Noise Levels in Joffre, PA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
46 dBA
Average noise across Joffre
Quiet suburban street at night
17
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
3% of Joffre residents
57 dBA
Loudest residential point
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Joffre 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 17 Joffre residents, or 3.2%, live above that level. By land area, 2.6% of Joffre is above 55 dBA.
97.4% below 55 dBA
2.6% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Joffre compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Joffre
Average noise levels for Joffre residents, grouped by direction from the center of Joffre. Central Joffre carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern Joffre carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Northern Joffre live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Central Joffre.
Central Joffre
50.7 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Eastern Joffre
45.3 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Northern Joffre
34.7 dBA · Quiet
Soft rainfall
Southern Joffre
38.6 dBA · Quiet
Soft rainfall
Western Joffre
46.9 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet office
Central Joffre sounds about 203% louder than Northern Joffre to the human ear, a 16.0 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 Joffre Bulger Rd do you need to be?
Joffre Bulger Rd produces an estimated 53 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
53 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
165 ft
40 dBA
Soft rainfall
330 ft
35 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 31% of Joffre sits under tree canopy (about average for cities) and roughly 14% 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
Pittsburgh International (PIT) sits northeast of Joffre. 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 65 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Joffre, particularly to the southwest, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Joffre
The bar chart below shows the share of Joffre 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 Joffre Compares
Joffre sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Joffre's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Atlasburg, Langeloth, Buffalo, and Cecil-Bishop.
Average noise level (dBA)
Joffre's 45.9 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Pennsylvania as a whole averages 52.9 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Joffre because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 3.2% of Joffre 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, 2.6% of Joffre's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Pennsylvania average of 33.5% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Joffre
- 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 Joffre Bulger 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 31% of Joffre is under tree cover (about average for cities), and the dominant land cover is low-density developed open space. 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. Pittsburgh International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the northeast. Neighborhoods to the southwest of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
