Noise Levels in Karnack, TX | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
40 dBA
Average noise across Karnack
Soft rainfall
36
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
3% of Karnack residents
76 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Karnack 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 Karnack residents, or 3.1%, live above that level. By land area, 3.7% of Karnack is above 55 dBA.
96.3% below 55 dBA
3.7% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Karnack compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Karnack
Average noise levels for Karnack residents, grouped by direction from the center of Karnack. Eastern Karnack carries the highest population-weighted average; Southern Karnack carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Southern Karnack live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Eastern Karnack.
Central Karnack
43.3 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Eastern Karnack
45.7 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Northern Karnack
44.4 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Southern Karnack
32.8 dBA · Quiet
Whisper
Western Karnack
36.6 dBA · Quiet
Soft rainfall
Eastern Karnack sounds about 145% louder than Southern Karnack to the human ear, a 12.9 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 do you need to be?
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
Busy restaurant
330 ft
53 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 67% of Karnack sits under tree canopy (much heavier than most cities) and roughly 2% 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 Karnack. 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 Karnack
The bar chart below shows the share of Karnack residents in each noise band. About 93% 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 Karnack Compares
Karnack sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Karnack's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Scottsville, Woodlawn, Jonesville, and Uncertain.
Average noise level (dBA)
Karnack's 39.9 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Texas as a whole averages 50.8 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Karnack because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 3.1% of Karnack 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, 3.7% of Karnack's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Texas average of 22.8% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Karnack
- 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 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 67% of Karnack is under tree cover (much 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.
