Noise Levels in Jacksonville, NJ | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
49 dBA
Average noise across Jacksonville
Quiet office
36
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
11% of Jacksonville residents
80 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Jacksonville 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 36 Jacksonville residents, or 10.7%, live above that level. By land area, 21.4% of Jacksonville is above 55 dBA.
78.6% below 55 dBA
21.4% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Jacksonville compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Jacksonville
Average noise levels for Jacksonville residents, grouped by direction from the center of Jacksonville. Northern Jacksonville carries the highest population-weighted average; Southern Jacksonville carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Southern Jacksonville live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Northern Jacksonville.
Central Jacksonville
46.1 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Eastern Jacksonville
40.4 dBA · Quiet
Soft rainfall
Northern Jacksonville
67.8 dBA · Loud
Highway traffic 50 ft away
Southern Jacksonville
33.4 dBA · Quiet
Whisper
Western Jacksonville
61.7 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Northern Jacksonville sounds about 985% louder than Southern Jacksonville to the human ear, a 34.4 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 New Jersey Tpke do you need to be?
New Jersey Tpke produces an estimated 77 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
77 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
63 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
56 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
48 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
40 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 4% of Jacksonville sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most cities) and roughly 0% 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
Philadelphia International (PHL) sits southwest of Jacksonville. 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 Jacksonville, particularly to the northeast, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Jacksonville
The bar chart below shows the share of Jacksonville residents in each noise band. About 66% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 34% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Jacksonville Compares
Jacksonville sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Jacksonville's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Georgetown, Chesterfield, Fieldsboro, and Extonville.
Average noise level (dBA)
Jacksonville's 48.8 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. New Jersey as a whole averages 49.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Jacksonville because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 10.7% of Jacksonville 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, 21.4% of Jacksonville's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a New Jersey average of 25.2% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Jacksonville
- 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 New Jersey Tpke 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 4% of Jacksonville is under tree cover (much lighter than most cities), and the dominant land cover is cultivated cropland. 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. Philadelphia International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the southwest. Neighborhoods to the northeast of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
