Noise Levels in Linda Vista-San Francisco, Napa, CA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
54 dBA
Average noise across Linda Vista-San Francisco
Quiet office to normal conversation
2,308
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
36% of Linda Vista-San Francisco residents
79 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Linda Vista-San Francisco 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 2,308 Linda Vista-San Francisco residents, or 36.2%, live above that level. By land area, 50.1% of Linda Vista-San Francisco is above 55 dBA.
49.9% below 55 dBA
50.1% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Linda Vista-San Francisco compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Linda Vista-San Francisco
Average noise levels for Linda Vista-San Francisco residents, grouped by direction from the center of Linda Vista-San Francisco. The highest population-weighted average is in southeastern Linda Vista-San Francisco; the lowest is in western Linda Vista-San Francisco, where just 18% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in the loudest section.
Southeastern Linda Vista-San Francisco
66.0 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Central Linda Vista-San Francisco
61.1 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Northern Linda Vista-San Francisco
57.3 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northwestern Linda Vista-San Francisco
55.2 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Linda Vista-San Francisco
50.9 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
To the human ear, noise in southeastern Linda Vista-San Francisco sounds about 185% louder than in western Linda Vista-San Francisco, a 15.1 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 State Hwy 29 do you need to be?
State Hwy 29 produces an estimated 75 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
75 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
61 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
53 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
45 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
37 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 7% of Linda Vista-San Francisco sits under tree canopy (lighter than most neighborhoods) and roughly 55% 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 Linda Vista-San Francisco. 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 Linda Vista-San Francisco
The bar chart below shows the share of Linda Vista-San Francisco residents in each noise band. About 74% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 11% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Linda Vista-San Francisco Compares
Linda Vista-San Francisco sits the lowest among the peer group. Below: how Linda Vista-San Francisco's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Vintage, Westwood-San Francisco, Beard, and Chabot Terrace.
Average noise level (dBA)
Linda Vista-San Francisco's 54.4 dBA pop-weighted average is the lowest among the peer group. California as a whole averages 54.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Linda Vista-San Francisco because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 36.2% of Linda Vista-San Francisco residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's fewer than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 50.1% of Linda Vista-San Francisco'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 Linda Vista-San Francisco
- 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 State Hwy 29 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 7% of Linda Vista-San Francisco is under tree cover (lighter than most neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is medium-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.
