Noise Levels in Island Park, NY | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
58 dBA
Average noise across Island Park
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
4,771
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
71% of Island Park residents
75 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Island Park 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 4,771 Island Park residents, or 70.8%, live above that level. By land area, 71.1% of Island Park is above 55 dBA.
28.9% below 55 dBA
71.1% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Island Park compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Island Park
Average noise levels for Island Park residents, grouped by direction from the center of Island Park. The highest population-weighted average is in central Island Park; the lowest is in western Island Park, where just 9% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in the loudest section.
Central Island Park
61.5 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Southern Island Park
60.5 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southwestern Island Park
58.4 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Eastern Island Park
57.8 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Western Island Park
49.3 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
To the human ear, noise in central Island Park sounds about 133% louder than in western Island Park, a 12.2 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 Long Beach Rd do you need to be?
Long Beach Rd produces an estimated 66 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
66 dBA
Busy restaurant
165 ft
52 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
44 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
660 ft
36 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 10% of Island Park sits under tree canopy (lighter than most cities) and roughly 66% 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 Island Park. 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
John F Kennedy International (JFK) sits west of Island Park. 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 50 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Island Park, 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 Island Park
The bar chart below shows the share of Island Park residents in each noise band. About 18% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 21% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Island Park Compares
Island Park sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Island Park's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Baldwin Harbor, Malverne, Lawrence, and Inwood.
Average noise level (dBA)
Island Park's 58.1 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. New York as a whole averages 55.4 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Island Park because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 70.8% of Island Park 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, 71.1% of Island Park's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a New York average of 30.9% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Island Park
- 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 Long Beach 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 10% of Island Park is under tree cover (lighter than most cities), 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. John F Kennedy International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the west. Neighborhoods to the east of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
