Noise Levels in Hilliard, FL | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
45 dBA
Average noise across Hilliard
Quiet suburban street at night
802
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
9% of Hilliard residents
93 dBA
Loudest residential point
Power saw
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Hilliard 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 802 Hilliard residents, or 9.1%, live above that level. By land area, 19.4% of Hilliard is above 55 dBA.
80.6% below 55 dBA
19.4% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Hilliard compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Hilliard
Average noise levels for Hilliard residents, grouped by direction from the center of Hilliard. The highest population-weighted average is in southern Hilliard; the lowest is in western Hilliard, where just 0% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in the loudest section.
Southern Hilliard
60.0 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northwestern Hilliard
56.1 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southeastern Hilliard
51.8 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Hilliard
49.0 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Western Hilliard
38.5 dBA · Quiet
Soft rainfall
To the human ear, noise in southern Hilliard sounds about 344% louder than in western Hilliard, a 21.5 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 US-1 do you need to be?
US-1 produces an estimated 65 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
65 dBA
Busy restaurant
165 ft
54 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
48 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
42 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 45% of Hilliard sits under tree canopy (heavier than most cities) and roughly 6% 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 Hilliard. 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 Hilliard
The bar chart below shows the share of Hilliard residents in each noise band. About 88% 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 Hilliard Compares
Hilliard sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Hilliard's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Callahan, Glen St. Mary, Macclenny, and Asbury Lake.
Average noise level (dBA)
Hilliard's 44.8 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. Florida as a whole averages 51.6 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Hilliard because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 9.1% of Hilliard 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, 19.4% of Hilliard's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Florida average of 31.8% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Hilliard
- 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-1 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 45% of Hilliard is under tree cover (heavier than most cities), and the dominant land cover is evergreen 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.
