Noise Levels in McKinley Mitchell, Tulsa, OK | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
58 dBA
Average noise across McKinley Mitchell
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
3,549
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
77% of McKinley Mitchell residents
80 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across McKinley Mitchell 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 3,549 McKinley Mitchell residents, or 76.6%, live above that level. By land area, 81.3% of McKinley Mitchell is above 55 dBA.
Average noise levels for McKinley Mitchell residents, grouped by direction from the center of McKinley Mitchell. Eastern McKinley Mitchell carries the highest population-weighted average; Western McKinley Mitchell carries the lowest. Just 45% of residents in Western McKinley Mitchell live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, about half the share in Eastern McKinley Mitchell.
Central McKinley Mitchell
57.2 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
78% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern McKinley Mitchell
60.9 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
100% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Northern McKinley Mitchell
57.7 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
88% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Southern McKinley Mitchell
56.6 dBA · Moderate-loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
62% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Western McKinley Mitchell
55.4 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
45% of people above 55 dBA
QuietLoud
Eastern McKinley Mitchell sounds about 46% louder than Western McKinley Mitchell to the human ear, a 5.5 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-244 do you need to be?
I-244 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
59 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
330 ft
51 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
42 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 15% of McKinley Mitchell sits under tree canopy (about average for neighborhoods) and roughly 38% 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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Airport Noise
Tulsa International (TUL) sits north of McKinley Mitchell. 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 60 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of McKinley Mitchell, particularly to the south, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across McKinley Mitchell
The bar chart below shows the share of McKinley Mitchell residents in each noise band. About 17% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 17% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How McKinley Mitchell Compares
McKinley Mitchell sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how McKinley Mitchell's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Downtown Tulsa, Turner Park, Kensington, and Lynn Lane.
Average noise level (dBA)
McKinley Mitchell's 57.5 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. Oklahoma as a whole averages 50.5 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than McKinley Mitchell because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 76.6% of McKinley Mitchell 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, 81.3% of McKinley Mitchell's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Oklahoma average of 22.7% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to McKinley Mitchell
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-244 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 15% of McKinley Mitchell is under tree cover (about average for neighborhoods), 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. Tulsa International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the north. Neighborhoods to the south 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.
