Noise Levels in Long Lake, MN | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
57 dBA
Average noise across Long Lake
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
922
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
51% of Long Lake residents
75 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Long Lake 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 922 Long Lake residents, or 51.0%, live above that level. By land area, 59.9% of Long Lake is above 55 dBA.
40.1% below 55 dBA
59.9% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Long Lake compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Long Lake
Average noise levels for Long Lake residents, grouped by direction from the center of Long Lake. The highest population-weighted average is in eastern Long Lake; the lowest is in central Long Lake, where just 45% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, three-quarters of the share in the loudest section.
Eastern Long Lake
62.3 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Western Long Lake
56.9 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Central Long Lake
56.5 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
To the human ear, noise in eastern Long Lake sounds about 49% louder than in central Long Lake, a 5.8 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 14TH St S do you need to be?
14TH St S produces an estimated 70 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
70 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
165 ft
58 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
51 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
44 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 44% of Long Lake sits under tree canopy (heavier than most cities) and roughly 25% 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 Long Lake. 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.
Airport Noise
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain (MSP) sits east of Long Lake. 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 Long Lake, particularly to the west, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Long Lake
The bar chart below shows the share of Long Lake residents in each noise band. About 37% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 15% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Long Lake Compares
Long Lake sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how Long Lake's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Maple Plain, Spring Park, Tonka Bay, and Greenfield.
Average noise level (dBA)
Long Lake's 56.7 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Minnesota as a whole averages 53.6 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Long Lake because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 51.0% of Long Lake residents live in blocks where outdoor levels exceed the EPA's 55 dBA threshold. That's more than any of its peer group. Measured by land area instead, 59.9% of Long Lake's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Minnesota average of 31.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Long Lake
- 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 14TH St S 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 44% of Long Lake is under tree cover (heavier than most 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. Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the east. Neighborhoods to the west of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
