Noise Levels in Mashpee, MA | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
52 dBA
Average noise across Mashpee
Quiet office to normal conversation
2,889
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
22% of Mashpee residents
74 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Mashpee 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 2,889 Mashpee residents, or 21.6%, live above that level. By land area, 26.3% of Mashpee is above 55 dBA.
73.7% below 55 dBA
26.3% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Mashpee compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Mashpee
Average noise levels for Mashpee residents, grouped by direction from the center of Mashpee. Western Mashpee carries the highest population-weighted average; Central Mashpee carries the lowest. Just 10% of residents in Central Mashpee live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in Western Mashpee.
Central Mashpee
50.7 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office
Eastern Mashpee
52.2 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northern Mashpee
51.7 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southern Mashpee
51.2 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Mashpee
52.4 dBA · Moderate
Quiet office to normal conversation
Western Mashpee sounds about 13% louder than Central Mashpee to the human ear, a 1.7 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 do you need to be?
produces an estimated 74 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
74 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
44 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
¼ mile
36 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 64% of Mashpee sits under tree canopy (much heavier than most cities) and roughly 15% 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.
-->
How Noise Is Distributed Across Mashpee
The bar chart below shows the share of Mashpee residents in each noise band. About 86% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 1% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Mashpee Compares
Mashpee sits at the quieter end of the spectrum. Below: how Mashpee's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with East Falmouth, Barnstable Town, Buzzards Bay, and Centerville.
Average noise level (dBA)
Mashpee's 51.8 dBA pop-weighted average is at the quieter end of the spectrum. Massachusetts as a whole averages 54.3 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Mashpee because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 21.6% of Mashpee 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, 26.3% of Mashpee's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Massachusetts average of 40.0% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Mashpee
- 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 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 64% of Mashpee is under tree cover (much 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.
