Noise Levels in Hatfield, MA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
48 dBA
Average noise across Hatfield
Quiet office
302
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
10% of Hatfield residents
81 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Hatfield 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 302 Hatfield residents, or 10.4%, live above that level. By land area, 21.5% of Hatfield is above 55 dBA.
78.5% below 55 dBA
21.5% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Hatfield compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Hatfield
Average noise levels for Hatfield residents, grouped by direction from the center of Hatfield. Southern Hatfield carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern Hatfield carries the lowest. Just 7% of residents in Northern Hatfield live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about two-thirds of the share in Southern Hatfield.
Central Hatfield
46.6 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Eastern Hatfield
46.8 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northern Hatfield
44.2 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Southern Hatfield
49.2 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Western Hatfield
49.1 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southern Hatfield sounds about 41% louder than Northern Hatfield to the human ear, a 5.0 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 I-91 do you need to be?
I-91 produces an estimated 74 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 quiet suburban street at night.
At source
74 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
62 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
55 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
48 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
41 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 39% of Hatfield sits under tree canopy (about average for cities) and roughly 8% 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 Hatfield. 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 Hatfield
The bar chart below shows the share of Hatfield residents in each noise band. About 93% 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 Hatfield Compares
Hatfield sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Hatfield's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Leeds, Sunderland, South Deerfield, and Shelburne Falls.
Average noise level (dBA)
Hatfield's 47.5 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Massachusetts as a whole averages 54.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Hatfield because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 10.4% of Hatfield 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, 21.5% of Hatfield's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Massachusetts average of 40.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Hatfield
- 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-91 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 Hatfield is under tree cover (about average for cities), 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.
