Noise Levels in New Boston, OH | Find Quiet Neighborhoods With Our Sound Map
58 dBA
Average noise across New Boston
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
980
Residents above the EPA 55 dBA threshold
51% of New Boston residents
76 dBA
Loudest residential point
City bus interior
This map shows modeled outdoor noise across New Boston 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 980 New Boston residents, or 50.8%, live above that level. By land area, 59.6% of New Boston is above 55 dBA.
40.4% below 55 dBA
59.6% above 55 dBA
See how noise in New Boston compares to similar-sized cities.
Noise by Part of New Boston
Average noise levels for New Boston residents, grouped by direction from the center of New Boston. Southern New Boston carries the highest population-weighted average; Northern New Boston carries the lowest. Just 25% of residents in Northern New Boston live in blocks above the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, a third of the share in Southern New Boston.
Central New Boston
58.5 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Eastern New Boston
58.3 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Northern New Boston
54.0 dBA · Moderate-loud
Quiet office to normal conversation
Southern New Boston
64.3 dBA · Loud
Busy restaurant
Western New Boston
60.4 dBA · Loud
Normal conversation an arm’s length away
Southern New Boston sounds about 104% louder than Northern New Boston to the human ear, a 10.3 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 Gallia St do you need to be?
Gallia St produces an estimated 67 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
67 dBA
Highway traffic 50 ft away
165 ft
54 dBA
Quiet office to normal conversation
330 ft
46 dBA
Quiet office
660 ft
39 dBA
Soft rainfall
¼ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
½ mile
35 dBA
Soft rainfall
Calculated from the model's calibrated attenuation formula. About 17% of New Boston sits under tree canopy (lighter than most cities) and roughly 57% 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 New Boston. 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 New Boston
The bar chart below shows the share of New Boston residents in each noise band. About 35% of residents live below the EPA's 55 dBA threshold, and roughly 38% live in blocks above 60 dBA. Long-term exposure in that range is linked to elevated stress hormones and cardiovascular risk.
How New Boston Compares
New Boston sits the highest among the peer group. Below: how New Boston's average outdoor noise and share of residents above the EPA threshold compare with Rushtown, South Webster, McDermott, and Pedro.
Average noise level (dBA)
New Boston's 58.1 dBA pop-weighted average is the highest among the peer group. Ohio as a whole averages 51.1 dBA and the U.S. averages 52.0 dBA. Both are lower than New Boston because most of either area is rural land away from major roads.
Share of residents above 55 dBA
About 50.8% of New Boston 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, 59.6% of New Boston's footprint sits above 55 dBA, against a Ohio average of 26.4% and a national average of 28.1%.
What This Means if You're Moving to New Boston
- 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 Gallia St 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 17% of New Boston is under tree cover (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.
