Noise Levels in Moose River, ME | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
42 dBA
Average noise across Moose River
Quiet suburban street at night
4
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
2% of Moose River residents
67 dBA
Loudest residential point
Highway traffic 50 ft away
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Moose River 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 4 Moose River residents, or 2.2%, live above that level. By land area, 4.8% of Moose River is above 55 dBA.
95.2% below 55 dBA
4.8% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Moose River compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of Moose River
Average noise levels for Moose River residents, grouped by direction from the center of Moose River. Southern Moose River carries the highest population-weighted average; Eastern Moose River carries the lowest. Just 0% of residents in Eastern Moose River live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a fifth of the share in Southern Moose River.
Eastern Moose River
28.7 dBA · Quiet
Whisper
Northern Moose River
43.8 dBA · Quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Southern Moose River
45.5 dBA · Mostly quiet
Quiet suburban street at night
Western Moose River
37.8 dBA · Quiet
Soft rainfall
Southern Moose River sounds about 220% louder than Eastern Moose River to the human ear, a 16.8 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 US-201 do you need to be?
US-201 produces an estimated 60 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
60 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
165 ft
46 dBA
Quiet office
330 ft
38 dBA
Soft rainfall
660 ft
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 79% of Moose River sits under tree canopy (much heavier than most cities) and roughly 0% 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 Moose River. 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 Moose River
The bar chart below shows the share of Moose River residents in each noise band. About 100% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 0% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Moose River Compares
Moose River sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Moose River's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Rockwood, Blanchard, Shirley Mills, and Greenville Junction.
Average noise level (dBA)
Moose River's 41.9 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. Maine as a whole averages 48.0 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Moose River because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 2.2% of Moose River 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, 4.8% of Moose River's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Maine average of 17.5% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Moose River
- 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 US-201 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 79% of Moose River is under tree cover (much heavier than most cities), and the dominant land cover is mixed forest. 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.
