Noise Levels in Fourth Street Historic District, Massillon, OH | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
55 dBA
Average noise across Fourth Street Historic District
Quiet office to normal conversation
2,034
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
50% of Fourth Street Historic District residents
75 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Fourth Street Historic District 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 2,034 Fourth Street Historic District residents, or 49.5%, live above that level. By land area, 60.1% of Fourth Street Historic District is above 55 dBA.
39.9% below 55 dBA
60.1% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Fourth Street Historic District compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Fourth Street Historic District
Average noise levels for Fourth Street Historic District residents, grouped by direction from the center of Fourth Street Historic District. The highest population-weighted average is in western Fourth Street Historic District; the lowest is in northern Fourth Street Historic District, where just 42% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in the loudest section.
Western Fourth Street Historic District
61.9 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Northwestern Fourth Street Historic District
61.8 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Southern Fourth Street Historic District
58.7 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northeastern Fourth Street Historic District
55.6 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern Fourth Street Historic District
54.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
To the human ear, noise in western Fourth Street Historic District sounds about 65% louder than in northern Fourth Street Historic District, a 7.2 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 SR-21 do you need to be?
SR-21 produces an estimated 72 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
72 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
58 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
51 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
43 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 17% of Fourth Street Historic District sits under tree canopy (about average for neighborhoods) and roughly 52% 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 Fourth Street Historic District. 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 Fourth Street Historic District
The bar chart below shows the share of Fourth Street Historic District residents in each noise band. About 56% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 4% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Fourth Street Historic District Compares
Fourth Street Historic District sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Fourth Street Historic District's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Middlebury, Austin Estates, South Akron, and Gibbs.
Average noise level (dBA)
Fourth Street Historic District's 54.9 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Ohio as a whole averages 51.1 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Fourth Street Historic District because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 49.5% of Fourth Street Historic District 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, 60.1% of Fourth Street Historic District's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Ohio average of 26.4% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Fourth Street Historic District
- 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 SR-21 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 17% of Fourth Street Historic District is under tree cover (about average for neighborhoods), 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.
