 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
38 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 11% of Fort Lewis sits under tree canopy (lighter than most cities) and roughly 36% 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 northeast of Fort Lewis. 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 Fort Lewis, particularly to the southwest, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Fort Lewis
The bar chart below shows the share of Fort Lewis residents in each noise band. About 54% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 3% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Fort Lewis Compares
Fort Lewis sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Fort Lewis's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Dupont, Steilacoom, Roy, and Fife.
Average noise level (dBA)
Fort Lewis's 49.8 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 Fort Lewis because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 25.6% of Fort Lewis 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, 14.3% of Fort Lewis'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 Fort Lewis
- 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 I-5 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 11% of Fort Lewis is under tree cover (lighter than most cities), 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 northeast. Neighborhoods to the southwest of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
