Noise Levels in Holiday Hills, Lexington, KY | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
56 dBA
Average noise across Holiday Hills
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
1,717
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
39% of Holiday Hills residents
74 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Holiday Hills 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 1,717 Holiday Hills residents, or 38.7%, live above that level. By land area, 51.4% of Holiday Hills is above 55 dBA.
48.6% below 55 dBA
51.4% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Holiday Hills compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Holiday Hills
Average noise levels for Holiday Hills residents, grouped by direction from the center of Holiday Hills. The highest population-weighted average is in western Holiday Hills; the lowest is in northern Holiday Hills, where just 54% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, roughly the same as the share in the loudest section.
Western Holiday Hills
62.5 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Central Holiday Hills
58.9 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northeastern Holiday Hills
57.8 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northern Holiday Hills
57.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
To the human ear, noise in western Holiday Hills sounds about 39% louder than in northern Holiday Hills, a 4.8 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.
How far back from W New Cir Rd do you need to be?
W New Cir Rd produces an estimated 76 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
76 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
61 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
52 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
44 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 20% of Holiday Hills sits under tree canopy (heavier than most neighborhoods) and roughly 37% 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
Blue Grass (LEX) sits west of Holiday Hills. 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 Holiday Hills, particularly to the east, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Holiday Hills
The bar chart below shows the share of Holiday Hills residents in each noise band. About 39% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 19% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Holiday Hills Compares
Holiday Hills sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Holiday Hills's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Cardinal Hill-Pine Meadow, Garden Springs, Virginia Ave, and Mount Vernon-Hollywood-Montclair.
Average noise level (dBA)
Holiday Hills's 56.5 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. Kentucky as a whole averages 50.5 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Holiday Hills because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 38.7% of Holiday Hills 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, 51.4% of Holiday Hills's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Kentucky average of 23.2% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Holiday Hills
- 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 W New Cir Rd 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 20% of Holiday Hills is under tree cover (heavier than most neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is low-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. Blue Grass's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the west. Neighborhoods to the east of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
