Noise Levels in Highland, MD | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
45 dBA
Average noise across Highland
Quiet suburban street at night
203
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
4% of Highland residents
63 dBA
Loudest residential point
Busy restaurant
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Highland 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 203 Highland residents, or 4.2%, live above that level. By land area, 5.5% of Highland is above 55 dBA.
94.5% below 55 dBA
5.5% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Highland compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Highland
Average noise levels for Highland residents, grouped by direction from the center of Highland. Eastern Highland carries the highest population-weighted average; Central Highland carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Central Highland live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Eastern Highland.
Central Highland
32.5 dBA · Quiet
Whisper
Eastern Highland
47.7 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Northern Highland
47.3 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Southern Highland
43.1 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Western Highland
45.1 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Eastern Highland sounds about 187% louder than Central Highland to the human ear, a 15.2 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 do you need to be?
produces an estimated 63 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
63 dBA
Busy restaurant
165 ft
49 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
41 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 61% of Highland sits under tree canopy (heavier than most cities) and roughly 3% 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
Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (BWI) sits east of Highland. 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 Highland, particularly to the west, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Highland
The bar chart below shows the share of Highland 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 Highland Compares
Highland sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Highland's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Fulton, Calverton, West Friendship, and Halethorpe.
Average noise level (dBA)
Highland's 45.4 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Maryland as a whole averages 52.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Highland because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 4.2% of Highland residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's fewer than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 5.5% of Highland's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Maryland average of 32.9% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Highland
- 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 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 61% of Highland is under tree cover (heavier than most cities), and the dominant land cover is deciduous forest. 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. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the east. Neighborhoods to the west of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
