Noise Levels in La Canada Flintridge, CA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
55 dBA
Average noise across La Canada Flintridge
Quiet office to normal conversation
7,134
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
39% of La Canada Flintridge residents
87 dBA
Loudest residential point
Lawnmower at 1 m
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across La Canada Flintridge 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.
Overall
Road
Rail
Aviation
Click the map to explore
35 dBa55 dBa (EPA limit)90+ dBa
3545557090
Quietest (dBA)Loudest
Colorblind friendlyoff
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 7,134 La Canada Flintridge residents, or 38.8%, live above that level. By land area, 44.6% of La Canada Flintridge is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for La Canada Flintridge residents, grouped by direction from the center of La Canada Flintridge. Central La Canada Flintridge carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern La Canada Flintridge carries the lowest. Just 17% of residents in Northern La Canada Flintridge live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a third of the share in Central La Canada Flintridge.
Central La Canada Flintridge
62.3 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
78% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern La Canada Flintridge
55.8 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
41% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern La Canada Flintridge
51.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
17% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern La Canada Flintridge
53.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
35% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western La Canada Flintridge
57.0 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
46% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Central La Canada Flintridge sounds about 111% louder than Northern La Canada Flintridge to the human ear, a 10.8 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 I-210 do you need to be?
I-210 produces an estimated 78 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 quiet suburban street at night.
At source
78 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
65 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
57 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
660 ft
49 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
41 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 21% of La Canada Flintridge sits under tree canopy (lighter than most cities) and roughly 28% 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.
-->
Airport Noise
Bob Hope (BUR) sits west of La Canada Flintridge. 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 La Canada Flintridge, 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 La Canada Flintridge
The bar chart below shows the share of La Canada Flintridge residents in each noise band. About 60% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 18% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How La Canada Flintridge Compares
La Canada Flintridge sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how La Canada Flintridge's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with La Crescenta-Montrose, La Crescenta, Sunland, and South Pasadena.
Average noise level (dBA)
La Canada Flintridge's 55.3 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. California as a whole averages 54.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than La Canada Flintridge because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 38.8% of La Canada Flintridge 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, 44.6% of La Canada Flintridge's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a California average of 36.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to La Canada Flintridge
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 I-210 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 21% of La Canada Flintridge is under tree cover (lighter than most cities), and the dominant land cover is low-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. Bob Hope's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the west. Neighborhoods to the east of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
Sources & Methodology
The BestNeighborhood noise model is calibrated against nearly one million federal ground-truth measurements across four states. Road noise is computed from segment-level federal traffic data and propagated outward using physics-based acoustic decay, with attenuation rates that depend on the surrounding land cover.
All inputs are published federal datasets. Block-level noise is computed by combining road, rail, and aviation sound sources in the energy domain, the same physics used in professional environmental noise assessments. Read the full methodology.
