Noise Levels in Kummer, WA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
42 dBA
Average noise across Kummer
Quiet suburban street at night
3
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
1% of Kummer residents
60 dBA
Loudest residential point
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Kummer 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 3 Kummer residents, or 1.3%, live above that level. By land area, 0.8% of Kummer is above 55 dBA.
99.2% below 55 dBA
0.8% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Kummer compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Kummer
Average noise levels for Kummer residents, grouped by direction from the center of Kummer. Western Kummer carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern Kummer carries the lowest. Just 1% of residents in Northern Kummer live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, roughly the same as the share in Western Kummer.
Eastern Kummer
43.3 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Northern Kummer
40.5 dBA · Quiet
Soft rainfall
Western Kummer
43.8 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Western Kummer sounds about 26% louder than Northern Kummer to the human ear, a 3.3 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 Enumclaw-franklin Rd SE do you need to be?
Enumclaw-franklin Rd SE 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
39 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 79% of Kummer sits under tree canopy (much heavier 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
Seattle-Tacoma International (SEA) sits northwest of Kummer. 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 Kummer, particularly to the southeast, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Kummer
The bar chart below shows the share of Kummer 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 Kummer Compares
Kummer sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Kummer's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Wabash, Selleck, Kangley, and South Prairie.
Average noise level (dBA)
Kummer's 41.8 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. Washington as a whole averages 51.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Kummer because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 1.3% of Kummer 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, 0.8% of Kummer's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Washington average of 27.7% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Kummer
- 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 Enumclaw-franklin Rd SE 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 79% of Kummer is under tree cover (much heavier than most cities), and the dominant land cover is mixed 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.
- Airport noise is directional. Seattle-Tacoma International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the northwest. Neighborhoods to the southeast of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
