This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Heart of Missoula 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 1,942 Heart of Missoula residents, or 59.9%, live above that level. By land area, 72.7% of Heart of Missoula is above 55 dBA.
See how noise in Heart of Missoula compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Heart of Missoula
Average noise levels for Heart of Missoula residents, grouped by direction from the center of Heart of Missoula. The highest population-weighted average is in southeastern Heart of Missoula; the lowest is in eastern Heart of Missoula, where just 5% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in the loudest section.
Southeastern Heart of Missoula
50% of people above 55 dBA
Central Heart of Missoula
66% of people above 55 dBA
Northwestern Heart of Missoula
73% of people above 55 dBA
Western Heart of Missoula
56% of people above 55 dBA
Eastern Heart of Missoula
5% of people above 55 dBA
To the human ear, noise in southeastern Heart of Missoula sounds about 97% louder than in eastern Heart of Missoula, a 9.8 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.
Rail Noise
Active freight rail runs through parts of Heart of Missoula. 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.
Airport Noise
Missoula Montana (MSO) sits northwest of Heart of Missoula. The U.S. Department of Transportation models aviation noise around this airport from federal traffic data, 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 55 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Heart of Missoula, particularly to the southeast, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Heart of Missoula
The bar chart below shows the share of Heart of Missoula residents in each noise band. About 37% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 28% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Heart of Missoula Compares
Heart of Missoula sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Heart of Missoula's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Upper Rattlesnake, Lewis and Clark, Northside, and South 39th Street.
Average noise level (dBA)
Heart of Missoula's 57.7 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. Montana as a whole averages 49.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Heart of Missoula because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 59.9% of Heart of Missoula 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, 72.7% of Heart of Missoula's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Montana average of 16.9% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Heart of Missoula
- 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 Hwy 200 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 3% of Heart of Missoula is under tree cover (much lighter than most 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.
- Airport noise is directional. Missoula Montana's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the northwest. Neighborhoods to the southeast of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
Sources & Methodology
The BestNeighborhood noise model is calibrated against nearly one million federal ground-truth measurements across four states. Road noise is computed from segment-level federal traffic data and propagated outward using physics-based acoustic decay, with attenuation rates that depend on the surrounding land cover.
Federal datasets used:
FHWA Highway Performance Monitoring System: road geometry, traffic counts, lane configuration
U.S. DoT Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Transportation Noise Map: aviation and rail noise, road calibration ground truth
USGS / MRLC National Land Cover Database: land cover and impervious surface coverage
USDA Forest Service Tree Canopy Cover: vegetation density for sound propagation
U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line: block-level geography and population
U.S. EPA Levels Document: 55 dBA outdoor reference level
All inputs are published federal datasets. Block-level noise is computed by combining road, rail, and aviation sound sources in the energy domain, the same physics used in professional environmental noise assessments. Read the full methodology.