Noise Levels in Goat Neck, NC | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
41 dBA
Average noise across Goat Neck
Soft rainfall
2
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
1% of Goat Neck residents
64 dBA
Loudest residential point
Busy restaurant
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Goat Neck 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 Goat Neck residents, or 0.9%, live above that level. By land area, 1.0% of Goat Neck is above 55 dBA.
99.0% below 55 dBA
1.0% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Goat Neck compares to similar-sized cities.
Western Goat Neck sounds about 0% louder than Eastern Goat Neck to the human ear, a 0.0 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.
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Loudest Road Corridors
The model evaluates every road in Goat Neck using federal traffic counts, posted speeds, heavy-truck ratios, and pavement type. The source level shown is the modeled noise at the road centerline, where it is loudest. Noise drops with distance, faster in vegetated areas and slower over open pavement.
RoadTypeAvg. source dBAPeak source dBA
US-64
Principal arterial
60.4
61
SR-1209
Local
56.0
57
SR-1221
Minor collector
57.0
57
SR-1225
Local
55.0
55
SR-1223
Local
55.0
55
How far back from US-64 do you need to be?
US-64 produces an estimated 61 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
61 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
165 ft
46 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
38 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 56% of Goat Neck sits under tree canopy (heavier than most cities) and roughly 0% 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.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Goat Neck
The bar chart below shows the share of Goat Neck residents in each noise band. About 100% 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 Goat Neck Compares
Goat Neck sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Goat Neck's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Soundside, River Neck, Gum Neck, and Mount Tabor.
Average noise level (dBA)
Goat Neck's 40.8 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. North Carolina as a whole averages 49.7 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Goat Neck because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 0.9% of Goat Neck 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, 1.0% of Goat Neck's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a North Carolina average of 22.6% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Goat Neck
- 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 US-64 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 56% of Goat Neck is under tree cover (heavier than most cities), and the dominant land cover is woody wetlands. 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.
