Noise Levels in Los Banos, CA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
53 dBA
Average noise across Los Banos
Quiet office to normal conversation
13,612
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
32% of Los Banos residents
76 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Los Banos 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 13,612 Los Banos residents, or 32.1%, live above that level. By land area, 30.0% of Los Banos is above 55 dBA.
70.0% below 55 dBA
30.0% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Los Banos compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Los Banos
Average noise levels for Los Banos residents, grouped by direction from the center of Los Banos. Central Los Banos carries the highest population-weighted average; Eastern Los Banos carries the lowest. Just 27% of residents in Eastern Los Banos live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, three-quarters of the share in Central Los Banos.
Central Los Banos
54.1 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Eastern Los Banos
52.2 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern Los Banos
53.0 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southern Los Banos
52.5 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Los Banos
53.0 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Central Los Banos sounds about 14% louder than Eastern Los Banos to the human ear, a 1.9 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 I-5 do you need to be?
I-5 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
60 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
52 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
660 ft
43 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 1% of Los Banos sits under tree canopy (much lighter than most cities) and roughly 46% 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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How Noise Is Distributed Across Los Banos
The bar chart below shows the share of Los Banos residents in each noise band. About 70% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 5% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Los Banos Compares
Los Banos sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Los Banos's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Atwater, Hollister, Ceres, and Turlock.
Average noise level (dBA)
Los Banos's 52.8 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 Los Banos because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 32.1% of Los Banos 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, 30.0% of Los Banos'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 Los Banos
- 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-5 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 1% of Los Banos is under tree cover (much lighter than most cities), 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.
