Noise Levels in Mountain View, Anchorage, AK | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
58 dBA
Average noise across Mountain View
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
1,248
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
95% of Mountain View residents
66 dBA
Loudest residential point
Busy restaurant
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across Mountain View 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 1,248 Mountain View residents, or 95.4%, live above that level. By land area, 86.5% of Mountain View is above 55 dBA.
13.5% below 55 dBA
86.5% above 55 dBA
See how noise in Mountain View compares to similar-sized neighborhoods.
Noise by Part of Mountain View
Average noise levels for Mountain View residents, grouped by direction from the center of Mountain View. The highest population-weighted average is in eastern Mountain View; the lowest is in northeastern Mountain View, where just 100% of residents live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, roughly the same as the share in the loudest section.
Eastern Mountain View
58.6 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southwestern Mountain View
58.6 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Western Mountain View
58.5 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Central Mountain View
56.0 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Northeastern Mountain View
55.1 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
To the human ear, noise in eastern Mountain View sounds about 27% louder than in northeastern Mountain View, a 3.5 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 A1 do you need to be?
A1 produces an estimated 77 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 quiet suburban street at night.
At source
77 dBA
City bus interior
165 ft
64 dBA
Busy restaurant
330 ft
56 dBA
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
660 ft
49 dBA
Quiet office
¼ mile
41 dBA
Quiet suburban street at night
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 0% of Mountain View sits under tree canopy (about average for neighborhoods) 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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Airport Noise
Ted Stevens Anchorage International (ANC) sits southwest of Mountain View. 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 65 dBA on the map's Overall layer. Blocks on the opposite side of Mountain View, particularly to the northeast, show no measurable aviation contribution. Use the Aviation toggle on the map above to isolate the airport's footprint.
How Noise Is Distributed Across Mountain View
The bar chart below shows the share of Mountain View residents in each noise band. About 5% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 22% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How Mountain View Compares
Mountain View sits at the louder end of the spectrum. Below: how Mountain View's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Rogers Park, Fairview, hillside-east-anchorage-ak, and Airport Heights.
Average noise level (dBA)
Mountain View's 57.6 dBA pop-weighted average is at the louder end of the spectrum. Alaska as a whole averages 46.7 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than Mountain View because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 95.4% of Mountain View 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, 86.5% of Mountain View's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Alaska average of 11.4% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to Mountain View
- 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 A1 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 0% of Mountain View is under tree cover (about average for neighborhoods), and the dominant land cover is . 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. Ted Stevens Anchorage International's approach paths concentrate aviation noise to the southwest. Neighborhoods to the northeast of downtown show no measurable contribution from the airport.
